Don't Forget Big Brother!

With all the excitement and anticipation of Baby #6's arrival, I temporarily forgot my "baby" was having a birthday soon.  Sully turned 2 on January 5.  I knew having a newborn would make Sully seem huge soon enough so I tried to enjoy my little 2 year old all day long on his birthday.  Here's a recap of how Sully spent his birthday.

Chocolate candy before breakfast is the way to start a birthday!

Reminiscing back to his first few days.

Trying out our new double stroller he will share with baby brother Ezra.

Helping Mommy with laundry.

Playing with his Christmas toys.

Watching some Disney Junior.  We love The Lion Guard.

More candy!

Lunch with one of his favorite buddies.

Giving me those silly eyes.

Skip ahead a few hours because Sully napped and Mommy forgot to take photos at dinner.  He was still the "baby" that day so got all his big sisters' attention.

Our super happy Sully jumping in the crib.

With the snow storm blowing in the next day, Sully's family party was postponed until Sunday when Grandma and Nana could both be there.  Nana spent the weekend with us just in case the baby came, but Grandma was snowed in at her house. Daddy knocked it out of the park with an awesome Minion cake.  Sully loves those minions and has even learned to say, 

"Ba-na-naaaa!"

What is all that white stuff?

Nana played in the snow with Braewyn and Rylan.

Sully wasn't sure he wanted to play.  This is where he stood until I took him inside 10 minutes later.

Super cute none the less!

Super yummy Minion.

Happy Birthday to Sully!

And Minion sheets to celebrate sharing Rylan's bed in a few months once Ezra moves into the crib and Sully moves out.

Sullivan James, you are definitely a gift from Jesus and you bring such joy to our lives!!

Firsts and Lasts in a Baby's Birthday

When your little baby turns one, there are so many emotions involved with his birthday.  Do I want him to grow up?  He seems to be growing so fast!  What will the second year bring?  Where did the year go?  I was thinking all of that and more this past January when our little Sully celebrated his first birthday.  The day came and I thought, Really I don't have the heart to do much.  What?!  I couldn't pinpoint it.  Just because he is baby #5 doesn't mean he shouldn't have a great party like the others did.  Was I just feeling overwhelmed because the big plans in my mind don't always pan out?  Finally a friend nailed it for me.  She sent a text saying how bittersweet all of my children's birthdays will be this year.  This first year without Papa coming to their birthday parties.  That was it.  Grief had reared its ugly head again and I just didn't recognize it.  I hugged Sully a little tighter the rest of the day.  I showed him the picture in my room of my Dad and me.  I told him to say, "Hi, Papa," even though I know he hasn't even said "Mama" yet.

Thankfully, Sully's birthday was on a Tuesday so we didn't celebrate on that day.  By the weekend, I had climbed out of that place I was in and ready to make some memories for this precious baby boy. Before we remember his birthday, let's look at his first year.

 Here we have the inside and out photos of Sully from a year ago!

One month old Sully at Philip's basketball game.

Two and three month old Sully!  Figuring out his eyes and checking out his feet.

 Four month old Sully at his first time to Waffle House celebrating Braewyn's birthday.

Five month old Sully and a memory I always want to remember.  Saying goodbye to Papa.

 Six and seven month old Sully.

 Eight and nine month old Sully.

First Thanksgiving at ten months old being snuggled by Cousin Marie.

Eleven months old and sitting on the steps of our state capitol building.  Fun family trip!

More fun on our trip at the EdVenture children's museum.  He's a big kid now!

So now, on to the birthday photos!

I had been holding him off all year from chocolate.  Chocolate chips for breakfast sounds good on your birthday, right?

Little guy would not take a bottle until the week before his birthday.  It seemed tough then, but now I'm thankful I could nurse him all those months.  How strange for something I did several times a day to seem so very long ago now.

This is the everybody cake.  That white blur in the middle is "1st" written in drippy icing.

And this was the Sully cake!  Can you believe I forgot to take the all important "after" picture??

I'd say Sully enjoyed his first birthday as well as anyone can who doesn't understand what birthdays are.

Thank you for this precious gift named Sully.  You knew so much more than we did just how much we would need his baby snuggles, baby firsts and baby joy this year.  I miss my Dad, but will enjoy telling Sully all about him throughout his life.

My Right Hand Girl

Braewyn and I have had an up and down relationship.  However despite all that, I know she loves me and I love her so much it makes my heart hurt sometimes.  She is strong physically and sensitive emotionally.  When she puts her mind to something, Braewyn will continue to try until she makes it work.  She does a great job looking after her little sister and brothers.  Braewyn and Philip either get along wonderfully or just about try to kill each other.  I know they'd be miserable without the other. People wonder how I can manage having five kids.  Without Braewyn by my side, it would be a whole lot harder.  I thank the Lord for giving me the privilege of being this girl's mom and hopefully years from now, her friend.  Here's a little recap of her awesome birthday weekend.  Can't believe my big girl is now 8 years old!!

Day ONE, night before her birthday:  FIRST CONCERT!!  We took Braewyn, her best friend Anna, Philip and poor little Sully to a Newsboys concert (the band featured in the movie, "God's Not Dead".)  It was an awesome concert and I think Braewyn had the best time.  Her name was on the screen before the concert when Matthew tweeted something about it being her birthday.  Anything with #newsboys made it on the big screen!  Cool!  (Oh and a stop at Waffle House first.)

 Day TWO, her actual birthday: girl ran her first 5K!  I dropped her off at a field where she would be meeting her gymnastics class.  I was told they would run outside this Saturday instead of staying inside the gym since the weather would be so nice.  I wasn't told they were running unofficially with the Girls Run program of our county for a 5K.  Only once we picked her up did we find out what had taken place: Braewyn's first 5K, blast of a birthday morning, and temporary highlights in her hair!  Family birthday time later that night with a yummy cookie cake.  HAPPY 8TH BIRTHDAY, BRAEWYN!

Day THREE, Sunday afternoon children's choir program: Braewyn's first solo performance!  Last fall, Braewyn and three other girls performed some sign language during one of the songs of their children's choir program at church.  For this spring semester, Braewyn tried out for interpretive movement again (what they call sign language during a song).  The choir director told Braewyn that she did have a song for her, but this time she would be doing the motions alone.  I was nervous for her but she did an awesome job!  Philip was also cast in the drama part of the program as Zaccheus.  You'll see part of his scene first.  This once super shy, bashful girl glorified God before everyone in attendance.  So proud of you, Braewyn!!

I'm This Many!

For a few weeks after her birthday, Juliet wouldn't say her age but just hold up 4 fingers and say, "I'm this many!"  Hard to believe that on February 17 our sweet baby Juliet turned 4 years old!   I think four is a special age because kids start coming into their own with opinions, interactions with friends, activities, and in our case, dropping the daily nap (for the most part that is!).

Here's a look into how Juliet spent her birthday. Not a normal day, and not the birthday I exactly wished for her but overall, I think she enjoyed herself.

7:00 am Making muffins with little brother Rylan

8:00 am Checking out the snow!! (It was actually a few inches of accumulated icy snow, not the powdery stuff!)

And they wanted Sully in the picture too!

10:00 am All suited up to play in the ice snow!

11:00 am Just a little bit of school.  Learning the letter H and placing heart stickers on her H.

4:00 pm Skip ahead a few hours after she had laid down for a short nap (i.e. the pull-up) to find Juliet playing with a Dora toy

5:00 pm After I got Rylan up from his nap, Juliet decided she would crawl into the pack-n-play 

7:00 pm Special birthday treat: watching Disney's Brave for the first time.  This movie is only for big girls as there are a few scary bear scenes.

8:00 pm Beautiful cake made by Matthew

We all love cake time!

Juliet has very specific tastes: white cake with pink, purple and blue icing and Frozen on top

Daddy nailed it!

We love our birthday girl

So excited to open her presents: Elsa and Anna dolls

Her birthday celebration continued a few weeks later.  Her good friend Greta invited Juliet to join her and her husband Mark at his company's family "Frozen" night.  Juliet had a blast dressed as Elsa thanks to Greta.  Can you believe Greta had never seen "Frozen" before that night?  I think Juliet sang every song and probably recited most of the movie while watching it.  

We love you, Juliet, and are so excited to watch you grow in your love for your family, Jesus, everything pink and purple, "Frozen", and whatever else your sweet, silly heart finds to be wonderful in the days ahead!