Happy Birthday William Kade!

11 years ago today my sweet Willie Kade was born. He is amazing! He is one of the original 'bandit boys'.... in fact he IS the original bandit boy! It's hard to believe that the kind hearted, sweet young man he is now was the cause of most of my daily stress for years! We joked that anyone that would name their kids, Willie, Wyatt and Hayden deserved to be tormented they way they tormented me. The first time I knew I was really in trouble with him was not long after we brought Wyatt home from the hospital. I was in my room making my bed and talking to a friend in Montana. Willie had walked into my room and then into my bathroom that is open and connected to my bedroom. There wasn't much he could do to cause trouble in there and I could see him most of the time anyway. But then it got quiet. Any mom knows what it means when a child is 'too' quiet. I walked around the corner and there he stood with his hands at the bottom of a once brand new, now completely empty Vaseline jar. A LARGE jar! His head was covered. He had brand new Osh Kosh overalls on and a brand new cute, black and white flannel shirt on. I couldn't believe my eyes. I knew it was going to be a MESS to clean up. I told my friend and she laughed and said I had to get a picture. Of course since I take millions of pictures I was already thinking that and I told Willie, "Don't move... I am going to get the camera to take a picture of your LAST DAY on earth!" He just smiled and didn't move a muscle. I came back in with the camera and that little stinker looked up, smiled at me and said, "Cheeeeeeeeeessssssseeeeeeeeeee!" Really, you can't even be mad when a one year old is that adorable! It took some scrubbing, but we finally cleaned him off! And, in case anyone ever needs to know how to get Vaseline out of new Osh Kosh overalls and a cute little flannel shirt.... spray it with a stain remover and then dump baking soda on it. Let it sit, rub it in and then wash in hot water. :) That was just the beginning of my madness with him. There were days that all I did was clean up messes he made. I remember one long horrible day in particular he had dumped a gallon of milk and red kool aid and a 5 lb bag of sugar on my kitchen floor. I had just cleaned that up when he smeared himself in shortening and dumped the flour bucket over him. I was so angry I put him in my shower to play while I cleaned up that mess. After he was clean, I stood him on a chair, walked literally 20 steps, around a corner to get a diaper for him and came back to find him with his hands at the bottom of a large peanut butter jar, with peanut butter from head to toe. I LOST IT! I picked him up, stuck him back in the shower, cleaned him off, put the diaper I still had in my hand on him and hauled him to his crib, told him I couldn't take any more that day and it would be better if he just STAYED in the crib. There was peace in my house for a couple of hours and I managed to get some things done that day. But I won't tell you what I found in his room after I went to get him out from his nap... let's just say he was diaperless again!!! He managed to find every mud puddle available anywhere in our yard and come back into the house dripping mud from head to toe. He was my challenge! But he is oh so sweet. He has pretty much grown out of his bandit days. But he is still quite the joker. Now he is growing up. I am not ready for that either, but he is sure sweet. He takes care of me and always checks on me to see if I am okay. The night we almost lost Nathaniel he stood next to me, patting me on the back and making sure that I was okay also. I am amazed by him.

Willie was named after my uncle Willie. Willie was 17 months older than me and passed away December 29, 1986. I loved Willie. My mom said that my first words were about Willie. She said we had been at the park riding on the merry-go-round and when my dad got home that day I told him, "Daddy, daddy, me and Willie went round and round." Willie also had the biggest heart. He didn't always make the best choices but his heart was so good. I miss him even today and wonder what his life would have been like had he lived. I was pregnant with my first baby when he died. Willie was so excited about me having a baby and used to take me out for strawberry shortcake. I know Willie would have loved my Willie! I had this strong feeling that one day I would have a Willie of my own. But each time I was pregnant with a boy my mom would ask if this one was Willie and I always knew it wasn't.... and then my grandma got cancer. We knew it was getting close to the end. About 2 1/2 weeks before she died I was able to be with her, tell her I love her and tell her goodbye. I told her to tell Willie to hurry and send my Willie to me. She told me she would tell him. I found out the day that she died that I was pregnant. I KNEW it was my Willie the second I found out I was pregnant. And he has been a joy from the day he was born!!!

So, happy birthday my little bandit boy. I love you! I am enjoying watching him become a wonderful young man. He is amazing with wonderful qualities that will make him a wonderful man one day. I love watching him grow. He is the one that came home from school one day and asked me if I would be mad if he only had 6 kids one day. I teased him but told him that it was up to him how many kids he had one day. He got very serious and said, "Oh NO mom, I want LOTS of kids, but the girls these days! I don't know if I can find one that will have more than 6!" I laughed so hard. I told Thayne later I didn't know what was funnier.... that we had made this child believe that 6 kids was a small family... or what in the world was a 2nd grader doing, going around asking girls how many children they would be willing to have?!