Birthday boy/turtle boy

Another year celebrating you from the moment we mention anything about celebrating your birthday with cousins. You literally wiped us clean of presents I didn’t have any for you to open for when you blew out your candle (that i didn’t even have for you).

You don’t like the attention anyway. 

I’ll take this smile from you any day. 

We love you for so many reasons, I don’t even know where to begin. 

Christmas

Gifts managed to arrive unde the tree for Christmas morning as well as our traditional breakfast casserole. The temperature made us feel like we made it to a tropical destination. It felt so good to catch a few hours of sunshine. 

Remember when...

 

Remember when you kept me entertained in faculty meetings, rolling around in my belly.

-when you kept me from eating too much because I could barely stand the heartburn
-when you made it harder to breathe or even wear a bra
-when you made my legs look mummified with the most horrible looking veins
-when you got to arrive on a snow day, Julia style. A little crabby but content with the world

Here’s what I’m having trouble remembering
-I slept out in the family room because it was just easier to scoop you up from the bassinet
-you weren’t a big fan of nursing and it would go in your mouth and just run out down my chest
-you ended up being jaundice
-just snuggling because it was winter and there wasn’t much else to do
So you grew as you are growing now-
You have a mind of your own and you have figured out that you need me less.
-you don’t seem to care when I gone and aren’t waiting at the door when I come back
-you no longer grab my ear at night or when you crash into our bed in the early morning
-you brush your hair (almost too much)
-you don’t wear your little dresses anymore because you think things just “don’t look good on you”
-you pull your pants up too high and show your mid drift or tuck your shirt in
-you still tell stories (just the other day you had a doozy of one for your icy bus ride on the way to school
-you wear a size 12ish and 6 shoe
-you love to sing and delay bed time for hours by getting lost in play in your room
-you can be sweet but also say some harsh things out of frustration
-you do movie quotes and make us laugh
-you beg for things and then don't care about them when you get them.