Yesterday marked Mara's 2nd birthday. Honestly, the best piece of motherhood wisdom anyone ever gave me was the client who told me that the days are long, but the years are short when your kids are little. How true that is--- the long days kick my tail on many occasions, and the quickness with which the years pass leaves me standing in the wake, just shaking my head.
Anyone who has ever met Mara can understand that this girl is really something special. She exhausts us all with her constant exploring, her incessant need to have things HER WAY....RIGHT NOW, her insatiable spirit that just has to find something new to conquer. I can't wait to look back on this in another 20 years and see what kinds of things she is doing with her life. My earnest prayer is that God will make me the kind of parent that can help her point all of that zest for life in the proper direction for her to be able to be make the kind of difference that she has the potential to make. She has been my biggest challenge so far into this parenting journey, but I have to tell you that I not-so-secretly adore getting to watch her learn and grow.
She's talking up a storm these days, making me laugh about how much we were beginning to worry about her. I swear she has learned 50+ new words in the past two weeks. Yesterday I was rocking her for her nap, enjoying what I know is going to be a fleeting few last moments of her smallness, and I had to shhhhh her because she wouldn't stop talking long enough to fall asleep. Sometime in the course of her sleep on Saturday night, I transformed from "Mama" into "Mommy"...a sure sign that my little baby isn't much of one anymore. I remember when that happened with Josh and Lauren, and it marked the quick ending to any little sliver of baby-ness that remained. But my oh my is it ever cute.
Mara's birthday celebration was appropriate for a few reasons. I am learning what it's like to deal with a winter birthday, and let me tell you (for what it's worth), I'm not a fan. I never like that all plans between the months of December and late March are tentative, left up only to whatever nature throws our way in terms of weather. I'm not good at relinquishing control over my plans to anyone, and certainly not the weather. But, as I was transferring Mara's newly decorated purple Dora cake to the kitchen table, my phone went off with a severe weather advisory for the hours of noon to 5 pm Sunday...the exact time that everyone would be on the road or at our house for the party we had planned on Sunday. A quick call from Emily made me think that it might be a good idea to try to throw the party on Saturday night instead. Mind you, it was 3:45. But the Mowrys were game. And where the Mowrys and Dugans are is a pretty good start to a party. When the Lewistown crew said they could make it, and Jason's parents and sister were able to get there, we opted to add a pizza to our dips and munchies menu and do this in the next hour. And so we did. And it was wonderful. I was sweating and still in my sweats up until 5 minutes before the first partiers arrived, but we managed decorations, goodie bags, party setup and food displays in one hour. I even was sitting on the couch, with a whiskey slush in my hand (well, deserved...) as the doorbell was ringing. I have never been accused of being spontaneous. Not even close. Actually, whatever the polar opposite of spontaneous is, that's what I am. But it was fun, and I wouldn't have missed the chance to celebrate sweet Mara with our friends and family because of a silly ice storm. I had to laugh when I thought back to the night that Mara was born. I was sailing along, planning for a planned, scheduled c-section delivery on the 12th of January, but Mara had other plans. Dr. Miller gave me one hour notice to go home, say goodbye to the big kids, and pack my bag for the hospital before I needed to meet him back there for surgery following my check up that afternoon. And here we were again, scrambling in an hour to prep for another birthday celebration.
Enjoy a few pictures of the chaos and confusion. I know I sure have!
Our sincerest thanks to everyone who literally dropped what they were doing to make the trip to be with us. It meant so much to us. And although Mara might not remember her 2nd birthday party, I always will, and with the fondest memories of hustling to get things ready and the sheer joy that, quite frankly, we all needed after the tough way 2013 ended for our family. I love how life hands us little snippets of joy (and sometimes big handfuls of it) when we're willing to receive it. Mara certainly has provided lots of that for us, and this weekend was no exception.
Happy Birthday, sweet girl. I can't even begin to tell you how I love you. But I do. So very much.
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