In the aftermath of a 5 year old's birthday party....

Although Tuesday, March 22nd was Elasia's actual birthday, we had invited all of her "little kid friends" to a Dinosaur/Heart themed  Birthday Extravaganza. (Yes dinos and hearts - so. very. Elasia). (side note: Elasia has lots of "grown-up friends" that she adores and wanted to party with too, even though they don't have children of their own. So we had them over for dinner on Tuesday night.)

The kid party was a huge success. We had some private space at a chain restaurant and the kids got to: make their own pizzas (chefs' hats and everything!), eat an inordinate amount of sugar in various forms and narrowly avoid death by piñata stick. (more

pics to come! That is, once I can whittle down the album to a sane number to share online and figure out how to get it all on a slide show in a post rather than in the sidebar)

We surfed our way through the chaos fun times of Saturday, pushed through a full-scheduled Sunday and now I find myself in ....The Post Child's Birthday Party Zone ::cue creepy music::.

There are newly opened toys scattered throughout our apartment, with all their wrappings and plastic and cardboard and twisty-ties littering our floor like confetti. There are slightly deflating heart-shaped helium balloons - floating like suspended animation art- in our bedroom. There are leftover dinosaur favor bags hidden through our place like Easter eggs. And I'm not actually sure where that last cupcake went....hmmm. Maybe we'll find it petrified under our couch next week sometime.

And there is a happy 5 year old, soundly asleep in her bed and a tired but satisfied mommy, deliriously blogging on the couch in the living room.

I used to judge, misunderstand, or just plain ignore moms who throw "themed" parties. I used to see it as an unhealthy extravagance in the light of world poverty...yadda yadda yadda. I was just ridiculously ignorant like that. But now ... I understand. I know what it's like to love a child so deeply you would give your right arm to make every birthday wish come true. I know what it's like to look at the limited resources you have available and figure out a way to make something spectacular within your means - to stay up late making the decorations by hand (because it's cheaper AND because even in New York City it's tough to come by heart-shaped dinosaur decorations).

I still value minimalism in my kids expectations. I still stress that they should be grateful for anything they get in the birthday category. (Seriously - anything.)  So far it's going well. But I also know from first-hand experience what it feels like to overhear your daughter telling her friend, "I really like hearts AND I like dinosaurs. Did you know that a brachiosaurus was a herbivore and that the T-Rex was...." and then feeling like my goal for the next month was to somehow fill her world with hearts of every color and dinosaurs. I look at her smile and I feel it. I'd move mountains for that little girl. Just 'cause.

But yeah, I'm wiped.  And I probably over-committed/over-extended/over-spent myself this weekend.  But to the nagging little judging voice in my head - I say - she's only 5 once. And I'm smiling as I put my feet up and watching Iron Chef tonight.

It was totally worth it.

Motherhood Mondays: Tomorrow's the day!!

You know - people say "Enjoy those early years...it flies by so quickly..." but I kinda disagree.  The first few years of this adventure called Motherhood seemed to drag on and on and on. I feel like I aged 10 years for every week my baby grew. On a micro-level, I adore my children. On a macro-level, I'm STILL trying to figure out what "mothering" entails.

Tomorrow is a HUGE day. Tomorrow morning our living room will be filled with pink balloons and streamers will be hanging from the ceiling. We'll have a cupcake for breakfast and spend most of the day celebrating our fabulous birthday girl.

Elasia Hope will be 5!!!! 

I remember that first year, feeling swallowed alive by this new role in life - 5 years old seemed so far away! And here it is. Here she is. Such a work of art. Such a gift from God. A reminder daily, in our crazy lives, that - as her name means - God is the God of Hope

I'm so excited.......

from this:

to this:

We made it, my precious Bee-Do!! We made it to 5yrs old!!!

love you muchly,
your momma

What to do...

So, Elasia has had a 102.1 fever since yesterday with no other "sick" symptoms. Well, that's not exactly accurate - she's been very sweet and cuddly and clingy which is not her typical "I-have-to-explore-the-WHOLE-world-right-now-and-i'm-definitely-NOT-napping" personality. Oh, and she doesn't have much of an appetite. In fact, she only wants to eat these multigrain Keebler Club crackers that I've managed to get her addicted to. (Don't be fooled by the word "multigrain", it's only there to quiet my conscience. There's not more fiber or less fat then the regular, buttery, void of nutrition Orginal kind. If anything, they have more sugar. But, hey, they're "multigrain"!)

So it gets tricky because there's only so much you can do with 1 hand, and the hand keeps switching. And then, what I can do with one hand can't be within 2 feet of her reach because she automatically thinks it's for her, grabs whatever it is and puts it in her mouth. This isn't the most ideal scenario for ...oh...chopping vegetables (knives don't make great teething toys)...washing dishes...getting dressed...or anything else constructive that I had planned for today. I can, however, do stuff on the computer, but after a couple of hours I feel like my brain starts to leak out of my ears.

So, what do I do? I'm loving all this cuddle time with baby, but I (and Elasia)leave on Wed night to South Carolina (to visit Deb and her new babies) and there's oh-so-much to do before then. How am I going to do this with TWO kids?! I don't get it.

Adam prayed for Elasia this morning and she is doing better than she was last night, but I think I'm going to call her pediatrician to rule out any infection I can't see (ear, urinary tract, etc). Ah the adventures of motherhood.