Six years ago on July 24th, a Friday evening, after 24 hours of labor followed by an emergency c-section, I became a mother for the very first time. Everything that I thought I knew about being a mom quickly went out the window as Brandon and I navigated these new waters, and there were a lot of tears shed (by me) over the course of that week.
But oh how my heart swelled with the addition of this sweet boy.
On Friday morning, his birthday, he woke up early and came into our room and proceeded to snuggle up close to me and fall asleep while I rubbed his back. It was heaven. Brayden is so busy, imaginative, and curious that snuggling with mom falls pretty low on his list of priorities. I soaked it up completely, and it turned out to be the best part of my day.
The rest of his birthday? It was a hard day. Brayden asked for a basketball hoop awhile back, and after debating on what kind and where to put it and all that, Brandon and I decided on one. I surprised Brayden with it on his birthday. He had instant tears because it wasn’t Star Wars.
It was hard for me because I never want my kids to act like they can have anything and everything they want, or even expect that for that matter. I was disappointed that he was disappointed. I think I was also on the borderline of being SO DONE because Brandon has been working 16-18 hour days for the last 2-3 weeks, and the meltdown over a birthday gift just sent me over the edge. He was in tears, I was in tears. I wanted to just scrap our small plans for the day (out to breakfast and pizza for dinner!) and just go home and carry on. But after a pep talk from Brandon, we went about our day, and Brayden eventually thanked us for the basketball hoop, and said he was sorry for being upset. We set it up temporarily at the airport and the kids had fun shooting hoops for a little while before we had cake and ice cream. His party is tomorrow evening, and he is really excited for it!
Six years went pretty fast if you ask me. Next stop: Kindergarten!
