Happy Belated Birthday Little Man

Hello everyone! This past weekend was jam-packed full of celebrations – with field trips, a 90th birthday party, the opening season of softball and t-ball, our school’s annual Family Fun Fair (I was the main organizer), a little holiday called Mother’s Day, and company at our house for 4 nights – but all of the celebrating began with Noah’s 5th birthday last Thursday.

I remember being in a heap of emotions and diapers 5 years ago, with a newborn, a 2-year-old, and a 6-year-old, tired from the lack of sleep and crying. I would sit up rocking Noah in the middle of the night and couldn’t help but think about how life would be when he was 5 – all of the kids would be in school and I’d be turning 30.

And somehow, someway, life flew by – and now my happy little boy is 5 years old – my last baby, and I can’t help but wish I could have just a few more sleepless nights with him and moments of snuggles.

Thursday, on his birthday, Wayne and I both attended a field trip that his preschool had over at Precision Helicopters outside of Newberg. It’s a training school so they had several different kinds of helicopters for the kids to check out. We’d been there before, but every year it’s just as exciting for the kids to climb up in the helicopters and watch the large one take off.

I brought cupcakes and all of the class sat in the field and celebrated Noah’s birthday with us.

Afterward, we took Noah out to lunch. It’s become our little tradition with each kid, allowing them to pick a place and have a one on one lunch with both Wayne and me.

Noah’s big party was held this past Saturday, but we always try and make the ‘real’ birthday special too

I frequently talk about making memories and celebrating life on here, but I was reminded of how important it was again when I sat down with elderly woman whom I occasionally work for a couple of weeks ago to talk about life. The kids, our schedules… she’s someone whom I’ve felt a connection with ever since we met a couple of years ago, and she has the family that I can only hope mine grows up to be someday.  Last time we talked she said,

 “Now honey, I don’t want you to think I’m
preaching at you – but you make those memories with your kids now. Today they
are entering Kindergarten and next week they are graduating high school, and
you’re going to miss this time. We always sacrificed things that maybe our
neighbors thought were a necessity, so we could spend time with our children.
We traveled around the world to show them different cultures and histories. We
encouraged them to continue with school and educate themselves so that they
could live the life they want and could also use their abilities to give back
to the community. But enjoy those moments now – I sure do miss them.”

If I could go back and remind my 18, 22, or 24-year-old self that – I would…snuggle those babies, celebrate those birthdays, and live in the moment.

Happy belated birthday little man – you’ll never know just how much joy you have brought to my life.

~Momma