3 years ago today Alexander was born.

It was a beautiful (and HOT!) Wednesday in NYC. I had a 10am appointment with my OB/GYN. The second he walked into the room, he looked at me and said, “You’re ready to have this baby, aren’t you?”

I had been up all night with contractions – not hard-pressing ones – but one’s where I knew this baby wasn’t coming on his due date of October 8th!

He quickly “checked” me and told me I was 2cm. And then he said something that made me want to wrap my arms around him and possibly change the name we had planned of Alexander to Kenneth (my doctor’s name – Alex, I’m kidding!), “I’m sending you to the hospital now, we’re going to induce you. You’ll probably go into labor on your own over the next 24 hours anyway, so let’s just get things rolling sooner.”

And that was how my Alexander’s birthday began.

At 10:14pm that evening, out he came. My husband and my mother were there. He was healthy. And beautiful. My Alexander.

Like it is for me to think of William being 4… it is beyond amazing to think that Alexander is 3 years old. I truly don’t know where the last 3 years have gone. They have flown by.

The story of Alexander is a special one.

Let me start from Alexander’s very, very beginning.

Many people (OK, many, many, many people) couldn’t believe that we were trying to get pregnant so quickly after having William. William was 3 1/2 months when I got pregnant with Alexander. We had been trying since William was 8 weeks old. And many people will ask me if it was difficult being pregnant while caring for an infant… truth be told, it wasn’t difficult at all.

Alexander was a special baby…

Matt and I learned that our best friend from college – Dimitri – died while fighting in Fallujah on November 19, 2004. William had just turned 7 1/2 weeks. It shook our world. He had just enlisted in the Marines a year before and had just been sent over to fight. This was my husband’s best friend. His best man at our wedding. Dimitri was the reason we moved to NYC in the first place, Matt wanted to be near his best friend. They were – for lack there of a better word – “brothers.” Each of them only had sisters, so to each other, this was the closest they were ever going to get to having that brotherly bond.

It was on November 20, 2004… the day after he passed, and coincidentally, Matt’s 30th birthday… that we decided that the way we wanted and needed to honor “Dimi” was by having another baby. We wanted to celebrate life. Celebrate Dimi. And honor that baby-to-be with his name.

I found out I was pregnant January 30, 2005. We knew it was going to be a boy. We knew he would be Alexander Dimitri. We knew Dimi would send Matt something that the two of them had with each other… a brother for William.

And he was. And he is.

Alexander. Oh, my Alexander.

He is the quintessential “I’m just happy to be alive” type child.

Everyday he laughs. Everyday he giggles. Everyday he flashes his 100 watt smile. Everyday he lights every room he enters. That’s Alexander.

Even right now as I write this, he’s running around our kitchen with a dozen blue balloons laughing out loud and yelling for “William and Benjamin” to come join him!

Alexander is a sweet boy. Every morning when he comes downstairs he goes over to Henry and plops a big kiss on his head. And every morning. Every single morning. He looks at Henry, then looks at me and says, “Mommy, Henry’s so cute.” It’s one of those special moments that I wait for each day.

Alexander is a funny, non-stop little boy. He loves to dance in the kitchen with me. I joke with Matt that “I know who will be in the center of the circle dancing at school dances!” He’s got this way of dancing that just cracks me up. And the best, he knows it does… so he does it over and over and over again. He loves to spin. He must ask me 10 times a day if I will spin him around… and I will… and he will throw his head back and laugh out loud.

My mother jokes with me that Alexander will be my dare-devil. He’ll be calling me from some summit somewhere in the world someday saying, “Don’t worry Mom… I’ll be OK.” And, of course… I’ll be sending Matt via helicopter to go watch him!

The faces Alexander makes… they are priceless. Especially when he see the letter “A.” His eyes get real big and he joyfully yells, “MOMMY! My letter! It’s my letter!” Those are the moments in time I wish I could freeze right now. The joy of a 3 year old spotting the first letter in his name.

Alexander has brought more joy and more laughter and more happiness into my life. I feel blessed that I get to be his Mommy. He has taught me even more how to enjoy life. And has allowed me to see things through the eyes of a child, eyes with pure excitement for life.

So Alexander… my “Ally,” I love you lifetimes. I love you mountains high and oceans deep. I love you more than anything in this world. And yes, I love you the whole wide world. Happy, Happy Birthday my beautiful boy.