5 years have passed since I first became a mother. In some ways it does feel like it has been exactly that long. In other ways it feels like my baby boy was just born. I can still remember so many details from the delivery that it couldn’t have been 5 years ago. I can barely remember what I had for breakfast. However, I suppose it is the gigantic life moments that you try to preserve as accurately as possible. Either way, it is going to fast for my liking. The fifth birthday was a hard one for me. It meant he is a kid now and, even though he doesn’t start kindergarten until the fall, to me that also feels like he is going off to college.

Being that he is getting big so fast means that I don’t have too many birthdays left to make special. This made me realize that we don’t really have many traditions set up yet. With only 13 birthdays left to make special, this needed to change. I saw a great article on pinterest that has a bunch of great ideas on how to make your child’s birthday special. The thing I love is that it isn’t about presents…it is just supposed to make them feel special. This is so much better than just more stuff.

So I set out on the list…unfortunately I read said article the night before his birthday so that didn’t leave me much time to prepare. However, I did manage to check off two things on the traditions list. More will be added next year. :O)

The first new tradition is to fill his room with balloons while he is sleeping. I wasn’t sure if I could actually pull it off and feared him waking up while I was putting the balloons in his room. Thankfully he is a sound sleeper and I was able to complete it successfully.

My son has an obsession with obsessions. He will start obsessing with a certain food, toy, book, show, song, you name it and will not stray until he is completely satiated his obsession. Powdered doughnuts were the current obsession when he turned 5. I have literally found him hiding under the table with his mouth filled with powdered doughnuts. He tried to hide it but the powdered mustache gave him away. He was so excited to have a powdered doughnut birthday “cake” for breakfast.

Having a birthday so close to Easter makes egg dying and hunts an easy go to activity at the family party. I love the little drawings they made on their eggs and how the colors complement each other so well.

I am definitely not a dirty individual but I can be messy. My husband calls me a “piler”. I put all of my “messes” into piles so they can be attended to later. However, my car has always been my safe haven from all of the annoying paper clutter that overwhelms me at home. Before I became a parent, my car was always very sparse and clean. Now that I am a parent, I constantly struggle with trying to maintain some sort of order in the car. This project helps me keep it all in perspective. One day I will have a clean car again but that also means I will no longer have those adorable little faces in the back seat of my car anymore.

As the weather slowly gets warmer we are able to spend more time outside as the sunsets. I love how the sun sets at the top of our driveway. I’m excited for spring to fully set in so we can spend more leisurely evenings out here.