Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Mikaiah turns 3

When I was a child my mother had (and still has) a very special way of making me feel like the most treasured little girl on my Birthday.  I always felt loved and accepted, but Birthdays were an amazing treat, full of fun and surprises.  She didn't have piles of presents or gobs of treats (though we definitely had some) but it was evident how special we were, and we felt it!  I still remember my mom running up to my room on my 9th or 10th Birthday, early in the morning and covering me with a huge hug and saying "Happy Birthday Michelle!" and I remember thinking "She is as excited about my birthday as I am" and I was right.  I loved it.  My mother would ask me weeks before my birthday what I wanted to do, who I wanted to come, etc. etc. Anticipation galore!  For years I always wanted to have a pinata, and my mother (a do it your selfer before DIY even became cool) always made her own.  They were wonderful.  My favorite was this awesome frog she made, I don't even know how she did it, but it was amazing!  
      Now as a mother myself I naturally wish to pass on these amazing experiences to my own daughters as well.  Everyone knows that Birthdays are special (or at least that they should be) but something happens when you become a mother that changes how you view birthdays forever.  All of the sudden they are not just the day that you turn a year older, but they are a testimony to the day you (or your mother) experienced a miracle.  The day Mikaiah was born was one of the most painful four days of my entire life.  I have never experienced so much pain, so little sleep, and so much agony ever before.  It was truly excruciating, but unlike any other pain you will ever experience this one has not just a light at the end of the tunnel, but a whole new world.  It is truly amazing.  I will never forget how that felt.  Although I confessed to Seth while in labor that I did not want anymore children, I knew even then that it was a lie, once she was born I knew I would do it over and over again if it only meant that I could have this little one in my life.
    So each year as Mikaiah's birthday approaches (and I am sure this will be true for Sequoia as well) I find myself counting down the days and remembering that most painful St. Patricks day ever that led up to her birth two days later.   Now I can see that although Mikaiah loves her Birthday, there is no way she could possibly love it as much as I do! But this is not the only reason I love Birthdays, I also love to create and to plan  and to host,  however as a mother of two living in a small house, I don't always get a lot of opportunities to do so. 
    As Mikaiah gets older Birthdays only get more fun, this year was the first year she really understood what was happening, but that also means she has more opinions about how we will celebrate.  I have no problem with this, but forseeing years and years of ballerina princess parties I took the opportunity to throw her a kite party.  So much fun running around Martin Luther King Jr. Park here in Corvallis with all her little friends flying kites, playing on the playground, and hitting a pinata (yes, it was made by yours truly - with a bit of help from my dear old mom of course!)  It was truly a success (even though Mikaiah was coming down with a cold and coughing up a storm on the way to the party, she survived and we made it there.)  Although the weather was the cloudiest of the week, spatterings of rain mixed with rays of sun, it turned out to be (almost perfect) providing us the wind we needed for our kites to really soar.  I could have used it just a few degrees warmer though!
     The thing that really made the day complete though didn't happen until I arrived back home to a disaster, exausted beyond words but determined to clean up so I could enjoy relaxing, when my sister and my mother in law showed up, did my dishes and helped me put stuff away in record time.  I also had several people help pick up at the party, I really am surrounded by amazing people in my life.
   Thank you all for joining in with me to celebrate one of my favorite days of the year! Happy Birthday little girl!



  What you can't see in this photo is that there was a big playground full of sand, right in front of this swing set, thus my daughter took off her shoes. 




     

1 comment:

Hiker said...

Now that looks like a fun birthday party being enjoyed by a lot of kids! That took a fair amount of planning (and help!) to pull off! Great Job!
The pictures are great! The little ones on the blanket, two with their parasol - very cute! A great day for kite flying as well - you never know, Mikaiah may have liked this so much that the ballerina princess parties may be put off for a few years!