Is it her birthday, already?

This happens to me every year and every year I think, next year I'm going to do better but here I sit again. It's my baby's 6th birthday this week and have I done much of anything to plan for it?

Nope. I try to tell myself that it's because it's so close to Christmas that my mind can't plan or prepare for it. However, there are so many kids with birthdays the week or week after Christmas and their parents seem to pull off a party and presents with no issues, so my excuse that it's too close to Christmas doesn't fly.

So anyways, her birthday is tomorrow and I just now ordered a cake, figured out a couple of presents, and agreed with her on what kind of treats to take to school. Nothing like planning it all out in a week, for Pete's sake. We did pre-plan a little family party this weekend with the grandparents and cousins, but have I bought party supplies or figured out a meal or set an actual party time? Again ... nope!

This poor child! If this would have been her oldest sister's 6th birthday, I would have had it planned out back in November with the perfect themed invitations sent four weeks ahead of time. All the matching party supplies would have been bought; the presents would have been well thought out and ordered months ago, all of them wrapped adorably waiting for the big day! There would have been an announcement sent to the newspaper and broadcasted on the radio, and I think I might have been more excited than she!

Unfortunately, I know this is all true, because I realized that I can remember what we did for almost all of my oldest daughter's birthdays but I can't remember if we had Winnie the Pooh for my youngest 3rd birthday or 1st? Even with my middle daughter, if I think hard enough, I can place a good number of her birthdays, too, but the memories for my baby seem to get jumbled up with all the other mush in my brain.

It's the same with the actual day. For instance, with my oldest, the whole day would be a celebration. There'd be a special breakfast, with pictures taken, a fun lunch, with pictures taken and a whale of a party that night, with more pictures taken. There might be a sign in the yard announcing her age, and balloons and streamers scattered throughout the house, whatever it took to make her day the best ever.

However, tomorrow I'll have to set a reminder on my phone NOT to forget my camera when we go out to eat. Then I'll have to ask Hubby to remind me to actually take the pictures. Maybe sometime today I can think of something special for breakfast for her and hope I don't oversleep in the morning.

Her presents are still sitting in a bag on top of the fridge waiting to be wrapped, which will consist of whatever hodgepodge is left in the wrapping paper tote. (My oldest would have gotten matching theme wrapping paper.) And I suppose I better find time to let her pick out her special sixth birthday outfit. You have to look fancy on your birthday, right?!

Anyways, I'll try my best to make it a special day for her, and pray she never realizes the leftover scraps of a mom she's getting come birthday time. I hope she only remembers that the day was all about her, and doesn't care that her cake was bought and not homemade, or that her presents were wrapped with Christmas wrapping paper instead of Cinderella. Maybe next year I can plan a little better!