happy eight-month birthday to ben

Steve and I were talking the other night about the fact that Ben has been in our lives for about as long as the cancer has. He was conceived a couple of months before I got my first diagnosis last year, and he was born three weeks before I learned the cancer had spread.

In that time, filled with such darkness, he has been like a little shining light. It's remarkable how his personality has been so happy and good-natured. For every bad development that happens with my health, it seems that Ben adds an element of happiness we so sorely need — a ready smile, a look that says "I'm so happy to see you." It's as if God sent him to us as a counterbalance, knowing we'd need some light in the midst of our dark.

*Sneeze!*

And here's his cute brother at eight months.