Judah Elm at four!

My dear little (almost) four-year-old,

Judah, just like the past three years, I am sitting here the night before your birthday thinking about February 12. You were born on February 13th, but the party actually started on the 12th... we even thought you would share Auntie A's birthday. And so, today I had many thoughts throughout the day. Thinking about that very last doctor's appointment when she told me she might be seeing me soon. I waddled through Walmart buying some last minute things and had to stop every 20 feet or so to catch my breath because I seriously felt like I could have you right on the wet and waxy floors of the Walmarts at any minute. I came home and called Daddy-- who was at his LAST day of his old job and told him to get home. (what a way to end the last day of a job... and he started his new one when you were only a few days old.) I think about heading into the hospital and being hooked up to monitor your little heartbeat. Since I now have had Ezra, I sometimes get certain moments confused between the two of you, but I remember one very vivid moment so clearly. The moment they laid you on me and I saw what you looked like. I remember touching your face and saying, "Hi!" over and over. Daddy and I sang you Happy Birthday for the first time that night and took you in--all to ourselves-- until visitors started to show up at 8am.

 

 

Everyone tells you it goes fast, and it is very cliche to even mention that it does. But my goodness, how it does. Some days seem never-ending. Like the day that you would NOT pick up your blocks and I told you that you had to do it all by yourself if you dumped the whole thing over. (rookie mistake. I now know to only tell things if I'm willing to make you follow through with them. It was not a fun HOUR getting you to pick up those blocks! :)) Some days at the beginning of your threes, I just did not know if I would make it through to the next day. You were typical "terrible 2's-3's' and man, some of those days were rough!! We are now seeing the benefits of standing firm, and you are such a wonderful little boy.

 

You are such a good brother. You love to play with Ezra, and only have hit or pushed him a few times. (That is saying a lot, because he is in your business all the time!) You play with Hope most of all and you two are awesome buddies. When she is at her moms, you do play with Ez a lot more, and it is the best thing to see you two laughing together. We tell you kids all the time that you are best friends, and the brainwashing seems to be working ;).

 

Judah, you warm my heart with all the things you do. Your daddy is an amazing servant to our house, and I am sure you have his heart. You tell me all the time "thank you for dinner, mama! best ever!" The other day, you asked me if you could vacuum for me. You love to help out doing chores and pretty much will do anything I ask of you around the house. (put your clothes in your drawers, you fold the dishclothes for me, vacuum sometimes, take care of your dishes and push in your chair.) Today you got the vacuum out and vacuumed the chair because you took the cushion off to do tricks on and you noticed that underneath were a few crumbs! :) You now can also dress yourself. At first, it was a struggle to get you to try to do it, but now you are so proud of yourself. You like to list off the items of clothing you put on yourself that day.

 

Speaking of lists... this morning for breakfast you at a whole banana, a small bowl of oatmeal, raisins, a honey sandwich, and an egg. You constantly are telling me you are hungry-- even after a meal where you eat everything. I know you need it though-- you are getting so tall! If anyone asks how old you are and I tell them they say, "Wow, he is tall for his age!"

 

At four you know all your letters and can write some of them (J's are your favorite!), you know all shapes, you are doing much better with counting.. it has taken awhile to get down for some reason, but can now count to 20 and recognize most numbers, you know our home address, our city, and state. You can tell us your birthday (and Ezra's, too, because we have been working on it with him. When we ask Ezra, you jump in and say, "APRIL 22!!") You have excellent gross motor skills and love to do anything outdoorsy. You like your scooter, jumping on the trampoline, playing in the snow. You are still a bit picky about food but are getting better. You love to ride grandpa's snowmobiles. You are picking information up all the time from who-knows-where. You told me the other day your leg hurt and I asked why. You said, "Maybe an asteroid hit it!" I asked if you knew what an asteroid was and you said, "Yes! A rock!" You also know what an omnivore, herbivore, and carnivore is because you ask the difference every day at lunch.

 

 You have been waking up at 6am (or earlier.. today you were up at 5:47a....) but you quietly get up, get yourself a banana or make a sandwich, and turn on the tv for a show or two before mama can make herself get up. Mama doesn't do well waking up at 6am :). You do take a nap most days still... maybe it's why you wake at 6a? But seem to still need it and when you fall asleep, you sleep for a good few hours.

 

You love to be silly. You love for me to "check on you" at bedtime. You are so loving. You are getting independent, but you still love your mama, too, and talk about how you don't want to go to school or get married because you don't want to leave me.

 

You made me a "mama", and I will never forget how good it was to have a little one who helped make our family more of a family. It just seemed more grown up when Hope had a sibling, and I was officially "mama". We love you forever, Judah, and can't wait to see who you become! Happy 4th Birthday!

Love, Mama

owls, and gnomes, and toadstools, oh my!

Since our littlest little just turned one recently, we had a birthday party for him today. It was supposed to be last Saturday, but due to a awful case of the stomach flu that made it through 4/5 of our family (I got skipped somehow, wahoo! Still had to clean up after the others, but wasn't sick while doing it!) we had to reschedule it to this weekend.

When thinking of themes for E, I had a thought that we should do something kind of woodsy. I ask my friend Miss B what she thought, and she said, "toadstools and woodsy for sure!" Since E was born on earth day, it seemed pretty fitting.

I found tons of ideas on pinterest and had a lot of fun putting together this little party to celebrate our special boy! With help from many, many people, we had a place to hold it that was big enough (grandpa and grandma f!) a wooden cupcake stand (daddy) wooden slabs cut from a tree (grandpa a!) I made lots of things such as the burlap banner and tiny toadstools out of playdough that I painted. I think part of the fun in making things was that every time I worked on something for the party, I was thinking of my boy and celebrating him. I have celebrated him a lot over the past few months! :)

The menu was pizza, greek salad, fruit salad, chips, pickles/olives, pop, and cake with icecream. After the party on the way home, I was thinking about how our family and friends love our boy (well, all our kids, really) and how they are SO blessed. This may sound cheesy, but I couldn't help but think about how Mary "treasured these things and pondered them in her heart". I kept thinking about how everyone loves, supports, smooches on, and dotes on my kids, and I treasure that. A great way to love a mama is to love her kids like your own. We had so much fun, and we think E did, too. (He went to town on his cupcake and it was gone quickly!) 

10 years later...

My Dearest H,
You are who made me a mommy.. but not in the conventional way. A stepmama, but taking on many of the duties of a regular old mama. Although there have been some tough days, the amazing days outshine them by far.
Today you woke up with smiles. You requested for breakfast scrambled eggs with milk and a grapefruit. Easy enough! You then got ready for school and wore a hot pink shirt with ruffles on it. At lunchtime we brought you lunch at school: pizza hut personal pan pizza with sausage, and sprite per your "order". You came home all smiles again and told us of your birthday singing happy birthday to you! Then Daddy took you to get icecream for your party tonight while I finished making your cake. (Chocolate cake, white frosting, blue and purple icing with a peace sign... per order again). You seemed happy with the cake.
Then, off to dinner at a hibachi grill (your pick) and home for cake and icecream (cookie dough/mack fudge) with grandparents and aunts/uncles/cousins... and don't forget the presents! Mandie books, 3 movies, beads and a bracelet kit, a dress, and a few other things I'm sure I'm forgetting! You were so great with your manners today and were so great all day. I had a wonderful day celebrating YOU and I think you did, too! Daddy put you to bed and prayed for you, and left you in your room to sleep.. with a smile still on your beautiful little face. We love you sweet H!

24.364

The year I turned seven must have been a hard one financially for my parents. Either that, or they were trying a year of "practical" gifts. The morning after the big party, I remember walked to the bus stop and it was bright and cold and I could see my breath freeze in the air. The neighbor boys were waiting at the end of their gravel driveway-- the ones who came over nearly every day and asked my mom, "Can the girls come out and play?" Their mom shuffled over to me, her hands in her pockets and her shoulders hunched up around her neck in a futile effort to keep her neck and ears warm.

"So! What did you get for your birthday yesterday?! Anything exciting?"
I shuffled. To her, it probably looked like I was trying to keep warm, but in reality, I was trying to think of how I could phrase what gifts I had gotten without sounding like #1) we were poor or #2) my parents were way.too.practical.

"Well, I got one Berenstain Bears book-- you know that one about too much birthday? And these purple gloves. See? Oh! My big gift was a bird feeder with bird seed...."

Sherri smiled and said, "What fun gifts! Here comes the bus, better head on down the driveway!"

I put one plastic pink book in front of the other and thought, "Three gifts... Sherri must think we are poor!" Little did Sherri know, I had *actually* received four gifts, but had kept the fourth inside my little pigtailed head. It embarrassed me, and I would rather have Sherri think I had only 3 gifts than to reveal the unmentionable fourth. I skipped onto the bus, and found a seat in the sea of snowpants and snowcoats.

Tomorrow I will turn 25. In my husband's words, if I live to be 100-- my life is 1/4 over. 75-- 1/3 over. 50-- 1/2 over. (He loves to put things into perspective.)

As I was rocking baby J tonight after his bottle, I held him extra close, and breathed in his sweet little baby breath. What a year this has been. 24 possible could be the best year of my life thus far. I don't know if I will receive any gifts, and if I do, in what category they will fall. All I know is that I have had some of the best moments that I could not have ever bought myself in the past year. J's birth, H's love, My hubby working hard on our house. It is a blessed life.

Now that I am an adult, my request for gifts are becoming increasingly practical as the years go by. I don't need much, I have everything physically I need, and my heart is full of moments that are better than any gift that could be found in a store. However, if I did receive something tangible, I would even be happy now days with the fourth gift I received on my seventh birthday-- a package of underware.