I had my birthday over the weekend. Yes, now I’ve had 37 birthdays, (In a row? Sorry, if you’ve ever seen Clerks you know why I just couldn’t resist. This is my favorite thing about turning 37!) I took my kids to Ohio to visit my mom. I had a really great visit with her, and I even got to go out for a birthday dinner with some great, old friends. I know that I truly am blessed, but during my seven hour drive home, alone with my three children, I couldn’t help but think about how different birthdays are nowadays, compared to my kid-free birthdays of the past. I am a big nerd, so let me spell it out for you in true nerd fashion, with a beautiful table:
Carefree Birthdays vs. Birthdays with Kids
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You sleep until your kids wake up hangry at 6 am. You fall back to sleep until 7 am, but it’s with your toddler laying across your neck, dripping her bottle of milk all over your pillow. | |
Your mom makes you a special birthday breakfast of all of your favorite things. | Your kids also make you a delicious breakfast of peanut butter and ketchup on toast. Could this be the new avocado toast? Hell no, it could not. | |
Your mom and amazing friends buy you a few thoughtful gifts you love, but wouldn’t have have thought to buy for myself. | Your kids get you sloppy kisses and your husband buys you a crockpot to replace the one you burned making (bullshit) overnight apple butter from a recipe you saw on Pinterest. Sorry, babe, but you’ll never live that down. | |
You spend your day doing whatever you please: going to lunch, getting a massage, shopping. | You spend your day watching Princess Sofia: The First, making your kids lunch, folding laundry and working out, because your metabolism has run away, probably with your sanity and old bra size. | |
You spend the night out on the town with friends: drinks, dinner, clubbing, (Remember when we used to club?!) the works. | You spend the night in the princess crown your daughter is forcing you to wear, watching Storks with your kids, who are fighting over who gets to be as close to you as possible without actually returning to the place from whence they came. Then you drink three glasses of wine with your (cold) dinner and pass out in your kids’ bed at 9:00. |
Though it can feel hilariously horrible at times how much our birthdays have changed, there was still plenty to love about this birthday. My kindergartener was obsessed with planning a surprise party for me. She was so excited and pleased with herself after she decorated my birthday chair and made me birthday posters. My son bought me a blue velvet pumpkin because he knows how much I love the color blue. How can I not love that? We might not get the birthday of our childhood dreams, and it’s definitely not all about us anymore, but the love is still there in spades. Reach out in the comments and let me know how much your birthday has changed since having kids.
♥ Erin