10 things I learned on my 4 year old's birthday

#1)  If you go out with your girlfriends the night before, you will be up past midnight wrapping presents, making and hanging birthday banners and blowing up balloons til you're so lightheaded you feel like you're gonna pass out.

#2)  4 year old big boys still sleep with their teeny tiny newborn blankets.  Oh ya, and 4 year olds don't need to hold hands with their mom when they cross the street anymore.  At least thats what my 4 year old informed me on his 4th birthday.

#3)  Made-from-scratch pancakes are WAY better than bisquick in a box.  And you'll wonder why you haven't been making pancakes like this all along.  And you wanna know what makes them even yummier??  The homemade chocolate syrup recipe passed down from Madden's Great Grandma Brimhall that we only make on birthdays.

#4)  If you're so focused on prepping for your kids birthday til midnight the night before, you won't realize until the following morning that his birthday ALSO happens to be Teacher Appreciation Day....but a quick stop at Target on the way to preschool the following morning will solve that.  And then when you pick your birthday boy up from preschool with a huge bouquet of birthday balloons, it might make your 4 year olds day and his preschool teacher might pay you the compliment of your life when she tells you "you're such a fun mom!"

#5)  You should always get your 4 year old exactly what he's been asking for, even if its a stupid over priced Dream Lite from the dumb As-seen-on-TV aisle at Walgreens.  His smile and excitement while opening it will make you glad you listened to him.  And you'll be so happy when he tells you that night that your gift was his favorite gift he opened :)

#6)  If you make everyones favorite chocolate cake and chocolate frosting but for the first time you make 2 round cakes and stack them instead of making it in a rectangle 13x9 pan like you've always done before, there won't be enough frosting in every bite of cake.  Next time, add more frosting.  Or just make it in a 13x9 pan like you've always done before.  Even if the stacked round cakes does LOOK better.  Cuz the frosting is the best part.

#7)  If you're too busy recording everyone singing "happy birthday" and the blowing-out-of-birthday candles on your iphone, and then afterwards you're mad that you didn't get any still snapshots of the birthday boy blowing out his candles, you can just play back your recording on your iphone and snap shot whichever part of the video you want to capture as a picture.  Who knew??

#8)  Having lots of family and cousins and aunts and uncles nearby makes for lots more people at family birthday parties and it makes it that much more fun and special...and you'll remember why being closer to family was one of the big reasons you moved back from Chicago. :)

#9)  When you tuck your birthday boy into bed that night and tell him to stop growing up and stay 4 years old forever, he might melt your heart into a puddle at the foot of his bed when he says to you "But I have to keep growing up because I really wanna turn 5 because then I might have a baby brother or sister and I really need someone to play with me."

#10)  If you don't have any other babies or kids yet and the ONE kid you DO have just keeps growing and growing right before your eyes, it will make you wanna cry.  Who knew raising a kid could bring me the greatest joy AND greatest heartbreak all at once!?  Everytime this kid grows up a little more, my heart breaks a little more.  But because birthdays are happy and fun, you'll learn to hold yourself together all day long and be happy and smiling...until the birthday boy is fast asleep in bed and you go in to check on him and turn off his new dream lite...and then you'll cry.

HAPPIEST BIRTHDAY WISHES TO MY SWEET BOY!

WE LOVE YOU, MADDEN!!!!!

XOXOXOXO