Happy Birthday Sweet Madeline Jane.

Today was Madeline's 8th birthday. Where has the time gone? I am trying my hardest to enjoy the moment, but I can't help but think that another 8 years, we'll be walking her into the DMV. I was thrilled to share my Mother's Day with her birthday, and she was not so much. (Which I do understand.)

The morning started with an excited Garrett waking us up, begging to be able to go in and tell his Sissy 'Happy Birthday.' We held him off for a while, but eventually he tiptoed in and whispered, "Happy Birthday, Maddy." (In stark contrast to last week, on his birthday, when she went into his room, yelling and bouncing on his bed!) She was happy to have us in there. The love that my kids have for each other constantly amazes me. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of sibling moments at our house. But the boys were so sincerely excited for Maddy today. For example . . . Joel took them to the store to pick out a present for her. Of course the end result was a Webkinz. Garrett was beyond excited to give it to her. "She's gonna scream, Mom!" So he wrapped the present like so:
-Webkinz in shoe box
-shoe box wrapped in tissue paper
-tissue papered shoe box wrapped in cute birthday wrapping paper
-'sealed' shoe box put in cute party bag, surrounded by more tissue paper

He really wanted it to be perfect. And it was.







At 5 pm, after several hours of Mother's Day celebrating and visiting with fun family, Madeline announced that her desired birthday dinner was at Olive Garden. Olive Garden, which is about 45 minutes from here. "But Maddy," I said, "We had a nice brunch today, at Brew Pub!" She looked at me honestly, not snotty, and said, "That was for you and the other moms. Not me." Okay, good point. So we loaded up in 2 minutes flat and were on our way. As it turns out, that was not a great choice. Besides the usual Sunday evening "going home from the beach" traffic, there was apparently a horrible wreck that had the highway closed. Of course by the time we realized this, we were waaaaay to far to turn around, and really how bad could the detour be, right? It was pretty bad. I think we left our house close to 5 and got to Olive Garden at 6:30. Of course when we got there, we realized that many people go to Olive Garden at 6:30 on Mother's Day. Our wait was supposed to be 45 minutes, but turned in to more than an hour, and then we were seated at some random tables pushed together in a cruddy way (kind of like a 'T'), so visiting was not optimal. We Madeline finally got her coveted ravioli (did we not get enough of that during 3 weeks in Italy????), she said it was definitely worth the wait. Which of course made it definitely worth the hassle. We finally got home at 9:45, and still had to open presents. Luckily, most of them had been opened earlier in the week. Her usual bedtime is 8, so I am sure we'll have a tired gal in the morning. But she was so happy tonight, and I love that her birthday was great for her- she deserves it!









Dear Madeline,
8 years ago right now, I was a very happy, very tired new mama. You were so new, and so sweet, and you were welcomed into the world with so much love. I'll never forget the gasps and cheers as your Daddy opened the waiting room door to announce your arrival to our friends and family. I love thinking about how our loved ones came in to see you and passed you around the room, and I was overwhelmed with how much love there was for you as you entered the world.

I can't believe that was already 8 years ago. We love you so much and love being your parents. You are a kind person. You are strong, and smart, and funny. You are the most amazing big sister to Garrett and Carter. You are quick to forgive, and quick to understand. You are confident in who you are, and happy with who your friends are. Sometimes your empathy and insight seems so beyond your age.

We are all so blessed by you. Happy birthday sweet girl.


I plan to dig out a few baby pictures tomorrow . . .