Four years ago Today!

Four years ago today at 7:15am  our little boy came into this world! I will never forget that moment. It was one of pure joy and terror combined into one emotion. We now had this little life in our hands that we were solely responsible. Were we going to be able to help him grow into a loving, christian, responsible and independent man? Could we do it? There were times when even at the age of 31 we did not seem like those adults. How would we do this? My mom always told me, “ you and your sister did not come with manuals”. The science behind parenting is just that...you learn everyday and hope and pray for the best. Over the past four years there have definitely been learning phases. When our daughter was born we felt more prepared. We were experts now, we had this parenting thing down! :) HA! That is a pretty funny statement when I look back. Parenting is a never ending learning process that takes much skill and patience. I think we will still be figuring it out for many years to come! I am actually taking a class at church, which starts this week called, “Parenting beyond your Capacity”. I was reading the first chapter last night and it got be thinking about what kind of parent am I? When your children are young you are their main influence. They look to us to watch how we treat people, our faith, our relationships with each other and that is how they learn. Once they get older, around Christian’s age they start developing other influences! People who are in their lives that they see regularly, ones they look to for answers besides their parents. Honestly, this scared me because I started thinking about who I want Christian to be influenced by right now. He is still so young but, branching out in his life more and more. He has many friends and they have parents etc...what is he going to learn? This class talks about combining family life and church life and the influences everyone involved can have on your children! Anyhow, my whole point to this rant is we love our son more than anything in this world. We want to be the best parents to him as possible and help him to become a wonderful person that everyone loves. I hope one day he can look back at this and know everything we did for him was because of that love. One day he will look back on his childhood, as I do, and think how blessed he was to have two parents who did the best they could to raise him right! With God, Love and Luck he will turn out perfect!




Now, I want to take a second to talk about Christian. This little boy is so full of life. His drive and zest for it is never ending. Now that he is getting older he has questions about everything. He is stubborn, assertive, high-strung to say the least and independent! Last night I was giving them dinner and I was trying to help with something. Christian looked at me and said, “ don’t worry about me, I got it”. Where did this come from? Brian and I just looked at each other and laughed. I look at him as my baby boy and he is not a baby at all! In fact, he gets so mad when I tell him that he will always be my baby. He says, “no I am a big boy, not a baby!”

He harasses his sister non stop and does not listen to a thing anyone tells him, hence the reason he is in trouble all the time. He loves to learn new things but, on his own accord. He is learning to write his name is school and he is so proud of what he has accomplished. Christian’s manners are impeccable away from our home! I only wish they would be a little better here but, I would not have it any other way. The teachers at school comment to me how sweet, loving and polite he is at all times! This makes me smile from ear to ear and lets us know, we are doing something good at home. I talked about how Christian can act up but, let me tell you about his tender heart. This little man is one of the most loving of our children. I do not think his heart is big enough to hold all the love he shares with his family and those around him. I have never been told I love you so much in my life. Everyday he tells me a million times, mommy I love you! I can feel my heart melt more each time. In the afternoons, after school he wants to me sit with him for quiet time and snuggle. Sometimes I have to stop and slow down and take a moment to snuggle him because one day he will not ask for it! There are always moments where I catch him hugging his sister and telling her he loves her too. He takes care of her when he thinks I am not watching. When she cries, he does things to make her smile again. He loves to dance, sing and play hard! There is a 100% behind everything he does, whether it is throwing a tantrum or giving a hug! He is our big boy! We love you Christian and hope you had the best 4th birthday ever!

Lets get to the fun stuff in the blog! The birthday party celebration! The party was the 28th, on a Saturday. He told me all his friends that he wanted to come and we sent out invitations. The theme was  Spiderman! There are phases of what he likes and it goes back in forth between Transformers and Spiderman. Once we settled on Spiderman, we got to work preparing. In late August it is HOT so, there is not much activity you can do besides something with water! It seems to be a reoccurring theme that we have a water slide every year for his birthday but, the kids always love it! We rented another big slide this year and everyone loved it, even the adults! The party started at 10:00am and the weather was perfect. In the morning, it felt really nice out but, got hotter as the day went on. We grilled hot dogs or should I say, Reed grilled hot dogs! Somewhere along the way, Reed has become our designated chef every year? Don’t know how that happened but, thanks Reed for always helping out when needed! The kids played for about an 2 hours on the water slide before we went inside to eat and do the cake! I bet there were some great naps that afternoon!

Since this year the theme was Spiderman, I made his cake again. I love this tradition and it is one that I will do for as long as the kids will allow me. I love making their cakes! My mother did it for us and it was always so special that I want to do it for our children. I have to tell you, it means even more to me now because I know the time involved in decorating a cake! Every year seems to become more elaborate! Spiderman was not the easiest when it came to his lines but, my mom helped me figure it out! Thanks for being such the expert mom! The night before when we were decorating the cake, Christian kept telling me, “mom that is so cool”! He loved it!

When everyone was done eating, we all sang him Happy Birthday! It took him a few tries to blow out his candles but, he finally got it done! The smile on his face was just priceless. He loves being the center of attention...hum, I wonder which parent he gets that quality from??? After cake and ice cream they all went back out to play on the water slide. I think Christian was desperately wanting to open presents but, I like to make him wait until people leave. It just cuts back on the chaos and I can keep track of everything better! He is one loved little boy because I have never seen so many gifts. I think you can tell people not to get a gift but, it never works out that way! He had an absolute blast opening presents but, he did it in pieces. He opened a few after his friends left, he opened a few that night and then he saved some for his actual birthday!

I can not even began to remember everything but, here are a few things he got. My parents got him an Optimus Prime Transformer, some skates (which are hilarious) and a monogrammed Louisville slugger bat. Nene and Poppy got him this cool Y-bike. They are all the rage and help kids to learn balance, coordination and the ability to ride a bike sooner without training wheels. Heather got him a Super Why wand, spiderman puzzle and book. The Mizerany’s got him the Moon in my Room, which is really cool and hopefully will help him sleep in his room! Brian loves to build forts with the kids, so I bought him these attachable fabrics that help you make forts anywhere in the house. Among many other things, I think his favorite toy is from Uncle Reed and Melanie! Reed searches high and low to find the best toys. He got him this golf game that helps him improve his swing! Here is a video, it is pretty cool.

That night some friends came back over to play on the water slide. His best friend Elijah spent the night and we built a fort for them to sleep under. I think he had a great birthday because he kept asking when he could do it again!!! Happy Birthday to our Little, Big Boy! We love you!