The Birdwell Buzz: I Cannot Believe. . .

That my little boy is turning 5 years old tomorrow.
That I just signed him up for T-ball.
That, when I close my eyes, my mind cannot remember clearly how he looked when he was firstborn.

or

How drastically my life has changed in the past five years.
How much I love my sweet Zachary.

From a person who thought I never wanted children and still does not feel that maternal instinct naturally, I am constantly amazed at the capacity my heart has to love these two legged things running around my house. They drive me nuts. They make me wish for time alone every second of the day practically. But, when I do get my alone time a big percentage of that time is spent wondering what they are doing, if they are comfortable, happy. . . it's a crazy, wild rat race.

I so hope Zachary has the most wonderful birthday. We have fun things planned for him for sure. Tomorrow is the Dad's Breakfast at his school. He is excited that his Daddy will be eating yummy casseroles, danishes, etc. with him and having fun with the program they have planned. We are also going to bring his class birthday goodies for them all to enjoy at lunchtime. And. . . The Lorax is out! A favorite Dr. Seuss story, out on the big screen. Paul and I are taking him to see that movie after school.

This weekend is hopefully going to be AWESOME. . . Sunday we are celebrating Zach's birthday with family and friends at Veteran's Memorial Railroad. (http://veteransmemorialrailroad.org/) They have an awesome playground area with covered tables and a really cool train depot. Not to mention the huge war planes and helicopters on the grounds as well. They will be providing two steam engine rides for all of our party. Zachary is super duper excited about his big day. And, to top it all off, we are having the most amazing birthday cake. . . my absolute favorite now. . . a rainbow cake. My good friend Erin is making it and I am most appreciative! Move over Martha Stewart. . . Erin is in the house!

His big gift from us this year will be electric trains that he has been wishing for. My dad found out about the Big Bend Model Railroad Association here in town. They have about 150 members and all members are allowed to use the model train track layouts at the Antique Car Museum any time they wish. All you have to do it bring your own trains. So, we bought him an HO engine and a few cars along with his membership to the BBMRA club. Each month they have meetings and they also host the big train show a the North Florida Fairgrounds every summer. He will be SO excited!!!

We originally had the party planned for Saturday but due to the expected bad weather we moved it to Sunday.

Well, I've come full circle as my brother David likes to sarcastically remind me. From a woman who wore high heels to her challenging "outside" job everyday, kept her home absolutely spotless to the point of people asking if anyone lived here, who went out to dinner almost every night with her husband since she didn't know how to use a stove, and swore up and down she would never have kids, but rather, her dogs and cats were enough, to. . . . me now. Domesticated. Big time. A woman who never wanted kids but now has over 21,700 pictures (yep, you read that number right. . . I tallied all the ones on my external hard drives!) and 90 hours of video between the two of them, gained 65lbs with her first pregnancy, who stays at home now (and works harder than I ever have I might add!) with two kids, can barely stand to look at her floors in her house, struggles to not burn dinner every night, hasn't worn heels in years, much less a suit, has a freakin' LONG-HAIRED huge dog INSIDE the house, and to top it off, allows one of these in her house. . . .