Nearly 9 lbs

Emily has been asking me how big I was when I was born for the last few months.  For the life of me, I couldn't remember.  Today, Em went into our storage area and found my baby box that my mom made for me.  In it is many things that my mom kept from my childhood.  Everything from finger puppets that I colored as a kid, to my baptism certificate, to baby clothes is in this relatively small box.  I don't remember the last time I saw inside that box. 

So, Em decided to find out how big I was when I was born.  She freaked out when she realized I was 8 lbs 13 oz....or in her words "nearly 9 lbs!!!"  I didn't think that I was that big, but evidently 9 lbs is on the large side of babies (although definitely not a record breaker or even close to it.)  Emily got just a little bit more nervous unfortunately. 

I'm pretty sure I wasn't quite this big.

Some other interesting things were discovered as we went through my baby box (and my baby book that my mom kept records in).  For example:

-I was a good reader.  (It seems like on every page -which is each year of my life - it states that I am a good reader.  Couldn't they have said something a little bit more exciting?  It just seems like that is like saying that I ate pudding like a champ.  I'm sure it means more then while I was growing up then it does now.  I don't think any of my friends would be jealous of me if I was the best reader in the group.  Maybe that's just me. 

-I sucked at coloring.  (No further explanation is needed.  Art was never going to be my thing.)

-My mom spent an inordinant amount of time discussing my bowel movements in my baby book.  She may have even been "obsessed" with it.  I swear....every year, there was a new description for my "evacuations".  "Constipated", "free", and "good movements" are just a handful of the descriptions I read.  (I truly hesitate to believe that I could have been constipated for a full year....or that I was constipated so much that that is what my mom remembers for that year....but that is what was put in the book....THAT WILL LAST FOREVER!!  Thanks, Mom.

Em & I didn't have time to go through the whole box in depth yet (the NFL draft was about to start), but I think we will make time to go through it a bit more at a later time.  We definitely will do something similar for D'Qwell as he grows up. 

Thank you, Mom, for taking the time to document the ordinary nuances of my life growing up.  It truly means a lot to me looking back on it.  (Every time she turned the page, Em would automatically say "oooohhh, how cute"....about whatever that page was about.  And sometimes she was referring to me...and how cute I was back then.)

Maybe someday I will even post a picture of me when I was growing up to prove to some of you that I was actually cute at one time in my life.  I didn't always have this "face made for radio" that you all have grown accustomed to.  (jk.....kinda)