Too much birthday

Remember that Berenstain Bears book, Too Much Birthday? Well that's what its been like around my house this week. Luke's birthday was Monday and Tyson's was Tuesday.

Here is a quick story that ends with me being right and every year saying to T, "See, I told you so."
Luke's due date was 9/27/09, but since I had had Savannah via emergency C-section, I planned on having Luke via a PLANNED C-section (no thank you VBAC). And just as a side note, I LOVED both of my C-sections. Yes, even the emergency one, minus the whole baby's heart rate dropping and it being an emergency and all. But it was quick, painless (except for that whole 8 hours of Pitocin induced laboring part), and ended with me having a fully intact vagina afterwards. So that was good. So with Luke I got to skip the labor part (yay!) and head straight in to the OR and get that baby out! And as a bonus with Cesareans, you schedule a few days before the due date, unlike Savannah, who was 10 DAYS LATE. I repeat, 10 days. Anyway, back to the story. So, T and I go in to schedule said C-secion for Luke and the Doc gives me a few options. 9/22, 9/23, or 9/24. Well, Tyson's birthday is 9/23 so I said, "Let's do it on the 23rd. Y'all can share a birthday!" (Who doesn't love a birthday twin? I get ridiculously excited when I meet someone with my birthday. ) Anyway, to which my husband replies, "no, I want my own birthday." To which I reply, "Fine, I'll have him the day BEFORE your birthday and your birthday will live in his birthdays shadow. forever." I then went on to explain that Luke's bday would always come first and all the birthday attention would be on him and by the time it was Tyson's bday, no one would care remember. But no, this compelling argument did not sway him.

   So fast forward to present day. I cannot for the life of me keep their birthdays straight. I  have to stop and really think about whose birthday is when! And I feel like medical personnel give me judgy looks when I can't quickly recall my son's birthday. sheesh. I constantly write Tyson's bday wrong on important documents and he is like, " do you not know when my bday is?" And then I gently remind him of the above story. And of how, if they had just shared a birthday (per my request) it would all be so much easier.on me. and then I could buy make buy ONE cake. And all of the celebrating could happen on ONE day. But no. By the time we get to T's birthday y'all, I.am.done. Its just too much. So this year I bought 4 cupcakes from a local bakery and stuck a candle in one. And then we all half heartedly sang. Even Savannah wasn't into it, she was like "Why are we singing this song every day?"
Moral of the story, I was right, he was wrong, and I'll be knee deep in birthday fun for two back-to-back days every September.

And don't get me started on September birthdays in general. Apparently, while conceiving, I did not look ahead 5 years (a huge oversight for a natural born planner like myself) and realize that  I would be having a child who would be 3 weeks past the school cut off date. So that's been fun. Oh great, another year of private half day preschool?



Mom hacks:

Chores. No chore charts here. My children are expected to help me with certain age appropriate tasks around the house simply because they are part of this family unit. If they would like to earn a little more than their weekly allowance then they can chose extra chores and get paid on the spot. And it gets my baseboards clean because I just don't do that.

I like including a recipe on the mom hacks because I know that I always love a new family friendly recipe. So this is another hit with us! Open cans and pour into crockpot....does it get any easier?! Chicken taco chili from Skinnytaste.

Christmas. Yup, it will be here before we know it. October is next week?!! Real Simple had some great ideas for gift giving with family, colleages, and friends. For my extended family, we each draw names and spend $50-$75 on that person and then each family donates to a charity that we have chosen together. This has been a great way for us to stay on budget, receive a nice a nice gift we actually want (we each do a wish list containing 2-3 items), and be charitable.

This book was recommended by my cousin-in-law. I'll say it, I have a tendency to yell raise my voice from time to time  often. We have noticed ( as in, my husband has kindly pointed out to me) that this only makes our daughter shut down. She absolutely does not respond to yelling. So I'm making it a point to stop yelling, or at least do it less often.