My Big, Little Man

What a month, and what a way to cap it off with a couple of birthday celebrations!

I would be remiss if I didn't at least post (very quickly) that my better half has entered another milestone, yep, 40. And he did it well, without pomp and circumstance (which is the way I think he wanted it).

However, I believe we both have a desire to just fly past this next birthday and go on to better things, like the fact our baby boy is now 3! And this blog would just not be complete if I didn't take a post to include pictures of how our several celebrations turned out for Duke.

Thanksgiving is a big holiday in the Rath family.  It's the one absolute certain time of year that the entire family gathers in Tennessee at Grandma's house to celebrate the holidays, both Thanksgiving and Christmas and since three of the family have birthdays that fall that week as well, it's birthdays too - Cory on the 26th, my nephew Kevin on the 28th and Duke on the 30th.  This year that meant #'s 40, 17 and 3.  Wow.  And grandma always comes through with plenty of sweets.

The funniest part of the approach to Duke's birthday this year is that about 3 weeks ago, Cory made an off-handed comment about how his birthday was "coming up".  Of course, in 3 year old speak, that usually means sometime before the next major meal he's going to have.  I remember it clearly, it was a Sunday and on the way to church he kept saying "It's my Birthday!" to which Cory would reply, "Not yet Duke, it's coming up soon."  I didn't think much of it, until we were on the way home from church and again it came up a few times, "It's my Birthday Mommy!".  Slowly it became clear, this kid seriously thinks that today is his birthday.  Uh oh.  Yep, that afternoon we had an actual birthday party to attend for a sweet little friend of Jack's, however as we prepped to leave the house the "It's my Birthday" turned to "We are going to My Party!" and "I get presents!".  Uh oh.

So after a few rounds of trying to reason with my 2 year old, soon to be 3 year old - not really a reasonable possiblity, and I must add he gave his #1 fit thrower brother a run for his money, we got in the car.  I figured at worst the child would finally figure it out when the birthday cake showed up in front of Sophia to blow out the candles.  If there was a fit to be had at that point, I'd just deal with it then.  But just like he always does, Duke came through and suprised me when I least expected it.  As we drove to the party, slowly he started to reason things out himself.  If there was a way I could have bottled that day, I would have. 

He started the trip with "It's My Birthday!, Daddy said so Mommy!" in a bit of a shout - I'm serious, he pulled out the "Daddy knows more than you do Mommy!" attitude - can you believe it, well actually I can given my rank in the house between this kid and his dad.  Nonetheless, I reassured him that his birthday was coming in a few weeks, it wasn't today, but soon.  Slowly the rant changed to a question, "It's my Birthday Mommy?" to which I responded, no, not yet, but soon, in a few weeks.  And that's when a magic mom moment hit - "It's your birthday when we go to Grandma's house!"  And there became my savior, Duke now had a moment and place in time he could relate his birthday to.  It got real quiet in the car for a bit, Jack had conked out and I had assumed Duke had as well since there was not a peep out of the back for at least 5 minutes (that's like an eternity in my world).  Then all of a sudden, in a near whisper from the back seat came

"Mommy, it's not my birthday today."

It was as if he was resigned to the fact and finally acknowledging it to himself.  And in that moment, he shined.  Duke has always been quick to figure things out.  He's lucky as he has a big brother that's not so much bigger that he can follow along with.  But in spite of that advantage, he's always interpreted situations so quickly.  It's a quality in him that is quiet but when you see it in action, you know it's special.   And by the time we arrived at the party, my sweet, strong, quiet amazing 2 year old was sharing with everyone that it was not his birthday, YET, but it would be his birthday when he went to Grandma's house!

So, in the spirit of Duke's birthday, it was a big bang the first night of our trip to Tennessee with a cupcake cake by Grandma, in the shape of a 3, with Darth Vader to cap it off (Duke's favorite villian!)

But the fun didn't end there for our birthday boy.  Upon returning from Tennessee we would be remiss not to continue our tradition of waking up our little guys on their birthday with a cupcake lit with a candle in their bed - so Monday a.m. in walked Daddy and me with a cupcake, lit up with candle in the dark and a shiny new vintage Darth Vader figure for him.  A day early, yes, but because of some required arranging of Daddy's travel schedule and the fact Duke shares a birthday with one of his school friends we opted to have his party at school on the 29th rather than 30th.  And I'm sure Duke approved moving up the opening of presents by a day had he known any better.

How's this for a smile at 5:45a.m.!?

All of it was wonderful - the Star Wars cake at school was a hit, the party hats, Duke's being bashful (!) as his classmates sang Happy Birthday, opening his presents, it was all a part of such an amazing day.  But nothing can quite express how fabulous it was as much as Duke himself!

Happy Birthday my little big man.  You make my heart smile everyday in ways I can't express.  I just know that someday you will be the one that holds Mommy's heart in his hand bigger than any other.

Welcome to the 4's!

Another birthday came and went...well that's what Cory and I will be saying about this year's festivities for us.  Jack had a great one as he rolled into his 4's.  It was a mixed theme - Starwars and Pirates.

We celebrated simply this year after last year's big joint Jack/Duke birthday bash.  Just a cake at school and presents at home.  But simple it was not apparently.

I need to just get it into my head that Jack really needs major advance preparation and reminders for any event that is outside the typical normal day.  I mean why do I torture myself thinking this is going to be the last exhibition of a being overwhelmed by attention moment he will have.  He's the one on the right by the way.  On the left - his completely opposite tempered brother.  I should have reminded his teachers to warn him when leaving the playgound, he's only been in the room a couple of weeks, they wouldn't have had any chance at knowing what result would come of him walking into his classroom to find me and his father with a the big pirate birthday cake he has been drooling over at the Publix bakery every week for nearly a year and all the tables decorated with pirate plates and hats ready to sing him a great big Happy Birthday song!

Instead, upon entering the room and surveying the scene, a crumpled mess he became on the floor and I spent about 15 minutes trying to console him and calm him down while assuring his teachers it was ok to let the other kids share in the cake and not to worry, that this was "normal" for us.  Let's face it, although he is a sweet, kind, wonderful, curteous, happy child 90% of the time, it's the 10% of instantaneously being overwhelmed by too many people, too different a situation that I struggle to figure out.

Ahhhh hindsight, 20/20.

A much better moment came at 5:45am - guess he's a morning person like his parents.

The best part of the day was waking him up in bed, along with Daddy who had been gone a full week, with his birthday cupcake lit up with a candle in the dark.  Something I started last year and which I cannot wait to repeat in 3 months for Duke for his 3rd birthday.  Alongside the cupcake, some small seemingly insignificant trinket or figure, but one that has been so wanted for so long that you would think I was handing a 16 year old keys to his first car.  Last year it was Guido and Luigi from Pixar's Cars.  This year, the Battleship Droid Commander.

We did make it through the party at school and returned home to a quiet night of opening and playing with our fantastic presents (I still have lots of thank you's to send out!).  He was a trooper even insisting Duke open some of his presents for him and they've been sharing them ever since.  I just hope we see the same generosity in a couple months.

Best line of the week came yesterday when out of the clear blue Jack pipes up from the back seat, "Hey Mommy!  Hey, I'm 4 now!!!!"

That Little Thing Called Life

Life, that's what's been happening people.  I know you've been checking in daily to find out what the latest excitement has been in our little corner of the world only to be sorely dissapointed to find out that for another day you will have to live in the suspense of not knowing.  Well, now you know, it was life that was happening.

That's right, and for once I just put the computer down and lived it.  (Well, maybe not down, maybe just didn't type http://www.coryandsarahrath.blogspot.com/ into my browser when it was in my lap.)

Ah but all that has changed, and here I am.  And to fill you in, here are just a few highlights of the past 45 days (for your enjoyment and my attempt to update this, my electronic diary of the life of the Rath's).

I ran in a 5K and finished (and not on my hands and knees, although I will have the foresight next time to actually take the inhaler an hour before exercise like my doctor suggested so I can avoid the final 1/3 mile of wheezing from the exhaust of the idling police vehicles designed to help aid the runners in their quest to finish).  And I'm happy to report that although due to the rest of the events that follow, I had taken a slight reduction in my training schedule, I have in fact ramped it up again and am working toward consistenly hitting the track for 15 miles per week minimum.

My Dad visited for a long weekend and we planted all my landscape for this year...it's looking mighty lovely now and although we didn't really plan it out to be, we picked the perfect weekend for him to come as it was the Birmingham Botanical Gardens Annual Plant Sale so we got some great specimens at amazing prices. I'm so looking forward to marking that weekend as his annual trip - although since the size of the wine glasses I have vs. the ones Dad is accustomed to are significantly larger I will be sure to be the one pouring the wine when we have the neighbors over for dinner and a visit during next year's trip.

We said goodbye to our very best friend in the whole world - Payton - and her Mommy Leslie, who have moved on to bigger and better things in Gaithersburg, MD.  Payton and Jack spent every weekday together at Odyssey Early School since they were just a few months old.  Leslie and I have become close friends in that time through many a parenting moment.  We miss them terribly, but know we will visit them one day without a doubt.  And we are so excited for them to also be bringing a new sister for Payton into the world this fall - maybe a little unexpected excitement given all the other craziness in their lives, but a blessed one nonetheless and one that's been much wanted for a long time.

 

I was able to attend 3 different meetings with the Children's Hospital Auxiliary Board and continue to stay involved in helping to formulate plans for the future of the hospital volunteer arm as they embark on the upcoming multi million dollar expansion.

Mother's Day - I got sheets.

We finished up our small group semester at church, having taken the Growing Kids God's Way parenting course and boy, did that transition our household.  Both Cory and I felt for the first time we both had a plan of action in raising our kids that not only made sense, but that we believed in and that WORKED!  We've both adopted a much calmer demeanor in handling trying moments and have honestly, lightened up in how we were managing our day to day lives.  Not sure that makes sense, but maybe I can translate that to we've taken the pressure off - of ourselves and thus off our kids.  I think we both are such perfectionists in many ways and expect so much of ourselves (and by default of others) that we had to step back and really take a look at the road we could have headed down with our kids.  Everything in context, but with the understanding there is one main rule right now in this household - Listen to Mommy & Daddy.  And when it works.  WOW.  Our kids are happier, we are happier, there is less yelling, more listening, and even GASP - obeying without being asked!  I know, shock, I'm still kind of in it.

We went on our first family vacation and not to visit family! (No offense to any of you of course, WE  LOVE TO VISIT YOU)  We spent 4 days and 4 nights in beautiful Destin, Florida at the Sandestin Hilton Resort where we laid on the beach, swam at the pool, ate out a few times and basically did nothing for the entire trip but enjoy the kids having their first experience at "the ocean!"  Absolutely the most enjoyable trip we have ever embarked on with the kids.  I actually looked over at Cory sometime during Day 2 and asked him who the kids were that were with us, because they weren't the same ones we had at home (see above paragraph, I was still in denial at the time that we actually had turned the corner in our household in the land of behavior) .  I absolutely cannot wait to go again, but alas, we may be waiting a while it seems by the looks of the oil spill and how it will affect our sugar sand shores of Alabama and Florida (no further discussion to be had here).

During all of this, I also organized our Teacher Appreciation Week at the boy's daycare.  With 50 teachers to honor and about 175 families to coordinate, I had my work cut out for me.  It was a lot of work, but I had a great group of parents that stepped up to help and it was worth every bit of extra time and effort to see the reaction of the teachers to their well deserved week of special events.  Lots of parents thought I was crazy to undertake such a mission, but that's my spiritual gift - organizing and pulling it all together - and I can't think of a better group of women (and man) to reap the benefit.

My Birthday - as of this posting I have 355 days left.

Finally, we held our 3rd Annual Memorial Day Bash at self named Sterling Creek Ranch.  Again this year, storms were part of the party, but we had about 50 people make it out and enjoy a full day of sun, storms, water, food and fun times.  Nothing makes us happier than being able to share this place we call home with friends.

So, that was what was happening this last 45 days, just life, and so glad to have lived it.

The Love Turns 2

How many birthday celebrations can one two year old kid have you ask?

Well, three in our house, for our 2 year old Duke!

Back in October we celebrated a joint birthday with brother Jack (3) and all our school friends, over the holiday weekend we celebrated at Grandma's house and shared it with our cousin Kevin (16) and Daddy (hmmm...). But today, today was the real thing, and we celebrated in style.

Micky Mouse cupcakes with orange and blue icing that doesn't wipe off (until you are immersed in a bathtub for 20 minutes, ah well).

I truly cannot believe how quickly time has passed in our little world down here in Alabama. But then I look at what he was doing just one year ago today and I am amazed at how much has changed in him. From just happy to be here with his smile to shouting "Big Truck Mommy!" at the passing of every semi on the highway as we drive along. From the staggered, steady first steps to a dancing maniac (oh and just wait until I get the chance to post the latest Lion King "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" ode to Elton John moves the boy has!). From the instantaneous temper fits - although short lived they are - to the gentle lovin' he gives whenever we ask for it and each "snuggle?" he requests. My baby Duke is all his own. Nothing like his brother other than the big eyes and lashes. The rest he's made of himself and I'm so happy to have such a sweet, strong, independant darling little man in my life.

Happy Birthday Duke. Your name serves you well.

Not to be outdone, I just got to sorting through pics of our holiday weekend at Grandma's in Tennessee and found this one to share - Grandma makes the BEST cakes as evidenced by the smile!