The Story of Birth

Two days and no blog...I have already been scolded by someone who reads my blogs with her morning coffee.  It has been a CRAZY busy weekend!  My baby girl turns 5 tomorrow!  I spent all day Saturday organizing & redecorating her bedroom as part of her birthday present.  It turned out gorgeous!  Plus I painted a wall with chalkboard paint so now she can draw on the walls all she wants!

Yesterday we had her birthday party at the zoo!  Whew, birthday parties are so much work!  They pretty much determine your social status...the pressure!  First of all, the location sets the atmosphere.  You have to figure out an activity that will keep the kids entertained for two hours.  No one wants to be known as the parent of the kid with the lame birthday party!  Her love of animals made this an easy choice- the zoo!  Next is the invitations....the decorations...the food & drink.  Oh and the goody bags.  Oh, the goody bags...probably the biggest source of pressure in determining birthday party success.  The stores have aisles lined with cheesy, cheap goody bag fillers and as parents it is our duty to comb thru the cheesiness and find the treasures!  This takes imagination, creativity and a deep wallet. 

Luckily, Madison's summer birthday happens to fall within back to school sales.  Not lucky enough to be close enough to the start of school to score 10 cent boxes of crayons but I did score Crayola crayon boxes for 50 cents each and notepads for 22 cents each.  Plus I found these cool monkey themed goody bags with hats and noise makers.  I had to throw in some kind of food item but was really hesitant to load the kids up with sugar.  Sure, that would guarantee me a spot as the cool Mom with the kids, but the Moms would all be shooting me mental daggers.  So I went with the all natural, no artificial coloring fruit snacks.  I figured that was a good compromise!  So much fun, but so glad it is over! 

Despite the brand new remodeled room, Madison still got in bed with me last night.  I asked her if she wanted to hear about the day of her birth.  She said yes, so I pulled her close and wrapped my arms around her.  I told her of how I lay in bed the night before my scheduled c-section and rubbed my belly.  I was so excited to meet her, to hold her.  I wondered what she would look like, what she would be like, who she would become.  I told her about all the people who came to the hospital early in the morning to wait for her to debut.  I explained about the doctors going in and bringing her out and how her cries were the most beautiful sound I have ever heard.  I told her how I had to be in recovery until I regained feeling back in my legs and could wiggle my toes and how hard I worked to wiggle my toes because I so badly wanted to be with her.  I told her how much we had wanted a baby and how happy we were to be her parents.  She listened to everything I had to say and in the end she said, "Mommy?"  I smiled and said, "Yes, baby girl?"  She looked at me with her sweet blue eyes and in the sweetest little voice she said, "Did you brush your teeth today?"