He will ALWAYS be my baby

I tried to explain to my son Daniel that he will always be my baby. He will be 11 tomorrow and he does not get it. It seems like such a simple concept to me - maybe when I was 11 I didn't get it either.

Daniel has a maternal cousin born or the same day. His cousin is also named Daniel. I wish I could say that Daniel was a long time family name and that my brother and I wanted to keep the name going but that would be a lie. I don't think we actually ever talked about baby names. Heck, I was holding out for the name Jackson. Jackson was a masculine name. It was a western name. It was the PERFECT name (in my opinion.) But my husband didn't agree so we named our son Daniel.

I will never forget calling my brother to tell him that my water had broken. My sister-in-law was past her due date and I remember him telling me that she may cry. I called early the next morning to tell him that Daniel had been born. He said, "WHAT!" I replied that we had named the baby Daniel. My brother said that Daniel was the name THEY had picked out if they had a son. I think I said good thing we live 3000 miles apart. Imagine my surprise when I got a call a little later with the news that my sister-in-law was in labor. Now imagine my surprise when I got a call saying that Daniel had been born. Now we call them the double Daniels. I think that they like that!

In our family we don't have big parties for most birthdays. Turning 11 gets you cake and ice cream and a friend overnight. Happy Birthday Daniel - Enjoy your time with Joshua!