my nephew is a superhero

i want to give a little shout-out to my nephew, graham, who turns 5 today. graham was born with a grim birth defect called a congenital diaphragmatic hernia (cdh). cdh is more common than spina bifida or cystic fibrosis but gets less press because it is so often fatal at birth. graham, however, is very much alive, and today, graham's birthday, marks the first cdh awareness day. pretty cool, dude.

and i have to share some pictures of a really cool book a friend gave me today. i almost peed my pants when i saw it, because a)the illustrations are amazing and b)my mom had this piano book when i was little. i've had "john jacob jingleheimer schmidt" in my head all day because of it...

more pics on flickr. happy monday!

Comments

[miss chris]

I am seriously loving that book.

And Happy Birthday, Graham! That article made me weepy-happy. :)

[Gritty]

Now we'll all have that song in our head!!! Happy Birthday to sweet Graham. What a great article and day!

[erin]

thanks for planting that in my head. really.

happy birthday to graham! his story is amazing.

[Penny in VT]

What a great story about your nephew! May he continue to thrive for 90 or so more years :)

Nice book - reminds me of The Electric Company :)

[Kara]

Wow, I got all teary eyed! Happy birthday Graham, what a trooper!

[gonzomama]

Very inspiring. It's amazing to me how strong children are. He is a beautiful boy-what a day to celebrate!

Man, I loved that song when I was little.

[Felicia]

Happy Birthday to Graham :)

[lizzielou]

oh! oh! we had that book when i was little!! wow, that cover is unbelievably familiar. and now i have "john jacob jingleheimer schmidt" stuck in my head too, thanks very much.

happy birthday to your nephew!

[betsy]

Graham's story is inspiring -- so beautiful! What a special little boy. Happy Birthday, Graham!

[skinimini]

What a special little boy, so sweet. I had never heard of CDH, poor babies! Thank you for raising awareness.

Is that why you learned ASL? What a good auntie!