Eamon Turns Eighteen

Do you remember that movie Three Men and a Baby?

I now have three MEN as sons, and I'm the baby feeling very sentimental about it all.  Birthdays have a funny way of doing that to dear old mom.

Somehow this little bundle of screaming joy:

Turned EIGHTEEN last week, and had an away soccer game:

Eamon has always been the most fun-loving kid.  Whenever we look back at family photos, you can bet he's laughing or jumping or goofing around:

Charming the worker at the Buzz Lightyear ride in Disney to get a pass to skip the line (it worked!)

I'm starting to see why he always broke bones.

Everybody smile for the camera.  Eamon - TA DA!!

Eamon was a kid that barely asked for anything, but was so easy and sweet and good to his bones that you wanted to give him everything.  We were reminiscing about the one time when Eamon actually asked for something specific.  He was four years old and we told him that his half-birthday was the same day as Gammy's real birthday.  For months he talked about how he wanted to have breakfast in bed with Gammy on her birthday/his half-birthday so we made it happen:

Giddy with Gammy

 Eamon was always our slowest eater, saying "I can't help it, I just like chatting too much!" and he still will flop down on our bed late at night to chat.  Eamon was on the shorter side and had a late growth spurt but man was he tough.  He excelled at all sports (we had to put him in a bed at 18 months old because he began climbing out of his crib AND down the stairs) and is our only child *looks around to find wood on which to knock* who has broken any bones - a toe, a finger, and a wrist.  The kid plays hard and never complains.  Honest to God, if he even slightly mentions a little pain, I bring him to get an x-ray and it's always been a fractured bone.

In pain and smiling

Eamon was recently chosen to go with the Catholic Athletes for Christ to meet the Celtics coach, who is an amazing role model:

Eamon is our best student yet and we never have to be "on" him about anything.  His teachers and pastors and coaches all love him and somehow our hardest little baby turned into such an amazing man. 

 I came across an email sent from his CYO basketball coach in sixth grade after we had thanked him for coaching that season:

It was my pleasure.  Relatively easy coaching the best player in the league, especially when that kid happens to be just an overall outstanding person and teammate.

With  three minutes left and down by six in last night's game, he politely pointed out who had not played during a timeout.  To me, you do not need to know much more about what kind of kid he is.  He reminds me of another one of my favorite players a couple years ago in a game he tried to get someone the ball (who hadn't scored all season) 14 times in a row.  Weird both those kids have Martin as a last name!  You have raised two outstanding kids, glad Eamon is a CYO champion he deserves it!

How nice was the coach to take the time to write that, and how sweet of Eamon to always be thinking of others.  Speaking of taking the time to write, Eamon still has the letter from the Archbishop of Ireland with his same name hanging on his bedroom wall.

We couldn't find the time to do a big family dinner for his birthday (he got home late from his soccer game) and then because The Ice Cream Cottage was still open, the only time we could all be together was for Sunday brunch, so that's what we did.  We had waffles and eggs and bacon and not one photo was taken, respecting the birthday boy's man's wishes.  Gammy and Grandpa came up to eat with us as did Eamon's girlfriend, Ellie.  

His big gift was airpods because he lost his awhile ago, a Commanders sweatshirt, and some cash to buy his first scratch tickets (he bought twenty $1 scratch tix and won $7 so that was a good lesson about why we shouldn't gamble!)  Maggie took the littles out to put together a basket of goodies for him, and Andrew is buying him some birks from Austria.  Phil gave me a beautiful birth-day bouquet:

Happy 18th Birthday Eamon Philip.  You are one of a kind and we love you so so much.  Never lose your fun-loving, humble, holy personality...you're going to do great things!