you.are.my.sunshine: birth.day

Daughter, friend, sister, student, wife, teacher, Mrs.,...

I've had many titles in my life.

But on November 24th, 2008, she unknowingly bestowed upon me the

title that I cherish most: Momma

I know that every mom says it...but, I will never forget that day.

The day that changed me. Made me better.

As the day approaches, I instinctively reminisce about the moment right before I first held her....

Our first glimpse into those blue, blue eyes.

How her little fingers curled around mine.

The smell of a baby fresh from heaven.

And I get teary every time I think about life before Peach...a world in which she didn't exist.

Its hard to remember life without her.

But as much as that day was pivotal for me...this isn't about me.

Its about her.

Yes, it is Peach's birthday.

And she's been bubbling with joy for weeks.

In hindsight, I may have started talking about it too soon.

In previous years, she hasn't really gotten the idea of a birthday or a party, so I didn't think much of mentioning it a few weeks ago.

Well, she's definitely got the idea this year.

And since the first mention of it, she hasn't been able to stop jabbering about how "it's comin'...."

One day, she asked me at least

15 times if her birthday was "tonight".

After trying to explain to her that, at that point, her party was 17 days away and her birthday was 21 days away, I resorted to a paper chain to help her tick off the days to her special day.

Thanks to my mom for the idea!

Each morning at breakfast, she would carefully tear one more link off the chain and watch it get shorter and shorter....

But the conversation always went something like this:

Me: Peach, do you want to take a link off your birthday chain?
Peach: Yea! Can I take off five rings or two rings?
Me: You can take off one.
Peach: Okay, I want to take off the red one. The one yight here....(pointing to the middle of the chain)
Me: No, you take off the one at the bottom. See this orange one right here? That's the one you take off.
Peach: But I like the red one.
Me: I know, but today you get to take off the orange one and then we'll see the chain get a little shorter each day, which means that it is a little closer to your birthday each day.
Peach: Is it my birthday tonight?
Me: No - remember, when you get all the way to the top of the chain then it will be your birthday. See the link with all the stars? That is the birthday link. When you get there, it will be your birthday.
Peach: I want to take the red one off.
Me: How about the orange one?
Peach: No, I want the red one because I like red. Can I have my birthday now?

Uggh! 2-year olds! Will this end with the turning of three?

Anyway, I mentioned in a previous post that we'd never really done a big birthday bash for her.

Being a Thanksgiving baby, it was just easy to bake a cake, eat it after the big holiday dinner and call it good.

But like I said, this year, she gets it.

And I wanted to do something special.

Since we'll be seeing our families at Thanksgiving, we'll celebrate with them again over the holiday.

However, the weekend before her birthday, we cooked up some magic at our house - just for her.

A little party with a few friends.

I don't know who was more excited - me or her.

We tried to get her to rest a bit before the guests arrived, but it was a no-go. She peeked out of her room after about 45 minutes to say "Momma...I'm too happy to sleep."

I hear ya', sister - I've been there, too.

Which makes me think how fortunate we are to live in a time and place where delirious happiness is possible.

Not all people get to experience such intense joy that sleep eludes them. So I'm grateful...once again...for times like this with my Peach.

Enough writing. Let's get to the pics: