Dear Maverick,

Yesterday was your birthday. You are four now! I can't believe you are four! It seems like a very short time ago that I was holding you as we walked through the apartment singing your "sleepy Maverick" song as you cried and cried in the middle of the night. That was our routine every night for many, many nights. Weeks of nights. I think the neighbors were very happy when we moved out! So, here we are four years later and you still don't sleep through the night!

Maverick, I am so glad you are here. We have a lot of rough times and I often wonder if we will ever make it through an entire day without time outs and such. But, I am so glad you are here. You have a very strong personality and you are so smart and friendly I can't wait to see where it takes you in life!

Here are some things I love about you:

-Your big blue eyes that sparkle when you are happy.

-Your cool surfer dude hair. It really suits your personality! I love the way you look when you have been swimming.

-How loving you are with your little brother and sister.

-How you want to include your big sister in everything you do.

-How you refuse to let anything get you down. You bounce back to your happy self so quickly when things go wrong!

-The stories you tell!

-There is little in this world that scares you. You think you can do anything and you can because you won't let anything stop you. (this drives me crazy sometimes! sometimes? maybe a lot. I believe it will get you somewhere, eventually, though.)

-You have the cutest smile.

-Your fashion sense cracks me up! :)

Maverick, you are such a bright, happy, caring little boy. The people who get to know you are truely blessed. You drive me crazy and you know exactly which buttons to push to make me frustrated or angry but, you also make me smile and laugh and want to hug and kiss you until you can't stand it anymore. Life with you has been an adventure. I can't wait to see what year four will bring.