Thursday, April 7, 2011

Birthday Bonanza

April! Good lord April. Both my daughters were born in April so that means that April is full of birthday celebrations. This year in particular got me thinking.Sometimes as parents we get caught up in trying to do everything big and grand for our kids. I know I am very guilty of that, I try to always make memories that will last forever. I remember for Layla's 1st birthday we had a face painter, cotton candy and pop corn machines , I know a bit extreme, but she is my first born and I was way too excited celebrating her 1st birthday I got carried away. Now fast forward three years to Ava's first birthday our situation has changed. In the past year my husband lost his job and looking at our finances we just could not pull off a huge party like we did for Layla. I brought this up to my husband the other night and he brought up a great point that I had not realized because I was feeling so down thinking I was short changing Ava in some way.

He reminded me that we love our daughters equally. Yes Layla came at a time where we were a bit better off but our love is the same. The celebration of Ava's birthday will be as grand as Layla's because it's the same love! As parents I think we tend to dwell in the material aspect, making sure our kids want for nothing when really it's not the quantity it's the quality. I am very guilty of that! I am always so worried that I am not spending enough time with them that sometimes i make up with it with things or going extra on things. I try to make everything so even between the both of them that I forget they just want me, our love as parents.

My husband made me realize, so what if Ava's party doesn't have a face painter and cotton candy, our daughter is turning one and we are celebrating with family and friends. Wow she will be one years old, that just blew my mind. I realized that what we may lack in money we make up in love. We do everything we can for our daughters and they are great kids. I can't get caught up in the small stuff, I have to be in the moment with my daughters. Its not about the big party, the fancy cake, balloons and all that other stuff, it's about the fact that we are able to celebrate as a family.

Quality not Quantity. Very simple concept, that I still am trying to learn. The quality of the time I spend with my family out weighs the quantity of time. So maybe Ava's party will be a bit smaller than Layla's was, so it won't have all that Layla's did but it will have her mom and dad wishing her a very special first birthday! I am truly blessed and so is my family.

1 comment:

  1. This isn't the same thing at all, but when I was younger I threw big parties for my birthday (well I still do big, but bigger than I do now), hoping that as many people as possible could make it, but when you do that you sometimes find yourself trying to make sure that everyone is having a good time when you are the one who should be having a good time. As I've gotten older, the idea of having just the special people surrounding me fills me with warm feelings. Quality not quantitty is the way to go.

    Being surrounded by her mommy, daddy and big sister, Ava is a very blessed lucky, little lady, and I know I'm late, but I'm sure she enjoyed her 1st special birthday.

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