As if our neighbors needed another reason to hate us… Today is Georgia’s 3^rd birthday and what did we get her? A drum set. It is loud and she is proud. She looks like animal from the Muppets playing the drums. She kind of plays like him too. When I told my good friend that we got her a drum set she said, “What were you thinking?!” I don’t know what we were thinking but it’s kind of funny. I love that we picked the noisiest gift possible for the noisiest kid possible. I guess you could say that we have truly embraced Georgia for all that she is. Welcome to our jungle.

Georgia is kid version 4.0. She defines “spirited” and she has kept me on my toes since the day she was born. My labor and delivery was the quickest with her than with any of my other children. She has seemed to be in a hurry ever since. It’s hard to believe that she was diagnosed with a heart murmur. It has never slowed her down though. She walked at 10 months and ran the next day. She learned to climb right away. She runs, she falls, and gets back up almost every time with “I’m okay!”  People gasp when she falls down but we just wait for her to get back up. She loves to jump and has jumped off a lot of things including one time, a grand piano. Although she is the one with a heart condition, we have had numerous near heart attacks because of her.

Georgia is super funny, she laughs at everything. She is beyond smart and very beautiful. She is a sweet cuddly bear when she slows down long enough to let me hold her. She gives the best kisses and hugs and she is becoming the best big sister to her baby sister, Rocky. I just saw her hand over her a drumstick. Uh-oh.

Yes, perhaps drums weren’t the best gift idea to instill quiet in our home, but we figured that this kid was already rocking so why not give her something to channel her talent on.

It’s funny because one of my neighbors plays the banjo and one day he asked me if his playing the banjo bothered us. He was worried that he was disturbing us by playing too loud. Up until then I had no idea that he played and have never been kept up by his banjo playing. Well neighbor, I’ll see your banjo and I’ll raise you a drum set.

I don’t think my neighbors have come to expect anything less than noise coming from our home so perhaps the drum set won’t bother them so much? The drumsticks, they can be taken away and in a few days when I’m about to die from my head wanting to explode from the noise, they probably will be. Or I may find a cozy little corner in our garage for the drums to chill for a while. My challenge will be not getting mad at the kids for playing the drums because it was I who gave them to them in the first place.

As for Georgia, she is now literally marching to the beat of her own drummer. She always has and she always will. Happy 3^rd Birthday Georgia Rose! You have shown mean what it means to love unconditionally. You keep me thinking and wondering out loud, “just what will that girl do next?” You will go far in life and I pray that your exuberance for living never simmer. While your feet never seem to touch the ground, you never miss a beat, and you love with all your little heart. You move faster than light and when you sleep, thank goodness you sleep hard. Thanks for making me laugh and for helping me let go of my skewed version of perfect children. Your version of perfection is much more fun anyway.