She's Four...Almost!

Posted Wednesday, June 03, 2009 9:32 AM

By Melissa, of the popular online blog Melissa the Mouth 

Pea is turning four in just a few days.  It’s been nothing but celebrations now for the last week or so.  Gifts keep showing up at the front door, courtesy of our buddy the UPS man.  And we’ve been letting her open them as they arrive, in an effort to curb the overwhelming activities that are planned through the weekend:  a party at her preschool tomorrow, and then her big birthday party on Saturday.  There are going to be 16 kids there.  16?  Yes, you heard correct.  All of her classmates are coming, as are a few friends from outside of school.  And I am well aware of what ‘they’ recommend:  one child for each year of the birthday kid’s life.  But in a class of 13, how was I possibly going to get away with only inviting four of her classmates?  I just can’t do that; exclude some children from the invitation list.  So, we sent out invites to all of the kids – all four girls and nine boys.  And they all replied ‘yes.’  Didn’t see that one coming.  But it should be a good time.  Loud.  Messy.  Good.

So, like many parents ponder, as they celebrate each year’s birthday, I also can’t imagine how we made it to number four!  It seems like just yesterday, she was nursing like a barracuda, and trying desperately to hold up her enormous head.  And now, here we are, ringing in her fifth year of life, as we celebrate her fourth birthday.  And as I pour over old photos of her through the years, I am amazed at how much I’ve forgotten.  Wait, forgotten isn’t the right word to describe what I am feeling.  It’s more like I am shaking my head at how it all seems like a dream.  The birth from hell, the breastfeeding a real eater for an entire year, the sleepless nights, the endless days, the dozens and dozens of ‘firsts.’  They came and went, and in such a blaze of time that I’m almost certain if my husband and I had not documented nearly every single move with our cameras, I’d never remember much of what took place.  I’m so grateful for those photos!  I find myself so often, late at night, seated at my computer in my office, just clicking through our life, the course that it’s taken since that day, shortly after we returned from Greece, when I turned to my husband and said, “you know what?  I think I have the stomach flu.  I’m not feeling so great.”  And he responded with an, “I’ll be right back!”  And minutes later, he returned, paper bag in hand, filled with pregnancy tests from the drugstore down the street.  And how over the next week, after testing positive on the very first test, as we were waiting to get in to see our doctor for confirmation, I took about three more tests.  Each day.  Three tests each day.  For one week.  Not a joke!  And how special I felt, for the next nine months.  As if I was doing something that so many others would never get the chance to do:  grow and bring a life into the world.

It was an honor to suffer through nine months of, at times, debilitating agony, just so that I could have the pleasure of meeting this little person.  And a person she was.  She came out with the same personality that she had while she was snuggled up inside of me:  fiercely independent, unwilling to do anything on anyone else’s schedule, lively and silly.

Sweet Pea, it’s been just the greatest honor in my life to be your mother.  Thank you for blessing us with your presence.  And thank you for making us a family…