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My little birthday present in 2010 |
Baby 2 and I have birthdays only 6 days apart. We celebrated his second birthday last Friday followed by my birthday on Thursday. It has been a rough couple of weeks (including, but not at all limited to, both cars dying on the same day. And then my car dying again two days later ON my birthday) so it was kind of a relief to have special days to just celebrate and have fun.
When I was pregnant I was embarrassingly dismayed to learn that my due date was April 22nd. My birthday on April 26th has always been sacred to me and the idea that I might have to share a birth week or, the horror, a birthDAY with this little interloper caused me months of worry.
I was quite relieved when my water broke on April 20th. I knew there was no way I'd be in labor for 6 days so my precious day was safe. He sure cut it close though.
Considering how jealously I protected my birthday, I've been surprised by my mental shift over these past two years. April is no longer my month. Instead of making up a birthday wishlist for myself, I've spent the past few weeks teaching Baby 2 to say, "I'm TWO!" When I started going through my cake recipes it was with an eye toward his birthday dinner with the grandparents rather than picking options to hold my candles. A friend texted me on Sunday asking about my birthday plans and I was a bit surprised to realize I didn't have any.
Perhaps, in part, God sent me an April baby to teach me a little humility. When you have a baby turning the momentous TWO your own twenty-seven seems kind of piddling. Planning Baby 2's birthday gifts (this game
He is smart and handsome and hilarious. He has freckles and loves chocolate and always asks me to sing in the car. He eats more pancakes than I do, picks his nose like it's going out of style and snuggles with me every single morning.
And he is the best birthday present I have ever been given.