The sound of a baby's laughter

This morning I watched baby Micah, in a viral video, laughing hysterically as his father ripped up a job rejection letter.   There is so much joy in the sound of a baby's laughter.  Everything is brand new.  And in hearing it we feel brand new too.  But you know, it really is so much cuter, when the laughter is coming from your own baby.  Charlie laughing at David making the lollipop noise may not have gone viral.  But it makes me happy in a far deeper way than Micah, cute as he is, can ever do.

Charlie is part of Jimmie's miracle too.

David and I are...well...old.  I was 38 when Jimmie was born.  David, 35.  We wanted a baby so badly.  And Jimmie was such a blessing to us.  A miracle of modern science.  Artificial insemination success!  But then he wasn't developing as he should...and eventually it became obvious that he would never catch up with his peers.  I just couldn't leave my baby in this world all alone.  I just couldn't.

So David and I decided to try again.  But not as hard.  We agreed we wouldn't go the whole fertility doctor route again.  Clomid, fine.  So I went to my obgyn and asked for clomid.  I took it for the prescribed days 5-9 of my cycle.  On day 11 I started the fertility tests.  On day 13 it was positive.  Day 28, I couldn't wait for the next day, so I took a pregnancy test, which was positive before I stopped peeing.  That's Charlie.  Easy.

He's an amazing kid!  He is beautiful too, like his brother, but in a totally different way.  Jimmie is the spitting image of me.  Charlie looks just like his dad.  And he's so smart.  He gets things so quickly.  He's having some issues with talking.  A delay we think comes from the fact that his brother is non-verbal.  But he understands every word we say to him.  And so we are not overly worried.  It's enough that I called Early Intervention.  His evaluation is on March 16.  If he qualifies, we'll do the therapies recommended.  If he doesn't I'll call the school system to get him in the at-risk program.  He qualifies because his older brother has delays.  I want to give him every opportunity to be the best he can be.  But honestly he's great either way. 

His laugh is music.  His smile is light.  His general enthusiasm in everything is life affirming.

Charlie is a miracle.