26.

Birthday Thoughts

Last week, I turned 26 years old. It was one of those uneventful days, in that I spent the majority of my time changing diapers and wiping spit-up off my shirt. But I am learning to find joy in those seemingly mundane, tiresome, gross tasks. These little people have added many blessings to my life.

As a brand new mom, I used to pray that the days would go by faster. I was so bored or tired or exacerbated by being a stay-at-home mom. Even though I've always loved this role, sometimes I just wanted a break! Okay, honestly, I always want a break. This constant need-for-a-break leaves me feeling lazy...but breaks are awesome. Life was SLOW.

Now, caring for an infant with many needs while I have a toddler with many demands has lead to non-stop action. There's rarely time for housework, sleep, or any kind of down time.

The days go by FAST. Every year, time seems to grow shorter.

At 26 years old, with two little ones, I pray not that time would go by fast (because I need a break!), but that I would be able soak in the joy of each moment. I don't want time to slow down or stop. I don't want my babies to stay babies forever. I want them to grow up and move-on with their own lives (sniff, sniff!). What I really want is the wisdom to find peace and joy in each present moment.

Wow. Both of my kids just woke up at the same time. Two crying kids...I'm already being put to the test with my lofty aspirations of finding joy in each moment.

I know I fail at this ambition often. But the times when I have been able to enjoy life unconditionally, time doesn't seem too slow or too fast. It seems just right.

Sorry to be gross, but I had to go get my screaming baby....and this is how he thanked me. Real life testing out my recently typed idealism mid-post: this is real life.

Birthday Happenings

My birthday started like other days: battling Willow to a) eat breakfast, and b) eat at the table and not the couch. Also....the lighting in our apartment makes all the pictures look weird.

Willow and I baked pumpkin dream cupcakes with maple cinnamon cream cheese frosting. It took forever with my very helpful helper. Adam bought a kitchen aide mixer from some departing friends this summer. He totally surprised me with this purchase! How fitting that I used it for the first time on my birthday. I didn't think about the perfection of that until afterwards--it was a great present to have smooth frosting without breaking my arm. I was in shock with how easy it was...cutting down the mixing time by an hour, I am sure.

I look forward to using this mixer a lot!

We made these for my birthday, but also for the group of friends that comes over every Tuesday.
I didn't get a picture of all the completed cupcakes, or of the delicious chocolate cake with creamcheese frosting (also made from scratch) that Adam had a friend bake for me. Adam is full of surprises! Thank you for the cake, Kirstin. If you are reading this, I could have eaten the whole cake.

Besides being the first person to tell me happy birthday, in the middle of the night when Noah was crying...Adam also gave me jewelry. He thinks of everything.
The earrings and necklace are the gemstone for Noah's birth month. Last year, Adam gave me earrings with Willow's birthstone.

It was super hard to take these pictures since we have terrible lighting in our apartment. I couldn't really manage a good picture of the earrings. And I couldn't decide which picture of the beautiful necklace to share...so...