Today my little baby, my tiny little bundle of joy, is turning five years old. Those five years? Went kind of like this…

Sweet little moments. Silly silliness. Loveable cuddles. Amazing milestones. Major ch-ch-ch-changes. His five years on this earth have been a rollercoaster ride of constant change, constant growth, constantly amazing his proud, proud momma.

And to think it all started like this…

With a teensy little newborn baby. He took his dear sweet time leaving the safe confines of his momma’s belly and even those first few blissful weeks and months of his life were a little crazy. We didn’t have an easy go of it, but it helped that we were so madly in love with him.

And before we knew it, we were celebrating his first birthday. We actually celebrated it several times – so many people wanted in on that celebration that we had to split it up into manageable parties. And lots of cake. No complaints there!

Seconds after he turned one, this kid was on the move – cruising everything in sight – mommy never sat down again.

By his second birthday we had moved for the third time, finally into our first apartment. Mommy was so tired she broke down and bought a store bought cake. It was still delicious.

We have taken a lot of great vacations together in his short little life – and we try to make it a tradition to look for turtles to pose with.  This is one of my favorites.

When we celebrated his 3rd birthday MM was infatuated with all things Madagascar so we threw him a Madagascar birthday party where I made one of my favorite birthday cakes to date.

Seconds later (two months actually) we moved to Wisconsin. It was crazy and happened in the blink of an eye. We made the most of our move by driving halfway across the country to our new home with the help of my wonderful dad – taking stops along the way at places like Niagara Falls, pretending it was a vacation. Longest vacation ever?

Minutes later (another two months) MM became a big brother. He transitioned into this new role pretty well – it hasn’t always been easy, but he’s an amazing brother – a wonderful, sweet, clever little boy. ::sniff sniff::

He has really blossomed into a full fledged kid these past couple years – with a fantastic sense of humor, a big huge brain and an even bigger heart.

By the time his 4th birthday rolled around, we had assembled enough little friends for a really fun Meeksa Mooska Mickey Mouse Birthday Party. It was a small, but awesome party and I had a little bit too much fun perhaps getting the shin dig together.

His 4th year has been it’s own little whirlwind of milestones. Learning to ride a tricycle…

embracing his Native American heritage. Okay, this picture was actually just from an impromptu trip to daddy’s office, but Dan and the kids really are part Native American (Wampanoag)

learning to swim! MM is taking swim classes for the first time this year and loving it!

He has really fallen in love with books and “reading” and even has a couple of words that he can recognize and read.

And he’s writing, too! He can write his name, mommy and daddy without help and asks me all the time how to spell… well, everything!

How has it been five years? How has it been only five years? MM, it feels like you’ve been in my life forever and at the same time it feels like just yesterday. I am so proud of you – so madly, crazily in love with you. Your life has been one major event after the other. This year, literally one day after your birthday we’ll be buying our first house. Here’s hoping that by your 6th birthday there aren’t quite the same number of crazy ridiculous changes for you. Let’s slow down a little, sweetheart, and enjoy this amazing childhood of yours!

Happy 5th Birthday MM!

Love,

Mommy