Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Birthday Anxiety

I love my birthday.

I always have and probably always will. I've even been known to be pretty obnoxious about it. So, imagine how disheartening it was when Park started showing some resistance to celebrating my big day.

At first, I thought it was a fluke that he would get grumpy when Chris would mention my birthday was just around the corner. But when we were in East Texas last weekend, the extent of his anxiety over my birthday was revealed. Before we left on Sat, my family celebrated my birthday with us a few days early, or at least that was the plan.

However, as Challi gathered up the boys to help her bring out my surprise ice cream cake, Park started to sob uncontrollably. "I don't want Mommy to have a birthday!!! I just want me and Mommy!!!" He could hardly even be bribed with part of the cake. He was equally as distraught opening presents, even though I recruited him to do it for me.

It wasn't pretty. Chris finally had to take him out of the room to discuss how it would hurt Mommy's feelings if he kept this up. He came back in to cuddle in my lap and tell me over and over that he just wanted us to cancel my birthday.

I'm really not exactly sure where this came from, but I know it has something to do with him not liking me being the center of attention. As much as he is a straight up Daddy's boy, he has definitely developed some protectiveness of his mommy. He is very used to sharing Chris at church, seeing him on stage, watching him baptizing, or counseling with others.

But, he is not interested in sharing me with anyone other than Chris and the baby. (And since the baby is not born yet, let's hope he still feels as generous come September:) Anytime I'm on stage, Park has to be taken out. He LOSES it. One time while in the control room with Chris, he just caught a glimpse of me doing announcements for a Women's event and sobbed uncontrollably.

Clearly, my birthday somehow falls into this category.

So, in an effort to get him to enjoy my birthday as much as I do, we let him decide how we would spend it this year. Last night, Chris, Park and I celebrated my birthday at the Ranger's game. After a round of Dip N Dots, some Ranger home run fireworks, and Park getting to take some batting practice, I think he learned to enjoy my birthday as much as I do.

And maybe he gets it from me, after all, because there is no one else I would rather have all to myself than Chris, Park and the little love who kicked in my stomach the entire game. I couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my 32nd birthday!!!

(Well, I didn't exactly tell you the whole story of my big day. But, I'll save the yucky part for tomorrow. Something really scary happened the morning of my birthday, but by God's grace it had a happy ending. We'll just skip over that for now.)

Tonight I get to continue the celebration with a Birthday girl's night out with Bridget and Sarah. And Park doesn't have any reservations over that one since Daddy Night will be in full swing.

4 comments:

Immeasurably More Mama said...

You look SO cute in that hat! I'm glad Park came around and celebrated in style with his momma...how fun! Enjoy your night out with the girls.

Ingram Gang said...

That's funny... and sweet. You look great. You have to be the most disgustingly beautiful pregnant lady ever. And by disgusting, I only mean to the people who gain 60 pounds during pregnancy. :)

AnnG said...

Hope your special day was turned out to be a GREAT DAY!!

Judy said...

Happy Birthday. Hope the yucky, scary part didn't have anything to do with the baby.