To Benjamin on His Birthday

Dear Benjamin,

Oh my dear boy. Today you are two! How in the world did that happen?! And so quickly too!

This year you have gone from a little, barely crawling baby to a full-fledged toddler. You run everywhere and climb on things. You do your best to keep up with your big brother and sisters. "Hey!" you shout. "Nainy! Eeaah!" I don't think you know how little you are. I love that about you.

I also love your blonde, curly hair and blue eyes. I wonder if your hair will stay blonde? I secretly hope so.

You have the best smile and the best laugh. You slide down the stairs on your belly faster than I can run down them. You love your blanket and can hardly handle being away from it. Your binky too, but we're trying to cut back on that, aren't we? (It's not going so well. You are winning on that front for now!) Some days you will hardly eat a morsel and I wonder how in the world you will survive. Usually you will take some bites from Daddy and that makes me feel better.

You love books and trains, cars and planes, balls and bath time. You love to color while Sam and the girls do schoolwork. You love action and attention, and sometimes demand it from all of us! You have added so much fun to our family. It's hard to remember what we were like without you.

In March, Daddy and I went away for a few days. We'd never done that before and it was hard for me to be away from you. Grandma said you were a perfect angel (besides not eating much). But once we got home I didn't think you'd ever forgive me for leaving you! You'd scream if I left the room and cling onto me if I tried to put you down. My goodness it's nice to be loved so much! (But a little exhausting too, if I'm honest.)

These days Lainy is the only babysitter you will tolerate. Leah reads you books when you're sad. Sam entertains and plays so good with you. Daddy gets you to eat and makes you laugh. And I really love the time when everyone else is at school and work and I get you all to myself. We love you so!

Happy Birthday, my littlest boy.

Love,
Mama

Gifts of Togetherness

Brad and I have decided to do Christmas a little differently this year. It started as a conversation at the beginning of  November. We'd just spent too long cleaning up our house before bed. The kids were frustrated. We were frustrated.

"How can we get away with not giving our kids more stuff for Christmas?" I asked Brad.

And so we started talking. Could we give them a trip to Boston? But we wouldn't go until June and that's too far away. Could we just do experience gifts? Movie tickets? Ski lessons?

Then we started talking about what we want Christmas to be for our family. We've never been crazy gift-givers (thanks med school and residency budget), but we definitely need to be more thoughtful about what we give and bring into our house. And December seems to fly by so fast. Last year we didn't even have time to do some of our favorite traditions. We want Christmas to be more meaningful. Less busy. Less stuff. More time together.

We were still mulling things over the week of Thanksgiving when I saw a story on Instagram from a lady I follow (Ralphie Jacobs from Simply on Purpose). She talked about the advent calendar her family does for the month of December. Each day they do an activity together. They call it "Gifts of Togetherness". What a sweet idea.

I talked it over with Brad and we came up with a plan for December. We bought a cute advent calendar and scheduled the things we want to make a priority. The rest we filled in with super simple, sometimes silly, things to do together at home. Santa Claus is taking care of  Christmas wishes, they drew names for each other, and they are receiving experience gifts from Brad and I. Super simple.

We're 10 days in, and I'm already loving it. I think the kids are too. Time, which seemed to be hurtling by, is slowing down a bit. Children are small for such a fleeting time. I'm trying to treasure these nights by the light of the Christmas tree when there's no where else we'd rather be.