Happy Birthday Shea!

My baby turned 6 today. That's right. 6 years ago today is when I got to meet me boy face to face for the first time.

He was sleepy and they had me wake him to eat. Could he be annoyed that we had to take him a week early? His temp was not rising at first and I had to hold him skin to skin to get him warm. He had trouble latching on and I had to pump and feed him with a syringe. When I think back now it seems like a movie, someone else's story.

He is getting to be a big boy now. He lost his first tooth a week or so ago. He is reading better and better everyday and will be moving on to 1st grade next fall.

When I look at my kids, both of them, I feel like they are the best thing I have done with my life. The incredible joy they bring is only outweighed by the heavy responsibility I feel to help them develop into the wonderful people that I know they are.

Happy birthday, baby boy! Because of you, I am a much better person than I ever was before.

Slumber-riffic 11th!

The magnificent Miss Molly's birthday is tomorrow and tonight we are having a slumber party. 7 young ladies including Molly will descend on the house this evening after working up an excellent pizza appetite at the skate park.

We are making build your own pizzas, fruit salad and having cake and ice-cream here. Then there is henna tattoos, make your own t-shirts, movies and popcorn to keep the evening lively.

I have sent Jake off to visit a friend, to have a little male bonding time so I can "like totally" hang with the girls. Or not, whatever they want.

Whether or not, I am here to cut cake and make popcorn, splooge henna goo out onto hands, wrists and ankles. Tomorrow I will rise and make a tower of pancakes. The 10 grain kind that Molly never really gets to have anymore because of Shea's wheat intolerance.

11 years ago right this minute? I was 1 week over due and just going into labor.

I would make the trip to Swedish at about 8:00 PM where the triage nurse informed me, "Honey, you aren't even dialated."

Back home labor kicked into gear with a vengence as Jake and I bucked it by ourselves until about 1:30 AM when we went back to Swedish. By that time, I was way dilated and too far gone to get the jacuzzi tub, I always remember being annoyed at that.

But, then I pushed and pushed all night but she was OP and wouldn't budge. I tried long and hard but by 9:00 they had an operating theatre open and I said, "Get this kid out of me. Thank you very much!!" Emergency C-section for me.

Then there she was. Her forhead red from smacking into my pelvic bone all night. Already hollering as they pulled her out of the secret trap door. Jake was a little green from watching the incision and the moving around of my guts. Weirdest feeling in the world? Yes.

Someone holds her up for me to see her and she is moving her fingers rhythmically, fan like back and forth gracefully in the air. I have never seen anything more beautiful in my life.

I knew immediately that she was going to be the most beautiful, funny, vivacious girl I had ever known. And, that is exactly who she is.

Happy Birthday Molly!

I love you!

Happy 50th Birthday, Jake!

I always hated all the "Over the hill" stuff for 50th Birthdays. I always thought it was cruel and not very funny.

Does it become funny when you are past 50 and then do it to your younger friends? Is it just plain old not funny?

We have been trying to spoil Jake over the past weekend and today, the actual day. But, I did not get him a cake. We had chocolate ice cream with a candle stuck in it.

I asked him if he wanted a cake but he was ambiguous. And, it is not as much fun to have birthday cake when Shea can't even eat it. Why should we get a big old cake if it is just going to torment Shea and he won't be able to eat any? That isn't fun.

He seemed a little sad about it.

Maybe I should have gotten one anyway.

Nice to meet you finally!

When I was pregnant with Shea, we went off island to get the ultrasound done. We decided to take Molly out of school for the day so that she could "see" the baby in my tummy too. Sort of an educational experience. Now, she says she doesn't even remember it.

Miraculously, the ultrasound got a real good shot of in-utero Shea. Such a good shot that you could actually see his face, expression, eyebrows, etc. Uncanny, really.

5 years ago today, he came out of the secret trap door in mommy's tummy. Scheduled C-section due to my first being an emergency C-section.

He was a week early and was covered in that waxy-lotiony covering. Sorry I forget what it is called. But, he was almost completely white with it all over him.

When I first saw Shea, I recognized him from the picture and felt like we were meeting again.

Aha! There you are! Where you been?

Happy Birthday little man!

Busy, busy day. Frosted cupcakes this morning. It turned into a sticky, delicious, messy art project. I tried not to think about people actually eating them after all the handling.

Met up with a herd of kids at the Vashon Theatre for the movie. I spent most of the time trying to unravel 30 balloons strings but the movie (Cars) was a huge success.

Shea sat in the front row with 2 buddies, rooting and grooving at all the vehicular action going on.

Near the end, he jumped up with good pal, Mack, to dance to Route 66. I have to admit I was doing some toe tapping myself as I nursed my cricked neck from sitting too close to the screen.

Yeah! Movie is over, hand out balloons, folks hustled off to enjoy the rest of a beautiful sunny Saturday. We lugged out an indecent pile of presents and headed home for the a fore mentioned cupcakes.

Sugar buzz effecting us all but managed to work some of it off running around outside, doing some weeding, etc. Pretty tired now and watching a movie. Getting ready to hit the sack soon.

Nice day, nice party, nice friends, nice town.

You only turn 5 once!

Birthday season and the joy of cupcakes

Must be a popular time of the year to born! Birthdays, birthdays, everywhere birthdays these days.

Because my kid is allergic to pretty much everything birthday treat related except chocolate (thank god!), we are spending a lot of time these days trying to run interference.

Cupcakes at school are common. And, who could blame them! It is so fun to bring treats for all your school buddies but, of course, Shea is allergic to cupcakes. To be specific wheat, gluten, eggs, soy, whey, rye, barley, peanuts. It has to be a pretty creative cupcake to not have any of those things in it.

Alas.

We have had a few slip ups where the teacher forgot to warn us and he ate the contraband cupcake. Sure enough, that weird swoony, head rolling, keening, distracted Shea swims back to us out of the gluten fog. It only takes a day or two for him to normalize but it sure does remind us why we go through the enormous hassle of his wheat/gluten free diet.

But, the teachers, bless their hearts, are well trained now. Tomorrow; another cupcake fest will happen. I will supply a special "sanctioned" treat for Shea to eat. I doubt if it will bother him too much although it might. If I was a fly on the wall I would be able to find out for sure. Tempting. He loves these WOW cookies that I have profiled before and he'll get a whole one to himself. So, I hope he will not complain too much or feel left out.

So, obviously no cupcakes for his birthday which is barreling right down on us. What is it about kids birthdays? Man, we pile on the goodies. Why? Because it is fun, that is why!

We have decided to rent the Vashon Theatre for the party. We can invite 30 pals who will get a popcorn/candy/drink combination as we watch the movie "Cars". Where else would you feel brave enough to invite 30 4 and 5 year olds? Needless to say, no cupcakes. After the movie, I will give all the kids a little gift bag or maybe a balloon tied to some bubbles soap and then Adios!

We will come back to our house and have a gluten free cake of my making, sing the famous song, blow out 5 candles, play with the haul of new toys that he doesn't need and remember back to exactly 5 years ago this very minute.

It will be fun. There will be chocolate. And, there will be memories.

Happy birthday, indeed.

Happy Birthday David!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to you!

Happy birthday to my favorite baby brother in the world!

Happy birthday to you! And, many more!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX

Birthdays

What is it about birthdays as you get older? I just can't seem to rustle up the excitement like I used to. I actually had to do the math this year to even remember exactly how old I was going to be.

44. Today. I got just what I wanted. A busy but productive day; happy noisy kids at school all day, house projects going great guns, one of a kind art-class made birthday gift from Molly, a happy birthday wish from my mom.

A friend brought over some island foraged Chanterelle mushrooms and some smoked salmon. Jake made me the lightest, fluffiest sauteed Chanterelle Parmesan omelet. And, we topped it all off with ice cream sundaes with candles and a song.

Basically, I consider myself a very lucky gal. There is something more than a little bit free-ing about not really caring about it all that much. There are so many other things to think about rather than how old I am or will I be.

So, maybe next year I will muster up some more energy to celebrate 45. If not, definately by 50.