Traditions and Coincidence

 

 

A little help from Will. Walker tried so hard to blow out the candles, but he just hasn't gotten the concept down yet.

 

We have a tradition in our family to put candles in whatever the kids are eating for breakfast on their birthday. Walker happened to be eating the friendship bread I just made, thanks to my sweet, homemaker extraordinaire Aunt Jane for
giving me the starter. This bread is delicious!! When I looked at these pictures of Walker, I thought, Did Will have on these same pj's for his 2nd birthday breakfast? That is what I love about having a blog. I just checked my archives and sure enough, HERE is Will's 2nd birthday breakfast. His hair was very blond because it was summertime, which makes me wonder if Walker's hair will be turning blond this summer too. I love having blond headed babies. I guess it's just such a strong contrast to mine and Len's dark hair. I remember being so sad when Will's hair stopped getting blond in the summer. It still gets lighter, just not white like it did when he was 1 and 2.

Also when I look at these pictures I realize that my boys have both inherited my "swollen eyes" in the morning look. I love comparing these two pictures, looking at Will's and getting a glimpse into the now present, which was once the future. The month Will turned 2 was the month I got pregnant with Walker. Hard to believe how fast time has gone by and how different our thinking is at this stage in our life. I couldn't wait to get pregnant again, but we had a "plan" to wait until Will was 2 and I had some goals I had set for myself to achieve before I was "allowed" to start trying again. As Walker turns 2, the only thought that comes to our minds is "prevention." How different from 2 years and 9 months ago! We I would love another baby, just not at this time in our lives.

Sorry this post is ALL over the place. Just some thoughts I had while looking at pictures and writing. Do you have any special birthday traditions for your kiddos? I would love to hear about them. I'm really bad with birthdays because they just weren't a very big deal in our house growing up. I'm totally okay with that because I don't think the world should stop for mine or my kids birthdays. I'm the mom that puts "no gifts please" on the birthday invitation. That used to annoy me SO bad when I was growing up, and yet, here I am turning into my mom b/c my kids already have way to many toys and I don't want an already busy mom to have to go out and buy a gift. Now don't get me wrong, our birthdays were special growing up, it's just the world didn't stop. I don't want my kids growing up thinking the world should stop for them on their birthday. I really don't want them to have that sense of "entitlement" that everything should be focused on them. I don't want them to be disappointed if someone forgets, or if they don't have an over the top birthday party. I want them to feel special though and I hope it's the little, simple traditions that they will remember, not the big birthday parties and gifts that are long gone.

Just a few thoughts. Hope everyone has a great day! It's beautiful here and I'm enjoying some quality one on one time with Walker while Will is at school today. I love our Wednesdays when it's just the two of us. I love getting "to know" Walker without his brother competing for attention. The second child is just used to sharing the attention and it is so nice to have our special day together.