What a Girl!!

Today we celebrated Princess P's birthday. My husband thinks I get a little too excited about birthdays. He's good with a cake and a song and wonders at my anticipation and need to do something a little extra special. Like when I decided last night at 8:30 that we just had to have a birthday banner, went out to buy supplies and then stayed up until 12:30 making it just right. But to me it's not just a party. It's the anniversary of the birth-day of my children. A day that is not just special, but sacred to me. Forgetful as I am, I remember in detail the days that each of my children were born. The incredible feeling of giving birth to them. I am so grateful to have been able to experience that miracle 4, soon to be 5 times. Humbled, overwhelmed, doesn't begin to describe it. And even though I've been lucky enough to have very uncomplicated deliveries each time, I can't help but think that anything more would still be so very worth it. I love remembering all the significant little moments, special to each of them from those days. With Princess, I remember things like:

• The overwhelming feeling immediately after she was born that it felt so right to have her in our family. (You see, most people weren't expecting us to have our third baby before the oldest turned three.)
• The way those sleepy little newborn eyes flew open and she turned to find her Daddy clear across the room when she heard his voice for the first time. There's nothing quite like having a Daddy's girl. That day; that very moment two years ago, a piece of his heart was stolen by her, and I am ever so glad.
• The way that even in her tiny 5 pound 13 ounce body her personality radiated to fill the whole room. It's exceeded the limits of her physical body ever since. I've always felt such a presence from her. You can almost see it when she flounces around, arms flying, hair bouncing. Sometimes I get the feeling that if that girl had any more personality, she just might explode.
  
• That feeling of having my first little girl. Don't get me wrong......I LOVE MY BOYS. They are every bit as special....but there is just something different about having a sweet little girl; I still remember when Brandon came back that night to check on us, after having been to some meetings and thrilling when I heard him say, "I came to check on my girls." I've loved watching her copycat the things I do, from the dishes to the laundry. I love knowing that I'm passing on something important; teaching her to value being a woman, a wife and a mother. And I've loved the feeling of having a little friend in her....my little gal pal to do the girly things with.

Needless to say, we all love our Princess. Even P Doodle commented today that we would be so sad if we didn't have her. Now, if you've managed to hang on with me after all the sap.....here's how we celebrated her big day.......

It started with our typical breakfast "moovies" and a not-so typical birthday muffin ala the grocery store. Bummer, my oven was broken. So forgive me veggie-lovin' friends, but when you're going store-bought you might as well go whole hog and get the chocolate-chocolate chip muffins, right? At least Princess had the sense to go with the somewhat more reasonable blueberry muffin. She loved having a candle to blow out on it, and we even let the boys do the same on their own.

By the way, in case you're wondering, the birthday banner was a huge success. My late night was totally worth it to hear her pointing it out to her Daddy, "Ees mah burtday!" I'll have to get a picture of it later when we take it down, (I spent long enough on it, it's staying up all weekend dang it!) it's hanging in the kitchen window and wouldn't show up well in a picture.

While Princess napped, the boys and I worked on our somewhat recent tradition of birthday crowns. Of course I couldn't refuse them one as well. I want it to be a fun day for them too!

And the cake.....of course, chocolate sour cream. And thank heavens for good neighbors willing to share their ovens!

This is for the grandparents to record.....after they get their jaws off the floor. Yup....the first baby in our family to be given any birthday cake before the actual first birthday. She knew it was her lucky day!