Two.

Happy 2nd birthday to our Sammo! For his birthday, he got a fever and some projectile vomiting and an ear infection. Awesome. We did not have a party because I continue to pretend to protect him from other people's germs. At this point, it's really about protecting other people from us.

The pediatrician said that the good news is that he is handling all of these illnesses pretty well. Last winter, he was still on oxygen and learning to eat and he reherniated twice so these respiratory viruses would have had him hospitalized for sure. As silver linings go, it's a bit thin but I will take it. 

Today is February 25, one of Sam's other birthdays. Two years ago today, he was considered as stable as he was going to get for surgery. They wheeled our 6 and a half pound baby and his various life supports out of ICU to repair his diaphragm. Four hours later, our surgeon came to us and said that she'd pulled the intestines and stomach and liver and spleen out of Sam's chest and a healthy-looking lung inflated. She said that the lung on the affected side is usually a raisin but Sam had grown lungs, smooshed up there with all of his abdominal organs. She made a patch out of alloderm to fill in for where our Sam's left diaphragm didn't develop. 

Our baby who was not supposed to have enough lung tissue to survive had grown two lungs, one of them smallish but certainly so much more than anticipated. So today is the birthday of witnessing a real live miracle unfold before us. 

Sam has been healthy for a whole week now. (Yes, I am freaking out a little about actually typing that out.) We actually made it to his first music/speech therapy group after many cancellations and he was insanely happy there. He is ever closer to walking and talking. He wants to do everything himself and so we watch as he tries to spoon yogurt into his own mouth and puts his brother's boots on his own tiny feet. We have seen his appetite and his energy return. And his toddler badness. I have apologized to the trees for the ridiculous amount of toilet paper that has been unraveled and shredded at his hands. And I am bracing myself to face the furnace cleaner guys as they pull plastic toys, puzzle pieces, thousands of dollars in Monopoly money, and a few tampons out of our ducts.

But as toddler badness goes, we will take it. This boy is adored. Besides, I've already put up with a lot worse from him early on.