It's late here. 1:30am to be exact.
I'm wide awake due to the fact that I had a much needed nap today. Illness wouldn't be a gift if it didn't keep on giving. That's right, the boys spent enough time sneezing, coughing, and giving giant wet kisses to wear down the immune system. Just enough so it could crack.
Thank God for my mother-in-law, who waltzed into my home like an angel, grabbed the boys and left me in silence.
I took a four hour nap.
I shouldn't have. My body has this weird way of requiring just the perfect amount of sleep. If I sleep too much, I'm hours into the night thrashing around regretting it. If I don't sleep enough, I'm guarranteed a great night's sleep (here's to tomorrow night!). It's a curse, really.
Thank God for my mother-in-law, who waltzed into my home like an angel, grabbed the boys and left me in silence.
I took a four hour nap.
I shouldn't have. My body has this weird way of requiring just the perfect amount of sleep. If I sleep too much, I'm hours into the night thrashing around regretting it. If I don't sleep enough, I'm guarranteed a great night's sleep (here's to tomorrow night!). It's a curse, really.
A cyclical curse of rest and lack thereof. Hmf.
On to my point(s):
*First, the weather has been more than ideal, and even in our snotty glory, we've been taking advantage with picnics and walks. Everett took advantage of Mommy Bee and Carter playing soccer to sneak in the "secret" sauce that Big Brother seems to require with anything meaty.
*Second, how I love the responses on the Birthday Philosophy. What great ideas. I loved some of the emails I received as well. A few ideas that we will be incorporating:
-Special traditions: (this was brought up to me which helped remind me of our special tradition in our home... every birthday we would get to choose our own cereal. As stated previously, we were raised very "granola" (although that's even a stretch to say as granola has a ton of sugar in it), so picking our own cereal was very exciting. Hands down every year I chose Lucky Charms. We also had the option to share or not with our siblings. I'm pretty sure with the pure and gentle hearts that Jake and I possessed, we shared every year, but I do remember watching Jess eating his Golden Grahams, hoarding them to himself, each chew audibly known with a commercial "crunch". I digress.
One mom allowed her kids to have a Hostess cupcake for the first day of school. Cute. She also mentioned giving olives and marshmellows to her kids for Christmas because that's what they loved. Innovative, and in fact reminded me of many-a-years that Jake received pickles for Christmas.
-5/10 year rule: I think this is perfect, herego, I'm pretty sure that we will ammend the philosophy, because truth be told, I was a bit concerned over what to do when additional children came into the picture... how do you do every other year with a third child? And a fourth? But to have standard 5 and 10 year parties, that's something concrete for them to focus on. I like it.
-Cake: Very important. Don't worry, each child will get a cake every year. :-)
-Joint parties: My cousin and I share a birthday (well, a day's difference). We had a few family parties together and that was fun. Small, usually around a pool setting, and just family, but enough reason to be called a party. I am not opposed to this in the least bit. Although March isn't neccessarily pool weather.
-Gifts:Thanks for the feedback on the handmade, and NO Mom, you are not required to make gifts for your grandchildren (a very worried email came my way). This is striclty for my children to do for each other. It excites me that their imaginations will be stretched in this area. As one of my best friends, Melissa, commented, they don't even go to parties for this purpose. I used to think it was a bit crazy, but as I slowly evolve and hope to become more wise, I see and understand the logic. Another mom emailed me about the embarrassment/ inferiorty of attending a party that she would never be able to provide for her child. That struck me hard. I've never thought about it from an atttendent's point-of-view. And truth is, I'm a party planner, LOVE it, and I can get SO carried away with every detail. In the end, what is it all for? To teach my child that he needs the best of everything? Or to teach other children that they don't have the best? When I think of it in that perpective, it literally makes me sick to my stomach (yet, I do plan on having a very special party for Everett, but apparently he will have to look at the pictures for 5 years to know just how special his next one will be!).
Please keep the comments coming. Both Jason and I really appreciate any help or suggestions, as you all know it's a tough category and we want to be as consistent and wise as possible with each child in this subject.
Okay, I'm going to attempt to sleep. Again.
-Special traditions: (this was brought up to me which helped remind me of our special tradition in our home... every birthday we would get to choose our own cereal. As stated previously, we were raised very "granola" (although that's even a stretch to say as granola has a ton of sugar in it), so picking our own cereal was very exciting. Hands down every year I chose Lucky Charms. We also had the option to share or not with our siblings. I'm pretty sure with the pure and gentle hearts that Jake and I possessed, we shared every year, but I do remember watching Jess eating his Golden Grahams, hoarding them to himself, each chew audibly known with a commercial "crunch". I digress.
One mom allowed her kids to have a Hostess cupcake for the first day of school. Cute. She also mentioned giving olives and marshmellows to her kids for Christmas because that's what they loved. Innovative, and in fact reminded me of many-a-years that Jake received pickles for Christmas.
-5/10 year rule: I think this is perfect, herego, I'm pretty sure that we will ammend the philosophy, because truth be told, I was a bit concerned over what to do when additional children came into the picture... how do you do every other year with a third child? And a fourth? But to have standard 5 and 10 year parties, that's something concrete for them to focus on. I like it.
-Cake: Very important. Don't worry, each child will get a cake every year. :-)
-Joint parties: My cousin and I share a birthday (well, a day's difference). We had a few family parties together and that was fun. Small, usually around a pool setting, and just family, but enough reason to be called a party. I am not opposed to this in the least bit. Although March isn't neccessarily pool weather.
-Gifts:Thanks for the feedback on the handmade, and NO Mom, you are not required to make gifts for your grandchildren (a very worried email came my way). This is striclty for my children to do for each other. It excites me that their imaginations will be stretched in this area. As one of my best friends, Melissa, commented, they don't even go to parties for this purpose. I used to think it was a bit crazy, but as I slowly evolve and hope to become more wise, I see and understand the logic. Another mom emailed me about the embarrassment/ inferiorty of attending a party that she would never be able to provide for her child. That struck me hard. I've never thought about it from an atttendent's point-of-view. And truth is, I'm a party planner, LOVE it, and I can get SO carried away with every detail. In the end, what is it all for? To teach my child that he needs the best of everything? Or to teach other children that they don't have the best? When I think of it in that perpective, it literally makes me sick to my stomach (yet, I do plan on having a very special party for Everett, but apparently he will have to look at the pictures for 5 years to know just how special his next one will be!).
Please keep the comments coming. Both Jason and I really appreciate any help or suggestions, as you all know it's a tough category and we want to be as consistent and wise as possible with each child in this subject.
Okay, I'm going to attempt to sleep. Again.