Celebrating Braylen Turning FOUR

This 6lb, 15 oz boy...

Is now this 33 pound superhero

I love this kid so much.  He continues to have a zest for life that makes us smile and laugh.  He is the little brother that entertains family and friends with his silliness.  He uses his cuteness to his advantage.  That little voice at my bedside every night that asks for snuggles... I am a sucker for this snuggle bug.  Braylen can focus on a task for a long period of time; he has taken to puzzles in the last few months.  He studies the pieces and can reason where they should go.  He likes to play with planes and cars.  He loves to be outside playing baseball, riding his scooter, or simply running and falling down all over the yard.  

For Braylen's birthday we kept the celebrations to a minimum.  I ask Braylen who he plays with at school, which he replies "no one.  I play with Evie if I see her outside"  Melts and breaks my heart all at once.  Evie is favorite playmate.  He is already talking about how much he will miss her next year when she goes to Kindergarten.  It's hard for Braylen to make friends when Evie is around; he would rather play with her than anyone else.  My friend and I are trying to orchestrate friendships between our kids since they are the same ages and genders.  All of this to say, Braylen didn't ask for a whole bunch of friends at his party.  Another year I avoided the big friend party :)

We celebrated Braylen two different times already.  On Saturday, we had the Stefany clan over for pizza and cake.  Daddio took a year off of cake making last year due to the move; he was back at it this year though!  Braylen requested an Orioles Party... shocker.

The birthday boy helps make the cake

Borrowed hat mold from a friend.  We love shortcuts!

Another nicely decorated cake by Daddio

Everyone got Braylen gifts that perfectly fit his likes.  Mommy might have had some influence on them ;)

Pitching machine

This year Evie and I went to Five Below to pick out gifts for Braylen from Evie.  She took a few dollars of her own money.  She was really proud of the 3 gifts she bought him.  She probably knows what Braylen likes even better than me!

Lots of ORANGE this year
A new scooter from Pops and protective
arm and knee gear from the Thomas family.

Braylen smiled on demand with his adorable smile for cake

Auntie Laura can remember what she wore at various events like they were yesterday.  She remembered what she wore the first time she met Braylen and 4 years later, she needed to wear that same orange sweater to his ORANGE Orioles party.

Since today is his actual birthday, we had to do something fun!  Evie and I saved two gifts for him to open today (the batman costume and sword above).  We went into the city to have lunch at the "Camden Yards place" with Daddio.  After Braylen opened his batman costume, it was not coming off, so we had  lunch with a superhero and princess

Best friends

The waitress brough him a birthday treat
(for all of us to share)

While Evie had gymnastics, Lisa stayed with the girls and I took the boys to Rainbow Swingset (this is the friendship we are trying to orchestrate...)

"Batman" and "Batman too"

To keep some separation between Braylen's birthday and Christmas, we didn't decorate the tree until tonight.  Outside lights and other decorations are up, but the Christmas tree will wait until his birthday night, or after the party, whichever comes last.  After a busy day, both kids were pretty tired, but we mustered through getting the ornaments up.

The phrases "where did the time go?!  what happened to my baby?  Time slow down!" are pet peeves of mine.  I have been with Braylen for just about every day the last 4 years, most of those days 18-24 hours of it.  Time goes very slowly some days as a SAHM, there has been nothing fast about the last four years.  The baby days seem like forever ago to me.  I have been through every milestone and struggle with my kids.  I love the stage we are in now; I can sit down and do a difficult puzzle with Braylen, I can play baseball with him in the backyard and he hits it back, we can go on family bike rides with everyone on a bike, we can go places without a stroller and a diaper bag.  The list goes on.  I love seeing my kids become independent and learning their personalities.  The baby and toddler years are behind us.  The potty seats, sippy cups, bright colored musical toys can be sold.  Sure these preschool years are not all rainbows and flowers, but gosh they are easier for me than having two babies/toddlers.  I welcome the preschool era with open arms!

I pray that I can be the mother Braylen needs me to be.  I hope I can foster his spirit and help him to be a light in this evil world.  May four be a fabulous year for my boy.  xo