My 14th Birthday!

 

Last week was my Birthday! We had a great time being with our family. One of my favorite things about birthdays is that they are kind of like a wake up call, they show you how many people care about you. Here is a little backstory to my party: My party was originally going to be on my real birthday, but it was scheduled to rain that day. We mostly ignored it though. When I woke up on the 19th, I came downstairs and my mom was sitting on the couch. I sat down next to her, and she said "How about we just have your party tonight." I was a little surprised, but super exited. Apparently, there was a hurricane in Mexico, and it was going to come to California. So my mom texted all the family and luckily, they all could still come.

The day of the "hurricane"(also my real birthday) it rained pretty hard, but it wasn't anything we hadn't seen. People freaked out though, and bought up the stores. We had a nice indoor birthday, and we recovered from the party. I had opened my birthday present early, *gasp* a bike but my parents still had a few "extra presents" *gasp*. Brygit even bought me a present *gasp*! We dropped by my dad's work, then we went to sushi for dinner (we had to franticly run to and from the car in the pouring rain too).

We went to Knott's Berry farm a few days later too and ate yet another celebratory meal. Am I spoiled?

I also rode Supreme Scream for the first time. Yep, I'm officially a big boy. 

Finnlay's Birth (by mom)

 If I had to pick just one moment in the last few years that needed a dedicated blog post, Finnlay's birth would win by a long shot. There are quite a few events since I last maintained this blog regularly that have changed our lives but his birth is definitely at the top of that list. 

Finn became a desire of our family about five years before he was born. Paul and I saw how quickly our first two children were growing and we wanted to do it all over again with a new addition. Liam and Brygit (Brygit especially) also started talking about wanting a baby sibling. For some reason, it just wasn't time for him to make his appearance. A couple of doctor trips confirmed that everything was in working order health wise but I still did not become pregnant for several years. In January 2020, five months after beginning our homeschool journey and two months before the whole world fell apart, I found out I was pregnant.

I was sick for the first half (and in lock down) but we somehow made it to Finn's due date of September 10th. I had Braxton Hicks contractions for several weeks and by the time his due date came along, I was beyond ready. The day before his due date, I called my mom to come stay with us because my contractions were getting closer together and a bit more intense. I didn't think I would make it through the night at home. Of course, I woke up in the morning after all contractions ceased in the night feeling like I was going to be the first person in history to remain pregnant forever. I went on a walk with Paul and complained to him about my never ending pregnancy when quite suddenly my water broke. It was almost one of those water breaking movie moments where I was pretty soaked by the time I got home. Luckily my mom was still at my house to stay with the kids. Paul and I left to the hospital around 10am and Finn made his appearance just before 6:30 that evening. 

I'll be honest and say this journey hasn't been an easy one. This story took place almost three years ago and it has costed me a lot of sleepless nights, frustration, self-sacrifice, self-doubt, and more energy and patience than I ever thought God could possibly supply me with. But the moment I met Finnlay is one of the happiest of my life. And the moment I introduced him to Liam and Brygit is at the top of my list too. He has been the best addition to our family. He is so adorable, sweet, funny, and smart. His siblings are his favorite people, next to his mama of course. He has brought out the youth in all of us and showed us how much we can love another human. A lesson in God's timing has also been very prevalent these days as we see many reasons why we spent those years as a family of four. But now that we are a family of five, I can't imagine it any other way.

Through the Eyes of a Two Year Old

 

Finnlay is a wonder, the way he interprets things is absolutely out of this world! The things he says and the stuff he does is so crazy! And all that shows that he understands very little. It is so adorable, and honestly, it makes me jealous of him. Everything he sees is a wonder to him, if its as big as a truck or as small as a ladybug. When he was little, we changed the term "stop to smell the flowers" to "stop to pet the grass" because that was what he would do!

Another thing he sees a little differently is God. Once he was really constipated and mom prayed with him, and they asked Jesus to get Finn's "rock" out. After it was all over, mom was talking to him and she said, "Jesus got the rock out!" and Finnlay asked, "Are you Jesus?" 

Just recently I was sword fighting with Finn and all of a sudden he yelled, "I'm Jesus!" I was so confused, but I decided to just ignore it. After he said it a few more times, I finally figured it out. Earlier I had said, "on guard!" but he thought I was saying, "I'm God!" So at least he knows the relationship between God and Jesus.

And in all that misunderstanding, there is a bucketload of innocence. Finnlay was riding his plasma car around the house one day (which he does often), and he asked Grandma Anna if she wanted a turn. She politely rejected his offer and he said, "ok, you'll do it when you're a baby next time" He obviously doesn't understand age, time, or death. Man, that must be nice. 

San Francisco (For the Second Time)

 

Earlier this month we went to Berkley for my dad's cousin's wedding. We arrived a few days early to do some sightseeing. Our choice of transportation was a plane, since we didn't think we could survive an eight hour car drive with a two year old. We left on the morning of Independence Day and got to San Francisco pretty quickly. being that the airport was five minuets away from our house, and our plane ride was literally forty minuets. The ride was very nice, and we enjoyed watching Finnlay gape at the clouds. My mom and I got pretty sick, but we were fine after we landed. So we got out of the airport, and caught a small train to the rental car area, which Finn loved.

Waiting for the plane

Crazy boy exited face

My parents went to San Francisco for their first anniversary, and my mom wrote this post about it. One day while they were there, my parents sat at a park and my mom writes that if she ever visited San Francisco again, she would want to find that same park. Sadly, we didn't go there, but we are pretty sure we saw it while driving in the city!

We had an absolute great time with minimal stress. We were able to see lots of famous landmarks like The Ghirardelli Factory, Fisherman's Wharf, and The Golden Gate Bridge. The Wedding was great, and we were very glad that my dad was able to be there, being that originally he wouldn't be able to come. 

 

Big Shooter Things and Play Dough the Dog

 

Finally I'm getting to what this blog is here for: Logging things in our life that we don't want to forget! I don't really know where to start, so I'll just tell two stories.

The other day Brygit and Finnlay were playing with his blocks, and Finnlay was making his "house". Brygit asked him what was in his house, so he pointed everything out. He said, "This is the ramp" pointing to the red and green blocks at the bottom of the picture. Then he said, "And these are the big shooter things". My mom had just come into the room and she said, "Do you mean cannons?" He replied, "cannons, yes" like he already knew that. Is he a insane child or a little boy? Most likely both.

The next story happened a few nights ago. I was reading Finn a Mickey Mouse book, there was one page with Pluto on it. I asked him who it was, and he made a huge cute gasp and said, "It's Play Dough! I want to hold him when he was a baby!"

Just a little clarity for you, I don't want to steal this blog from my mom (it seemed like I kind of did in my first post), But she also wants to get back into blogging. So now I'm planning on a sort of partnership. Expect a post from her soon.

A Quote

 

This is a picture from one of my mom's old posts in April 2011. I had just got my fourth haircut (my dad buzzed it, and it was the shortest haircut I had got). We went to a park, and for the first time, I wanted to go on the big boy swing. Therefore, my mom named the post "Big Boy haircut and Big Boy swing". In the blog she writes about how sad and proud she feels about me growing so fast. A few days ago, when I read the post there was a line mom wrote that got me thinking. Let me quote her, "He's growing up so fast and it's so bittersweet. Life gets better in so many ways the older he gets but it still feels a little sad to know that one day very soon he won't want me to hold him and kiss his boo boos. Then he will think I'm dumb and he'll be embarrassed to be seen in public with me. And don't tell me it won't happen because I was a kid once and I remember it clear as day. In the meantime, I'm doing my best to enjoy every moment and to build as strong of a bond between us as possible. Afterall, it's not like he asked me drop him off at the movies. He just got a haircut and learned to swing."

Let me just say something right here: I'm a mamma's boy, I always was, and I always will be. Teenagers are always portrayed as super rebellious and parent-hating. And, if I can be honest, a lot of teens are like that. But I am not like that. I'm not super innocent though, back when I was in public school, I probably thought my mom was dumb and embarrassing towards fourth grade. But now that I'm homeschooled, I look at my past self and all I see is irrational silliness. One of the ten commandments says to respect and love your parents and that's what I plan to do. There is absolutely nothing embarrassing about my parents. And I feel sad that my mother had to think I was going to turn out like that, and I also feel proud that I turned out differently. I have matured in many ways over the past few years, and grown out of many things, but I will never grow out of loving my parents.

The Legacy Continues

This post is a bit different than the hundreds my mother has made, because it is not written by my mother herself. It is written by me, Liam. The past few days my family has found me disappearing to the computer multiple times a day, just so I can read this blog. I know my mom doesn't like to toot her own horn, so I will for her. I have been astonished by how my mother can write. Just for the two days of reading the past posts, I have found myself Laughing out loud, secretly smiling, and even welling up with tears. My mom always tells me that she loves me, and of course I knew that, but I never really dwelled on how much she really loves me. Reading some of the first posts she made in 2010, I found out. I was absolutely stunned with the powerful wave of love she feels for me, and the notion that I was her whole world. After that, I now consider "Our Growing Bubble" Legendary, like an old Egyptian slate that shows proof about the past and how it happened. Now with a new addition to the household, Finnlay Preyss Kowalski, I wanted to re-do mom's blog into something that can help us remember memories that we have about him. I might be a little late, being that Finnlay is already almost 3. But I still think I can log things about him because sometimes he says the funniest things! This will no longer be a mothers blog with parenting advice, but, ever since Finn was born, I have had a special bond with him. I obviously have to have a bond with him because he is my brother, but I have a different relationship with him as well. I am 11 years older than him, and I have felt a sort of a mentor role for him. So, this won't be a mother blog, but it will be a big brother blog. I think helping with Finnlay is definitely a little practice dummy for my future parenting (hopefully). I have taken lots of traits from my mother, her popping knees, her stressing out about things she doesn't need to stress about, her caring spirit, and I hope she was able to pass down to me her amazing writing skills. I am honored to carry on her legacy, and just like her, I will try to be as honest and real as possible on this blog. (She's not dead, by the way)