Birthdays…

We have quite a few birthdays that come up in February for our family. This year my son whose birthday is in February will be eleven. Eleven. I have four sons and he is the third youngest.

It doesn’t feel that long along that I was heavily pregnant with him and then accidentally having a home birth!

I’d give anything to do it all again. The unexpected home birth, the laughter, tears, navigating every stage and age.

I am not great a looking back at photographs. It doesn’t take me long to start welling up with tears and needing to walk away. But I do treasure the memories.

Although most of the clothes I have now purged sometimes when I see a piece of older clothing that my sons used to wear it takes me back to a certain memory or the age that they were. It brings it all back.

When the boys where younger I got a bit obsessed with traditions, I wanted some traditions so that the boys could have some as they grew up. One of the traditions was for birthdays. I made the boys a birthday bunting. One bunting had on “Happy Birthday”, a letter sewn on to a triangle for the bunting. The other bunting had their name on.

I used the boys old clothes to make it. I cut up old onesies, tops, vests and pyjamas to make it. Years on and we still use the bunting. Admittedly it is me who puts it up every year but I would like to think that they like having it up. I can still remember some of the clothes that were used and the memories attached to them. I can also remember the nights spent in the kitchen sewing the bunting trying to make the sewing machine sew quietly whilst my much younger boys were sleeping. My youngest still in a cot.