It’s birthday season in the Amell household! Bosco’s birthday is first, April 26. Then, we have a double birthday! Jonathan and Jordanna are both born on April 27, but 6 years apart. Then, a week later it is my birthday, May 4. Yes, I got the Star Wars birthday! A lot of people wonder if Jonathan and Jordanna being born on the same day was coincidence. Well here is the story.
When I was pregnant with Jordanna, we decided to schedule an induction. With everything that was going on with Covid, we thought it would be best to know the date ahead of time so Josh could book time off from work to be in the hospital and so my Mom could book time off from work to watch the kiddos at the house. We had originally asked for April 26, so she would fall into the “26th” theme we kind of had going on with Josh (June 26) and Joshua’s (August 26) birthdays. Unfortunately, my OB/GYN was unavailable that day and penciled us in for April 27 pending my approval. Really, it was pending Jonathan’s approval. We spoke in length about the fact that he would forever share his birthday with Jordanna and although we knew he was actually hoping for the baby to be a girl that was born on his birthday, we wanted to make sure he was making a conscious decision and not an emotional one for that year. He fully agreed that he wanted to share his birthday, to the point that he said he would be upset if we scheduled it for April 28.
So that is how we ended up having a double birthday on April 27 for Jonathan and Jordanna. We have thought about how we were going to celebrate this in the years to come, especially when they’re both in school and have friends they want to invite to their birthday parties. We decided that we would combine the family celebration to the Sunday after their birthday or if their birthday is on a Sunday, then it would be on their birthday. Then when it comes to the school friend birthdays, we will have Jonathan’s party the Saturday before their birthday, or on the 27th, and Jordanna would have her birthday party the Saturday after their birthday. This way they can still feel special celebrating their own birthday with their friends and we can all get together to celebrate them both with extended family.
Something else I also realized was that this was the first year that Jonathan was able to celebrate his birthday at school! He begged me to stay home on his birthday and normally I wouldn’t really care, but this year I made him go. I had a birthday that was during the school year and I don’t know about you, but my teachers always made it a special day. If there was a decision to be made as to what game to play for gym, the birthday kid got to pick; you were the first person in line that day; everyone sang you “Happy Birthday”; and some teachers even gave little gifts too! I really wanted him to experience that and I am so glad he did. When he got home after school on his birthday, he had a smile from ear to ear and was so excited to tell me about his day. I’m so glad he had an awesome day and he was glad he went to school for his birthday.
We also have a little birthday tradition for dinner time. The birthday boy/girl gets to pick what they want to eat for dinner, whether it is homemade or from a restaurant. Jonathan chose Kelsey’s Roadhouse, who has the BEST 4 Cheese Spinach Dip!! So needless to say I was super excited! My “faith in humanity” was also strengthened that day. Another table had sang “Happy Birthday” to their birthday boy, well he was more like a young adult. Anyway, when we sang “Happy Birthday” to Jonathan and Jordanna at dessert time, the other table started cheering and shouting “Happy Birthday” from across the restaurant. The smile on Jonathan’s face was priceless and it was such a cool moment!!
That is our story of the double birthday in our house. Yes it was planned, but not entirely. We did try to initially have Jordanna’s birthday on her own day, but when the situation presented itself, and Jonny enthusiastically approved, we went with it! Now Joshua wants us to have twins on his birthday! Or was it triplets. . .
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