And the award for lamest parents goes to....

If there was a contest for “Kids with the lamest parents” our kids would probably win.

One of the criteria for winning?

Birthdays.

We stink at birthdays.

Will's first birthday was spent in the Hope Hotel on base here in Ohio. Mike was here for a class for three weeks and Will and I came with him. We invited our friends the Bentley's over for cake. I bought a cake at the commissary that was meant for St. Patty's Day and I don't think it even said "Happy Birthday Will" or anything. His presents were these stupid wooden blocks I painted and some wooden boxes of various sizes that I also painted. Aside from getting to spend time with our friends it was a really lame birthday.

Isaac's first birthday was much better than Will's. I made him cupcakes and we spent the day at the park. He presents were probably pretty lame because that's what we do, get lame birthday presents, especially if it's the first birthday.

We did celebrate it though, and he did get presents and I did make homemade cupcakes. The problem with Isaac’s first birthday is the actual date of his birthday celebration.

I was due with Isaac August 31st, he came July 30th. The 31st got stuck in our heads and somehow we got a wee bit confused. July 30th came and went without any recognition of it being a special day.

We celebrated his birthday on the 31st and it was almost his second birthday before we realized that he birthday was not the 31st.

How lame is that? Who celebrates their kid’s birthday on the wrong day and doesn’t even know it?!

Next came Eli.


His birthday was five days before we moved to Ohio. Mike didn't want anything to do with a birthday present for Eli. To this day I'm not sure how he did it (something like a late night conversation explaining how we don't want children to feel entitlement) but he convinced me NOT to buy Eli a gift for his birthday. He said, "My mom will get him a present and then we can buy him one when we are settled." Well, it's been a year and Eli still hasn't gotten that birthday present.

(I need to interject and say that their grandma and grandpa always send awesome gifts for our boys so they will obviously not be winning lame status, just us, the parents)

His birthday is in six days and I don’t have a present for him. I sat down the other night and decided to stop wasting time and look at some presents online to get an idea of what he might like. He walked into the room while I was looking and oh man, it was like a kid that had never eaten candy before being let loose in a candy store.

“I want that!”

“Doggy.”

“Dinosaur.”

"Train! I want train!”

“No Isaac’s birthday. My birthday!”

So, we have another chance to redeem ourselves. I hope we get it right this time.