Tag: birthdays

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Now We Are Seven

I don’t usually do mushy birthday posts on here, preferring instead to publicly recount my humiliations and catastrophes, I guess. But Colum just turned seven and something weird keeps happening in my chest. It’s like a squeezing sensation that’s accompanied by a lump rising up in my throat and suddenly my eyes get all wet.

What is it about seven that feels so different?

It’s his second season of t-ball. He’s rounding the bend on Grade One. Next fall he’ll be in an older hockey division. He told me that even though he still likes Dora okay, other kids in his class don’t and he gets that he’s almost too old for it. (Not that he’d ever watch anything but sports and Power Ranger reruns anyway if it weren’t for his sisters.)

He’ll reluctantly hold my hand crossing busy streets but pulls away as soon as we reach the other side. He is about to learn to tie his own shoes and ride a two wheeler, I swear! (He’s more than ready, but someone has been too busy to properly teach him.) He pours his own milk and throws his clothes in a heap on the floor just like his dad does. Sniff.

He’s not little anymore is the thing. Seven feels like the threshold between little kid and big kid. He’s still a kid, of course. He still needs supervision and help and prodding, and he’s not yet completely and utterly humiliated by my presence. (I am working on it!)

But I can’t easily pick him up anymore. He spends much more time apart from me than he does with me. His French is already better than mine after two years of French Immersion and he definitely knows way more about Star Wars than I ever will.

In many ways these next few years will be even better. Not being needed as much (or in such a time-consuming way) is liberating. He’s great company and bedtime reading is so much better than it used to be. No offense, Goodnight Moon. He’ll become ever more independent and responsible and is already able to help out with his little sisters.

It’s a good thing, I know. But if the past seven years have gone by in a blur, can you imagine the next seven years? By this time next week, he’ll be 14 years old and his voice will be changing and he’ll be the one who can pick me up.

Oh dear. Now the wetness from my eyes has spilled down my face. I’m okay. I’m okay.

I just need to remember not to wish away any more moments. They are fleeting enough as it is.

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You Say It’s Your Birthday

You won’t find a series of birthday posts in my archives. My children won’t be able to go back and read about how they were starting to walk and speak on their first birthday. Nowhere do I write, “You are growing more and more independent every day and Mommy is so proud of you.” They will only be able to read about that time they landed in the ER and about my spectacular postpartum periods and about how I doubled over vomiting from heat stroke in front of them.

I do this for you, dear readers. Because of course I am proud of my kids, but … YAWN … So boring! I think just dozed off in the middle of that last thought. I do, however, actually celebrate their birthdays in real life. They get parties and presents and cake and we take pictures and post them on Facebook or just keep them in our phones until we lose them. Real life!

But today is my birthday. I don’t get much in the way of real life celebrations because, you know, BABY JESUS has a birthday coming up too. I also wouldn’t have it any other way because I am an adult and I don’t need to mark the passing of every year with streamers and cake or Jäger shots and lap dances. I definitely don’t need tea and crumpets. Nonetheless, I feel like marking the moment here.

I am 34 years old today which is not so old but also, everyone would agree, not so young. It’s my last victory lap in the 18 – 34 age bracket and, really, with three kids under my belt I guess it’s about time. I was feeling kind of introspective and thought I had a lot to say about this aging business. Now that I’m writing, however, I don’t know that there is that much to say. There’s only the same feeling I had when I turned 24, really, which was, “You’re not a kid anymore. It’s time to grow up and get shit done.” The promise of professional success that has always shimmered somewhere in the middle future, sliding just out of reach like a desert mirage of prosperity, is still there. Only now that middle future is getting shorter. In fact, it’s already here so I just need to pick up my game.

I got to be a friend’s plus one for the Lowest of the Low show at the Horseshoe last night which turned out to be a very fitting celebration. Attending a rock show is, after all, a very youthful thing to do. That it was The Lowest of the Low (a hugely influential Toronto band from the early ’90s) reunion show was even better. I was 15 years old when the band split up in 1994, so I still got to be one of the youngest people in the audience. And here were these musicians that are pushing 50 on the stage and they rocked it. And they looked good. And it was a lot of fun.

The old Horseshoe Tavern is also celebrating it’s 65th birthday this year with a freshly inked eight year lease.

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So here’s to another year of doing what you do and leaving the getting old thing to other people.

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Happy Birthday! Let me just wash that original sin off … There!

We celebrated Mary’s first birthday yesterday morning, right after her baptism. Yep, kid number three gets a birthday and baptism combo party and I’m proud of it. In fact, I’m currently launching a “We don’t need a party EVERY year,” campaign for the other two. So far, they’re not buying it. This is probably because they’ve been spoiled by all the specialized attention they used to get. Don’t worry, though, I’ll chip away at their collective sense of entitlement yet.

The baptism itself was fine. Although we hauled ass to get to the church for the 9am mass that immediately preceded the baptism and it turns out we didn’t need to. The other two families who were baptizing babies at the same time arrived after the mass was over and therefore didn’t have a baby who had already sat through an hour long mass. Of course, we’ve done this twice before at the same church, but I seem to have lost all ability to retain information. Seriously, if I didn’t sit down and type all this stuff up on this blog right away it would be lost forever.

At one point Mary was arching her back so severely, eyes rolling back and letting out a sort of strangled cry and I wondered if she maybe thought we were there for an exorcism instead. Babies can’t keep anything straight. Then, as part of the ritual, the parents and Godparents are asked to reject the “glamour of sin” and the influence of “the Prince of Darkness.” Hold up. That right there sounds pretty alluring. Note to the Vatican: you might want to play down the appeal of a life full of sin in the old baptismal rite. I don’t have the stats on how many Godparents have left the ceremony and immediately booked a trip to Vegas, but I have to assume it’s not a small number.

We then had our families back to the house for brunch. I made a ham and broccoli strata which was a hit. There was also a “toast bar” (yes, I invented it) that I was particularly proud of. It didn’t seem to garner quite as much praise (because it was just a toaster and some jams and stuff set out, I guess) as I expected, so I might have to dedicate an entire post to it later this week. Then I’ll pin it and it will become a runaway Pinterest hit. That will then bring so much traffic to my blog that it will probably crash and you won’t be able to go back and read about that weird smell from last week. Be forewarned.

The pictures of the birthday cake and candle kind of suck. And there’s none of her with icing all over her face either because I served lemon coffee cake instead of birthday cake. What? It was brunch! And, really, she had zero expectations and the coffee cake was on sale and, you know, third baby.

I do love watching one year olds open their presents, though. They are pleasantly surprised by every gift bag and box that is put in front of them. They are just old enough to appreciate that they are getting new toys (but they still don’t care about the clothes). And, really, there is nothing more fun for a 12 month old than putting things into a container and then taking them out, over and over again.

 

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Is that? A big box full of balled up newspaper?

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Oh baby. This is the stuff.

Who’s with me on the “not a party every year” campaign? We can do restaurant dinners or whatever instead, but three kids equals party fatigue. You know?

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Birthday Do Over

DAILY SNACK

I made a miraculous recovery from my brush with the faux swine flu,

So we had a small birthday celebration for missy Irene after all.

There was frozen lasagna,

Thank you.

And home made birthday cake,

Thank you, Grandma.

IMG_0714And present opening

IMG_0738Which landed little Irene things like these:

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And these:

IMG_0744Which I totally love.

After last week’s mini-celebration in quarantine

And yesterday’s little party,

Colum figured Irene must be two now.

Because count the birthdays.

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Bitter-Sweet Birthday Love

DAILY SNACK

On this day one year ago,

I woke up feeling funny.

39 weeks and 3 days funny.

Colum and I took the bus to my midwife appointment where they confirmed

That, yup, you’re about to have a baby.

Any day now.

We then suffered through bus detours

And picked up several bags of organic produce.

I draped them on the stroller and slowly started for home.

I took a pit stop at my parents’ house where the first little stabbing contractions happened.

Uh oh, I thought, labour might happen later tonight.

Ed met me there and we walked home,

Stopping only to pick up dinner at Vesuvios.

At 8pm I ate a bowl of gnocchi.

(It was good.)

At 12:30 am on Halloween Irene came shooting into the world,

A mere one hour after we arrived at Mount Sinai hospital.

We were home by 3am and have not been back since.

Also on this day a year ago,

Jayla Desouza was born at Mount Sinai hospital.

She underwent two open heart surgeries,

And spent more time in hospital than at home.

She fought hard for ten months before passing away at home.

Happy Birthday precious girls.

Read more about Jayla’s story here, and donate in her name to support research for congenital heart defects and hearing loss here.

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5 Birthday Ideas I Won’t Be Using This Year

#5. Indoor Gym/Playground This is actually a great idea if you are hosting more than one or two kids and are short on space in your home — especially in cold weather. Giving kids a place to run around like mad is never a bad plan. They are not free, however, and they are not everywhere.

#4. Rented Equipment You can rent just about anything from a bouncy castle to a cotton candy machine to a big old tent. You will want first, though, to make sure you have enough space, money, and kids to warrant the expense. And, for heaven’s sake, make sure the rentals are age appropriate — nobody wants to put their one year old on that giant inflatable slide. (Or their 16-year-old for that matter.)

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