Things I Wish I Had Thought About Before Having Kids

There's actually a LOT of things I wish I would have thought about before having kids. But seeing as how neither of my kids were truly planned, I didn't get much time to think about it. But aside from thinking about how much childcare costs, the late nights, the early mornings, or the massive amounts of food a three-year-old can actually consume in a day (seriously, my son is a bottomless pit), there is one thing I wish I could change. I wish I would have planned to have my kids between the months of January-May or Mid September-December. Do you notice that all the summer months are absent from the months? Out of ALL the things that parents think about before having a child, parents don't think about the timing. Both of my kids have summer birthdays. My sweet Dannika was born in July, and my rowdy Mattis was born in August. Why is this a problem? Aside from the fact that I spent both of my third trimesters of pregnancy in the sweltering months of summer dealing with swamp butt and all sorts of other pregnancy unpleasantness, my kids are eternally screwed with birthdays. Ok, maybe I'm being totally dramatic about being "eternally screwed", but it still isn't ideal! Here are my two reasons:

1. Summer birthday kids are always the youngest in the classroom when they start school. At age 5 (when they normally start Kindergarten), summer birthday kids are usually smaller, and slightly developmentally behind some of their peers (some whom are almost a year older than them). There is a HUGE difference between a 5 year old and a 5 and a half year old when it comes to size and development.

Lucky for us, Dannika is actually tall for her age, and developmentally has exceeded many of her peers. Teachers tell us it's a "girl thing". Girls tend to mature faster than little boys (is what we're told at least). Mattis hasn't started school yet, but he is small for his age, and he is definitely not where Dannika was intellectually or developmentally at this age.

2. The most important reason why summer birthdays can stink is BIRTHDAY PARTIES! With Dannika's birthday in July, by the time July rolls around after schools gets out in May, we've lost touch with classmates. Many have gone on vacations, camp, grandma's, etc. Getting a class together after losing touch for almost a month and a half is impossible. As for Mattis, his birthday is at the end of August. When he starts school, his classmates will be foreign to him by August. It also stinks for him, because school usually starts right after his birthday, so even if he wanted to do a party with his new classmates, he has the daunting task of befriending them (in like a week).

Dannika's school has been really great with acknowledging her "inconvenient" summer birthday! Her first grade teacher celebrated half birthdays for her summer kids, and her Kindergarten and 2nd grade teacher let us choose a day the last two weeks of schools to celebrate her birthday at school. We have found a pretty awesome way to celebrate Dannika's birthday as well. We throw her a party in June as soon as school gets out. We send out invites before the last day of school, and we've always had a great turnout! 

So despite the "inconvenience", we have managed to make it work out, and Dannika has celebrated 8 glorious birthdays. The birthday I'm not looking forward to is the year all her friends turn 16 before her. Sorry baby girl, you'll be "the one"...the one that is always bumming rides with her friends because you'll be the last one to get your license. 

But still, if I could have planned when I'd give birth, I would have preferred not to to have babies in the summer...

Dannika recently had her 8th birthday party just last week! Her and her friend had a joint party at a local "water park" (term used loosely). They had a blast, and it was absolutely memorable!

The Birthday gals!

Thanks to everyone who came out to make our girls feel special!