my OWN fireman

this kid ...

on sunday, we paid a much overdue visit to see our friends at the eight house fire station in mckinney. the b shift guys were the ones who delivered charlie two years ago in the back of their now-retired ambulance. (see charlie's birth story here and the story of our first visit to the eight house here).

it never ceases to amaze me how happy these guys are to see charlie - and their hospitality extends to john, too. the boys got to play ping pong in the bay of the fire house, get on and off the ambulance and fire truck, turn on lights and ring bells. every time, charlie's firefighter "uncles" give them hats and temporary tattoos and just seem to be so happy to see my boys.

and two years later, i am still so grateful that i had the support of the b shift that crazy day. i think often about how charlie's birth story could be one fraught with isolation and fear. i was, after all, in the antiseptic back of an ambulance with strangers - all men - and without my support network.

but a birth can be beautiful even when nothing about it goes to plan. i will never forget these guys cheering me on in between contractions, and telling me i could DO this. i felt lifted up, even though it wasn't the way i expected it to go.

a great fireman named matt was the one to catch charlie, and the first face charlie ever saw in this world. he checked out my baby and handed him to me so i could hold him the rest of the way to the hospital. our lives were in the hands of these first responders who took such good care of us. and it is the coolest thing ever to get to know them more, to let them get to know charlie as he grows, and to know that it meant something to them, too, to be a part of charlie's grand entrance.

later that day, charlie said to me, "mommy, matt my fireman. my OWN fireman."

we'll have to work on that possessiveness sometime - you know, when he's not two. but for now, it tickles me that on some level charlie knows how important matt and the rest of the b shift guys are to our family.