January 2020 | Birthdays Galore

No post-holiday doom and gloom here. When we decided to start a family I made some silly remark along the lines of, "I don't really care when the baby is born. Just not January." Here we are, two January babies later and actually loving where their birthdays fall on the calendar. We flow right from the joy of the holidays straight into birthday festivities. This year we really celebrated our two Capricorns all month long.

Eloise turned five years old on January 3rd. Five. FIVE! How? This birthday hit me pretty hard. She isn't a baby, toddler, or even preschooler anymore. She is a full blown kid. And a pretty spectacular one. She loves all things My Little Pony, arts and crafts, and is hoping to learn to read and meet a unicorn now that she is five. This year for her big day she requested to chop her hair short and get her ears pierced. Phew. Brad and I had to deep breathe our way through her big day watching her go from our little girl to a super proud big girl right before our eyes. Watching her get her ears pierced was actually incredible. She was nervous but so determined and brave. She chose the prettiest little opal earrings as her first pair. Girlfriend did not even cry on ear one and let out just the tiniest whimper on ear two but held back tears. That afternoon we played her favorite Frozen board game and took a family walk. Both kids zoomed on ahead of us on their scooters, stopping only for Eloise to pull back her cute new bob to show anyone and everyone her new earrings. The heartbreak of watching babies grow so fast is often quickly mended for me as I appreciate all of the cool new things we get to do together.

Many of you know the tradition behind Daddy Day for Eloise. Eleven and a half hours ahead of me giving birth to our girl in Tennessee, Brad watched her enter this world via Skype from Afghanistan. January 3rd my time. January 4th his time. Every year the day after her true birthday, Brad and Eloise go on a special date just the two of them. This year they went rock climbing. Usually I have to beg Brad to take and send pictures when he is out with the kids without mom paparazzi in tow. Not this time! He was clearly thrilled to be sharing one of his favorite hobbies with her, and she was such a natural. No surprise there. She is and always has been fearless, athletic, and willing to try anything. One of his picture captions with a tiny Eloise at the top of a huge wall read, "Climbing a 45 foot wall. It was a 5.6 route. Don't think I could be more proud and amazed." She and Brad are both still raving about their adventure together.

On the weekend between Eloise and Harvey's birthdays we hosted a magical dragons and unicorns birthday party. I always over invite for their birthday parties thinking some friends won't be able to attend. Let's be real, no one has anything to do in January. It was a full house! Full of chaos and full of love. My mom and dad came to Colorado for the party and conveniently arrived just in time to help us host our first SFRG (Soldier Family Readiness Group) event for Brad's company too. Lucky them! We could not have pulled off either event as successfully as we did without them. Not even close. We laughed into the wee hours of the morning blowing up balloons and making dragons and unicorns out of the pool noodles as party favors. That late night together strangely turned into one of my favorite parts of the weekend looking back on it. For as exhausting as a combined 3 and 5-year-old birthday party may be, I felt such an emotional high realizing how blessed are to have so many friends who feel more like family here. The very best crew. We couldn't ask for anything better. Little party guest faces were all beautifully painted, the piñata was demolished, tacos (because dragons love tacos) and cupcakes were had by all. It was declared before bed by the birthday unicorn girl and dragon boy to be the "BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!"

And then my baby turned three on January 19th. My dude who loves racing cars, conquering a stack of puzzles, and begs "I want you to snuggle me!" every night as I try to leave his room after tucking him in. Harvey's kisses and hugs rank at the top of my favorite things in the world list. He is such a lover. His big day was much more low key than Eloise's. We had an important mission. His birthday just so happened to fall on a four day weekend for Brad with few outside obligations. Harvey spent his birthday...drum roll please...potty training. What fun! He proved to be much more stubborn than his big sister who was almost effortless to potty train. After a week of frustration I nearly quit, but it was like wrestling a crocodile when I tried to put him in a pull up. In true Harvey fashion, he had to be the one to say he was ready. Ever since that morning he has been totally acing it. We are so proud. And so full of celebratory mini M&M's that Eloise convinced us should be a family thing with each potty success. His birthday morning was quiet, perfect, and lazy. We spent it eating Dadford's famous pancakes and playing on some awesome new playroom gear gifts. I obviously also spent it swooning over how cute Harv's booty looks in big boy underwear. That evening we were spoiled with a delicious breakfast-for-dinner birthday celebration at his friend Cora's house. Brad and I spent the afternoon trying our hand at homemade donuts in our air fryer. They were actually really good and perfect for one Lightening McQueen, one Mater, and one Piston Cup candle for our big three year old dude to wish on and blow out.

Oh let's see, what else happened in January besides birthdays? Hm. Well we waited for an hour in line at an ice cream store to meet a mediocre Elsa and Anna. That was a good time. But obviously 100% worth it to see Harvey dressed in his Kristoff costume he got for Christmas beaming up at his girlfriend Anna. Brad got to attend Donuts with Dad in Harvey's classroom and Spaghetti Dinner with Eloise. Their preschool puts on the sweetest special events to celebrate moms and dads every year. I can't wait for my turn in April. We attended a great birthday bash for Harvey's best buddy Ellis from school. I executed a baby sprinkle for my friend Stephanie who is expecting a baby girl this summer. It was really just a good excuse for all of us moms to enjoy a kid-free brunch and laugh and cry our way through watching Little Women together. And while we're on the topic of Oscar nominated movies, Brad and I watched a lot of them this month. We set out to see all of the best picture nominees. We are six down, three to go with only nine days left before the Academy Awards air. Think we can do it?

Alpha Co. babies born during deployment plus their commander and his own 2015 deployment baby

January 2020, you were so good to us. Settling back in at home and finding our new normal after the holidays, just the four of us, may have been the very best part of all. Even if that meant spending a week straight trying to find spots for all of the new loot we brought back from Christmas in Michigan. We dove right into hosting Brad's family for Thanksgiving just one week after he got home from deployment. That rolled right into traveling for my sister's wedding and Christmas. So this month was really our first chance to just be as a family. Words can't describe how good it has felt. In the next few months we will hear back from the graduate schools Brad applied to and decide where our next home will be. For now, we are setting out to soak up every last moment of our time left here in these beautiful Colorado mountains.