Birthday Bounty

Degen was excited for all things birthday this year, and especially excited to open his birthday gifts. After a dinner of birthday pizza, he ran straight to his gifts and started unwrapping them with gusto! Birthdays are much more fun when the kids understand what is happening. It was an absolute delight to see the joy on his face when he saw the pile of gifts. He got a lot of really cute cards, as well as, some fun books and toys! Thanks to everyone for the birthday bounty!

Birthday Boy!

I made both of my kiddos foam birthday crowns for their first birthdays. They wear their crowns every year on their birthdays, and it is great to see how they have changed from the previous year(s).

Here is our birthday boy! He was so excited to wear his birthday crown this year (a change from last year). He would excitedly point at it on his shelf and say, "burp-bay, burp-bay." He wore his special crown for a lot of the day!

Degen's First Birthday! He looks so grown up in the picture above!

As soon as I took this picture, I knew that I was going to love it for its symbolism: my baby boy another year older running (too) quickly towards the future! Such an exciting moment so full of hope and promise: where will he go? what will he find? what will he do? And yet bittersweet, too, as he moves away from his momma. 



Degen's Birthday Breakfast!

 Birthdays at our house start bright and early! I made a doughnut-run Friday morning in honor of Degen's birthday. He was very excited for his sprinkle doughnut with two glowing candles, and everyone joined in singing "Happy Birthday."

 

After his doughnut, we each gave him a gift to open. It was a happy start to the day's celebration!



February 18, 2009

*This is the note/journal entry I posted two days after I had Degen. The details of that February morning two years ago remain just as clear in my mind, forever etched on my heart.

Degen Richard Aurelius was born via c-section at 12:48 p.m. on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. He weighed 8 pounds 7 ounces and measured 19 1/2 inches long.



Wednesday, Kyrie awoke around 3 a.m. and I couldn't get back to sleep after I got her back in bed. So, I puttered around on the computer for a bit before heading back to bed around 6:00. At 7:45, I woke up with cramps and figured it was just more G.I. issues. I swung my legs out of bed to get to the bathroom and my water broke. I called to Darren that my water broke (his reply, "are you sure?"). Thankfully, he had not yet left for work, so we went about trying to figure out what we were going to do next. Darren talked to work and parents, while I called my OB and Robin (from playgroup) to come pick up Kyrie (whom I put in the bath right after my water broke to keep her occupied). The OB's office returned my call and urged me to get to the hospital right away, but... we had stuff to do.

Eventually, we all got dressed and organized. With hugs and kisses, Kyrie was off for a fun day with Robin and her friend, Isabelle. Finally, around 9:00, Darren and I headed to the hospital. We arrived and were in triage by 9:15. I was having contractions the entire time, but was able to keep moving and getting things done. In triage, my contractions kept coming and became more regular. It was a busy day in labor & delivery, but I was scheduled for an OR around noon.

My OB arrived, and we headed to the OR a little after 12:00. I received a spinal block at 12:25. After a lot of cutting and a bit of pushing (on my OB's part), Degen arrived in the world with a cry at 12:48. I immediately started crying, too. He was healthy, if not a little grumpy, upon arrival! He has blue eyes and brown hair. He nursed right when we got to the post-op recovery room. He was taken to the nursery for monitoring, while I was monitored in the recovery room. We were taken to our maternity room around 3:00, and, finally, got our baby boy back in our arms a little after 5:00 (by this point, I was exhausted, sore and an emotional wreck having not seen my newborn son in several hours). Our family was complete when Kyrie arrived around 6:00! She loves to hold her baby brother!

Our first night was a little rough because Darren had to be at home with Kyrie rather than the hospital with me. I got very little sleep because of all the monitoring by the staff & nurses. I was up and moving around for the first time at 10:15 that night... in pain, but doing well. Since then, I have been trying my best to get up and around as much as possible. I was in quite a bit of pain throughout the day on Thursday, but feel much better today (Friday). Thankfully, Darren was able to stay with us in the hospital last night. Degen is a wondeful baby so far! He loves to cuddle and spends lots of time sleeping. He nurses really well, too!
 



Thomas the Cake Engine

Oh my goodness! Tis birthday season again at our house, which begins with Degen's lone February birthday and ends in a flurry of the rest of our birthdays all in the first week of April. But, let me focus on the birthday at-hand: my darling, baby boy's birthday is tomorrow!

(Not quite done. I had to do the face & nose twice.)

Though his birthday party will be next week, I want his actual birthday to be a special day, too! And since he loves Thomas the Tank Engine so very much, I thought that there would be few things more special to him than a Thomas cake! So, I set about building and decorating one for him this morning. The cake came together relatively easy and the decorating went well. Though it could be neater, would have been neater if I would have prepared my own frosting (because of the consistency), which I have simply gotten too busy to do since I had kids, it is one of my favorites!

As I was putting the finishing touches on the cake, Degen came into the kitchen and excitedly started pointing and calling out, "Choo-choo, Choo-choo!" He even tried to climb up the drawers to get to it! For today, he had to be content with a dob of blue frosting on his finger and assurances that Thomas would be coming back for his birthday. I can't wait to see his reaction tomorrow when he can finally dig into his Thomas the Cake Engine! Oh, the joy! Oh, my boy! (Oh, the mess that's on its way!)

I used one of Degen's Thomas engines to try getting the colors and features just right. I didn't make myself crazy with the details, but tried my best to get the major elements.

My mess from today!

A Tale of Two Drawers

Every day that I open the drawers in our bathroom it makes me smile. I could say the same about certain desk drawers and even the drawers in our bedroom. I love these drawers because Darren has his and I have mine, and the keeping of these drawers is reflective of our personalities. 

Two pictures worth a thousand words:

My Drawer

Darren's Drawer

Computer Canoodling

This week, Kyrie asked us if she could go on-line to play games on the PBS Kids website. Though the children have their own computer in the playroom, they do not have the internet. We put her on our computer, and she played for a good half hour. The next day, she asked if she could play on-line again. A little while later, Degen came to see where Sissy had gone. She was quick to pull him on her lap and tell him all about the game she was playing. It was a very sweet moment and (almost) made up for all the yelling & screaming that I typically hear coming from the two of them!