The Young and the Restless

Six

For the life of me I can't remember whose turn it is to vaccuum next. But I can still remember what song was played during my 5th grade field trip to the Hanson Planetarium. Great Balls of Fire. I can't remember anything about my baptism, except for the dress I wore afterwards. A pink satin with a ruffled skirt. From K-mart. I can't remember what dress I wore last Sunday, but I remember my exact outfit the first day of 4th grade. Black leggings, animal print button up shirt, black elastic belt with a plastic purple buckle around my waist. I spell "restaurant" wrong almost every single time, but I still remember at 10 years old driving by a billboard next to the Long John Silver that advertised an upholstery company and memorizing how to spell "upholstery" in case it ever popped up on a spelling test. It never did. The mind is a funny thing, the way some moments in life are clear as day while others are so foggy. One of those moments that stands out as if time were frozen is an image of baby Maddox. He was only a few days old, I had just given him a sponge bath and wrapped him in a towel. The green one with a camo print ribbon trim. I laid him on the floor in the family room next to the entertainment center where I kept his diapers. I remember everything in that single moment. His piercing dark eyes gazing up at me, the fuzz on his shoulders, the way his dark hair had fluffed up from his bath, the way he smelled (Johnson&Johnson lavendar) and I distinctly remember feeling so much love for that little bundle that it almost hurt. I'm so grateful that moment is one that has chosen to stay clear in my mind after six whole years. This boy is something special. He loves his mama with his whole heart. He regularly brings me home pictures of us standing together holding hands in a love heart. He's proposed marriage to me on several occasions. He tells me that he thinks of me while he's sitting at his desk at school. I would love to know what thoughts he has, but it makes me so happy knowing I'm always a part of him. He's gone through a bit of an emotional stage this past year, it has been so challenging at times and my patience has been worn past the breaking point. But it's that unconditional love that he has for me that keeps me going. I can completely lose my cool with him one minute and the next minute he is outside picking me a dandelion. I'm selfish when I say this, but I'm going to have a hard time sharing him someday when he gets married. It's a good thing his entire heart will still belong to me for quite some time. These past six years with this boy in our lives has been such a blessing. Happy birthday, Maddox, we love you.

He is officially obsessed with legos now and I love it. I love seeing these two bond together over a Ninjago Thunder Raider. The four year gap between them is finally starting to close in as they are beginning to share interests. Jayden is starting to view him more as a friend and not just an annoying little brother. (as a side note, we were laughing as we remembered that Jayden had that exact same cold sore on his mouth when he came to visit Maddox at the hospital. Six years later and it's still there)

We took donuts to his class during lunch. Jayden said that nobody brings birthday treats here and that it would be totally embarrassing if I brought something. Of course once he saw me show up with donuts he changed his mind.  We had a popcorn bar for an after school snack. Once again, "bar" is just code for loading up on all the junk food that you can. But hey, it's your birthday.

He had to try out is new scooter at the skate park, then we took a walk to the movie store where he picked Rio 2 to watch with the family while we ate pizza that night.

He sure has grown this year, all his school uniform pants are floods.

He had a very specific vision for his birthday cake. A white cake with whipped cream frosting and strawberry slices. That's my kind of cake. Even if the strawberries are $5 for a half pint.

Somewhere along the way we have adopted birthday baths. They get to take a bath in our big tub with bubbles and the jets turned on. I added another element of birthday fun with glowsticks in the water. I knew for sure he would love it, but he thought it was too spooky with the lights off and he couldn't see to play with his legos.

This weekend we had some friends over for his party. Jason decided from now on he'll just give the kids the $100 we would spend on a party and take them on a shopping spree. Parties can be a bit chaotic, but I still think the memories they'll have of them will be worth it. Of course Jason was the one that had to chase them around at Time Zone while I stayed home and enjoyed a quiet house. They are all such cute boys. Maddox actually moved up to a new class last month and I'm happy to see him making new friends in his class and settling in fine. It's amazing how much progress he has made since his first day of school exactly one year ago. My baby is growing up, but he'll always be my baby (I'm totally going to be that creepy mom from that "I love you forever" book that climbs into the window of her grown son's house and rocks him in bed).