Today...

15 years ago today I was 6 months pregnant with my first... Son the Elder. I gained so much weight over the holidays eating turkey and ham and pie and cookies. It was like a pregnant girl's dream.

13 years ago today I had a new baby girl... Daughter the Elder. She was already a few weeks old though she wasn't even due until the end of November. She spent her first few weeks in NICU.

10 years ago today I was newly pregnant with #3... Son the Younger. 

5 Years ago today Tater was just a few hours old. A new baby girl just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday... and thankful we were.

Yesterday we celebrated Tater's 5th birthday. She requested a chocolate cake with strawberry icing and sliced strawberries on top.

 

As happy as I was as I watched my kids... all 4 kids... smiling and eating cake and kidding with Tater about the things she'll do now that she's 5... I couldn't help but be a bit sad, too.

For 15 years I've been having babies and planning for babies and caring for babies. Suddenly I find myself with no more babies. I'm so proud of my kids and thankful that they are healthy and intelligent and polite (most days) and helpful and aware of their family and what it means for us to all be together.

But it's also the final chapter in the part of my life that makes me a young mother. I'm not all that young anymore and I don't have babies anymore. I'm practically middle-aged and I have kids. Teenagers even.

Mac Daddy keeps gently reminding me that it really means he and I can have some more time to ourselves... time to date and be alone and talk like adults about something other than diapers and teething and potty training.

Its sort of like new territory and I suppose it should be exciting and I suppose on some level it is. Its a time of adjustment for me because up until now I've defined myself by my babies... so who am I now?

My job certainly isn't done but there's a definite shift in the overall movement of it all. Tater is becoming more and more independent everyday. She butters her own toast and puts her own shoes on. I suppose I've clung to her more than than I ever did the other kids just because I'm so aware of the fact that she's the last. 

So... of we go to write a new chapter.

 

Happy birthday, Tater.

Comments

[Wendi]

Happy Birthday little Tater!
I so know how you feel. We have seven children, and our one year old may very likely be the last. It's hard to transition from seeing myself as a young mom, although the mirror tells me it's true.
I'm just hoping that the next 'season' will be as sweet as the last has been!

[Debbie]

Beautiful children! Happy birthday, Tater.

[Chelle]

Happy Birthday Tater!!

[Mel]

Happy Birthday Tater! "Being 5 is a blast!" according to my Dear 5 year-old Daughter.

Marie, I know what you mean. I was feeling the same way as I looked at Dear Son the Youngest (my 4th and final baby,) who turned 9 months old this month, and watched him get up and toddle his way across the Family Room floor.

Just remember, someday (in possibly about 10 years or so) there could be grandbabies to kiss, cuddle and spoil! :)

[elizabeth m]

Yes, as my second, who I knew would be my last, has gone through certain milestones, outgrown certain baby paraphernalia, and mastered new skills, I've had that same bittersweet sense of moving into a new phase.

Happy birthday to Tater. She sure is a cutie-pie.

[bezzie]

Awww..Tater's a Turkey Baby too! I have a soft spot for those ones ;-).

[Dani]

I know very much how you feel. It's bittersweet. Happy Birthday, Tater!