Celebrating Heartily

Around here, we have a rule for birthdays:  go BIG or go home.  We like to make a big deal out of them.  Birthdays are to be celebrated and enjoyed...with gusto!  And it's one way that we like to make our loved ones feel special...ESPECIALLY our little loves.  We like to begin celebrating about a week early, and continue the festivities all the way through the big day.  I'm not exactly sure how or when this began, but I know that we are so grateful for our blessings through (and for) Camdyn with her HLHS, and that Max arrived in perfect health, almost 4 years later.  And, not to mention, blessing others and making them feel loved and special is one of my favorite things to do.

And I'm all about the little things.  It doesn't have to big, expensive or time-consuming...just thoughtful, planned, prepped.  It's the thought and time spent behind it that make it special.  Sometimes it just means rainbow sprinkles on your PB waffle, or a swirly straw, or balloons everywhere.  Sometimes, it means that you can call the shots (reasonably), or that you wear your pajamas all day long.  It ALWAYS means that birthday decorations go up days before your actual birthday.  Signs, banners, confetti, balloons, flowers.  We like to celebrate birthdays for a whole week.  We don't spoil our kiddos much more outside of birthdays, so if not for birthdays, when?!?!   We don't want them growing up with a sense of selfishness or entitlement, so we're pretty low-key outside of birthdays.  And then when birthday time rolls around, any tiny detail is extra special.  Picnic breakfast?  Ok!  Fun napkins?  Of course!  Favorite foods?  Absolutely!

Sunday, we celebrate Maxwell's second birthday.  There is so much BOY rolled up into this kid, and he has such a tender and loving heart.  And he's so big.  Like, huge.  Where did my baby go??? (Cue "frantic mama").   In less than three weeks, we'll celebrate Camdyn's sixth birthday.  SIX.  Even though our road with her since discovering her HLHS (before her birth) has been less than boring, and at times totally scary, it's simply flown by.  Like wind-in-my-face-what-just-hit-me flown by.  I still have crazy hair from it, in fact.  

There was a point where I wondered if I'd ever get through Max's pregnancy.  Six weeks of bed rest...seems like a slightly distant memory.  Then, we held our breaths, praying for a normal heart, with both a right and left ventricle and everything in place (because once you have one CHD baby, your odds DOUBLE for any others).  Praise God for a perfectly-functioning heart!

Here's a little "throwback," if you will, of previous birthdays we've been blessed to celebrate...the precious lives of our babes:

~ Camdyn's First Birthday ~

She wasn't too sure about the whole "cake thing"

That fish face...still cracks me up!

~ Camdyn's Second Birthday ~

"Cute As A {Giant Homemade} Cupcake" 

This time around, she totally dug the sweets.

She wanted to eat her cupcake-shaped cookie in solitude, for as long as that took.

~ Camdyn's Third Birthday ~

"Camdyn's Castle" and "Camdyn's Vacation Home" ~ works of art in cardboard (great job, boys!)

She wanted a castle cake, of course.  Oh, yeah, no big deal (insert nail-biting mama).

Birthday oatmeal with sprinkles...and a candle, of course.

~ Camdyn's Fourth Birthday ~

{Preceded by the arrival of Max}

Her only request?  Cookies with purple frosting and rainbow sprinkles.  :)

Hard to keep this gift a surprise as I worked on it with a bellyful of Max. {It was obviously WELL worth it...that face!}.

~ Maxwell's First Birthday ~

Best. Cake face. Ever.  He was TOTALLY into it.  Little cake lush.

Plaid, apples, and TONS of fall fun!

~ Camdyn's Fifth Birthday ~

{Yes, we celebrated their milestone birthdays separately, though mere weeks apart}

Oh, this face...I could eat it for dessert.

On her ACTUAL birthday...while she took her afternoon nap.  :)

Decorations for her "Rainbow Art Party"

~ Phillip's Birthday 2013 ~

This chalkboard is in frequent constant use.

Balloons everywhere (including inside his car at work), orange creamsicle cheesecake, and a dinner too delicious to snap a picture of before devouring it!

Oh....birthdays...what's not to love?  And even though we're keeping it casual, simple, and low-key this year (we have a certain ENORMOUS SURPRISE for our littles in November, sort of to celebrate that the dreaded Fontan is behind us), we'll still decorate, cook, feast, play, and celebrate heartily.  No matter the budget or the time, it's easy to celebrate the precious lives of those we love...and to count our blessings in the process. 

Do you have any fun birthday traditions, old OR new?  How do you celebrate birthdays?