Happy Birthday Buddy...

Well... we officially have a 5 year old son, one who is going off to Kindergarten in a few weeks.  Saturday the 21st was his birthday officially but it seems he has had a lot of parties leading up to this.  I think that we are looking for every excuse to celebrate. 

Here are some highlights from some of the pictures that I took of James, the early years.

James had a very busy weekend, spending most of it with cousins Caleb and Eli in Rantoul.  They played, rode their bikes and got into the general mischief that little boys do. 

However, most of our birthday-weekend excitement with James started about 2:15 AM this morning.  What fun-filled weekend wouldn't be complete without a trip to the Emergency Room.  James has what they call activity-induced asthma.  That means that he wheezes when he runs around a lot.  On top of that, he has the same seasonal allergies that I enjoy plus pet dander sets him off.  A weekend running around outside near corn fields, chasing cats and being mauled by my brother's dingo left him a little worse for wear.  (yes, my brother has a dog bred with an Australian dingo.)  A good inhaler of albuterol before bed really didn't do much.  He woke up with breathing problems about 2:00 this morning.  After another unsuccessful inhaler, it was off to visit our friend Dr. DiPiazza in the Oak Park Hospital Emergency Room.  I won't say that we are on a first name basis exactly, but he has stamped our frequent visitor card with James more than once.  The good news is that the hospital is literally across the street so the commute is easy. 

We walked across Madison Street and back to the house at 6:30, just in time for me to shower and head off to work. 

Happy Birthday James!!!!!!