My best birthday present ever

For almost two years now, I've been a little sad about something silly. As you can tell, Oliver is probably the most photographed child in the world. However, we didn't have any photographs of me holding him in the hospital. You know the shot: mom, looking haggard, gazing lovingly at this creature she's known intimately for nine months, finally seeing his face. While we had lots of photos of Oliver in the hospital, held by various family members or alone all swaddled in blankets, there were none of me holding him. It made me sad that I didn't have that iconic shot to share, even though it will always be in my memory. I'm sure I was partly to blame. I know I probably kept telling people not to take my picture because I looked tired and puffy and had no make-up on or hair done. Still, couldn't I have this one shot? It was one of those little regrets that stays in the back of your mind, coming up only when you see other moms holding their newly born babies.

Then, last night, my almost 2 year old gave me the (2nd) best birthday present ever. While I was cooking dinner, Oliver and Marty were playing around on the computer, and Marty decided to pull up a slide show of random photos to play while we ate dinner along with the classical music we often enjoy while we eat. Oliver has recently figured out the mouse/cursor relationship, and was clicking on various things. Somehow, out of nowhere, he pulled up a file folder full of photos from the day he was born. This file folder was hiding in some obscure place on our computer, not in our usual Photo area. So as we're eating dinner, I'm looking at them and I say to Marty, "I don't remember these pictures." Then all of a sudden, there it was: a photo of me holding Oliver, gazing lovingly. Yes, I look puffy and haggard, but to me it's the best photo ever taken. The most perfect gift my son could give me, second only to his birth, a process which began 2 years ago today, and ended 2 days later on the day this photo was taken:

April 5, 2008