Springtime, the time of birth in our house for sure! I thought it was neat that the kids had birthdays so close together until this year when we had a bigger party for both of them. Jevon's mom and sister Tracey were in town and we had them over once the week before her birthday and then went to the Lake of the Ozarks to visit his aunt Pat the day before Tea's birthday. We were completely exhausted that night and still had to get ready for her party. I had been working on homemade decorations all week, luckily. But we still had to wrap and get the decorations up.
Tea woke up early to pee and probably would have gone back to sleep but brother was too excited. "Tea, it's your birthday! Let's go open your presents!" Okay, she shouted and off they went! He wanted her to open it all but I wanted to spread it out a bit. I had her place at the table set up with the birthday hat, Happy Kid flower essence, a picture book about spring, a pink plate for her birthday breakfast and some other goodies that are escaping me right now.
I made silver dollar hots from Joy of Cooking for breakfast--tiny little pancakes made with mostly yogurt. They are much more delicate than regular pancakes so writing Tea's name was harder and then she started eating before I got a picture! She got to help me make them and I let her grind the coffee too--boy did that make Kai mad. I was worried that was how the rest of our day would go too. He really likes to help cook but she should get to as well. The balancing act one must do with two kids!! After breakfast, the kids played in Kai's room and listened to the Happy Birthday song on the CD player over and over.
Grandma Janice and Tracey showed up shortly after breakfast and they were just in time to sing Happy Birthday to her at her official birth time of 10:32 a.m. I am such a bad mom that I don't have her birth story written yet--it's in my journal, the memories are there. It's just not in a lovely form like Kai's. Oh, the second child. Poor things they are. Loved no less but sometimes they get the shaft. Anyway, we lit a candle and sang Happy Birthday. It will never cease to amaze me how a child lights up when they hear that song, even one year olds. They know it's special and just for them!
Next, we headed to Rock Bridge State Park to hike the stairs and visit Devil's Ice Box cave. This was a significant place when I was 9 days past my "due date" and desperate to get my baby out. I had two overnights of labor that petered out every morning when I woke up and heard my dad puttering about. I was afraid to go into labor with him here because I knew I'd be loud. He didn't quite understand. The day before I actually had Tea, Jevon and I decided to go have some alone time, at Dr. Allemann's suggestion and we hiked all of the stairs at Rock Bridge. I had contractions every 30 minutes to 1 hour and in the car ride home while having contractions, I wondered how women ever drive to the hospital in labor. It was hard to be in the car.
I wore Tea in the backpack as we started to hike, and nearly died! How did I ever carry 50 extra pounds of body weight and hike? Luckily, Tea was being very "two" that day and wanted to walk up the stairs herself. It was a lovely day and the mossy green everywhere gave us hope for spring (which is quite late in arriving this year).
Lunch was outside at Flatbranch. Tea's not so much a pizza gal like Kai. My little "meat eat girl," as Kai calls her, enjoyed some of my bratwurst and applesauce. Back at home, we rushed to make a buttery spice cake with honey lemon glaze, fresh raspberries and Sun Drops, while Tea took a little snooze. Tracey arrived, Tea and I headed to get balloons, and then it was cake and more presents. Tea managed to wear her "cutey" dress long enough for me to snap some pictures. The kids had a blast with the punch balloons and then our guests left.
Then after the kids fell asleep, Jevon and I collapsed from pure exhaustion!
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