We all have special talents don’t we? Mine? Well it’s breaking chairs. I’ve been busting them since I was a teenager. I think it’s because I fall into them rather than just sitting down. At least that’s part of it. Ask any one of my friends and they’ll tell you I’ve got a knack for breaking chairs.

My daughter Caitlin’s special talent? Well that would be destroying technology. Keyboards, iPods, cell phones, you name it, she’s taken one or more down.

It started with my first Mac keyboard. I woke up one morning and found my keyboard sitting in a puddle. Upon further investigation, I discovered she spilled on the keyboard and then didn’t bother to even attempt cleaning and drying it.

The next casualty was my pink iPod Nano that had been a Christmas gift. I couldn’t find it for several days and I was getting really irritated. I always let Caitlin use it when I wasn’t. Finally she came to me and confessed that a week or so before she’d dropped it in the toilet. It wouldn’t turn on after that and instead of telling me, she freaked out and threw it in a dumpster down the street. Yes, she threw my iPod away.

Then there was my Samsung Sync phone. It was a pretty badass phone and just a year old. The only reason I quit using it was because I got my iPhone.  We had a fairly crappy “house cell phone” which in reality became Caitlin’s phone. So when I got the iPhone, we put the sim card in the Sync and she had a pretty nice cell phone. Not long after, she spent the night at a friend’s house. This friend had a loft bed and there were hardwood floors underneath. Apparently the phone fell off the bed, hit the floor, and broke in half. It was now completely useless.

Then I gave her the phone I had before getting the sync. That wasn’t the worst phone in the world, but it wasn’t all that awesome. Anyhow, one Friday she came home from school and told me her phone was stolen.

At this point, Jason gave her his old Motorola. (Look, we really want her to have a cell phone ok, don’t judge us for replacing the phone over and over. We never actually bought a phone for her. She just kept getting hand-me-downs) Anyhow, last week the screen went crazy on it and no one is sure why. Monday Jason decided to just go ahead and buy her a phone. He told her this was it. If anything happened to the phone that she was screwed. This phone would have to last her 2 years.

Last night a call came in and the caller ID was for one of her friends that she was with. “Moooom?” ut oh. “Mom, my phone was in my back pocket and I went to the bathrooma and my phone fell in the toilet.” Her NEW, not even a week old phone fell in the damn toilet. She pulled it out, immediately took out the battery and now we’re just playing the waiting game to see if the thing will work.

Wow, to say time flies would be an understatement! My first born is turning fourteen today. It’s hard for me to think back to the day I had her. It seems ages ago. But I’ll give it a shot.

As I sit here typing, it’s just after 7 a.m. Caitlin was overdue as my due date was November 26. It was a Tuesday morning; I was nervous and excited at the same time. Because she was late, I was being induced. Being my first child, her father and I had decided we wanted to be surprised so we didn’t know if we were having a boy or a girl. Either was fine with me of course, but in my heart of hearts, I wanted a little girl.

The nurses hooked me up to an IV and got the drip going that would start labor and bring my little one into the world. By 7 p.m. it was clear that things weren’t progressing well and we ultimately decided on a c-section. I won’t lie, I was bummed. They wheeled me into the operating room and shortly after, her father joined me. Now I have no idea why, but rather than giving me an epidural, thus allowing me to move a good portion of my body, they gave me a spinal so I could move only my head. Looking back, I can’t help but feel cheated because I couldn’t hold my newborn for several hours due to lack of bodily control.

Anyhow, I’ll never forget this. As they were operating, the Dr. asked me if I had names picked out. We did. If the baby was a boy, he would be Timothy, a girl would be Caitlin, obviously. So I’m there on the table and being pushed, pulled and generally turned inside out. Next thing I know I hear a baby crying and all I’m thinking is. “Would someone shut that kid up? I’m trying to have a baby here!!!” Then from somewhere behind the curtain I only sort of hear the Dr. say, “It’s a Caitlin!” My brain didn’t make the connection. Baby crying and “It’s a Caitlin” didn’t make any sense to me. I didn’t say anything, and her dad had to make me understand we had a baby girl.  In my defense, I was young, drugged up and exhausted.

I had no idea what trials and tribulations that child would put me through. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. It’s really hard for me to wrap my brain around the fact that she’s 14 now. My little baby girl isn’t a little baby girl anymore. She’s a beautiful, outgoing, independent, stubborn, amazing young lady. She makes me as happy as she makes me completely nuts, but I love her and I wouldn’t trade her for all the riches in the world.

I love you Caitlin. I really do.

The natural beauty on the left is my darling Caitlin who is away at camp for a full week. This is her first time leaving home for so long without a family member present.

I really hope she’s having the time of her life.

My oldest child turned 13 on Thursday. We celebrated by taking her to Red Robin for dinner. As for her actual birthday, that was pretty much it. However, we had a big party for her yesterday.

Friday night she went to her dad’s so that Saturday morning her step-mom could take her to get her hair done before everyone joined her. My job was to pick up 5 of her nearest and dearest friends and meet up at home base, which was her father’s house.

Once there and ready to go, our first stop was the nail salon. The first one we went to wasn’t going to bother with trying to fit us in. “You come back in an hour?” No, we need to start now because we’re on a time schedule. “No, you come back in an hour.” No, bye bye. Now mind you we had 7 girls getting mani-pedi’s. I understand that’s a lot of people, but that’s also a lot of money and I’d sure as heck try to fit them in and start the process.

So away we go and a block later we found another salon who saw dollar signs when told we have 7 girls. They loaded up the spa tubs and then worked through each girl systematically. *side note, I ran into an old jr. high/high school friend there who was getting her nails done. Small world indeed*

After the girls were done being pampered, we headed over to the Brea Mall where Caitlin had an appointment at Mac. The store was too crowded for all of us to be in there with her, so I passed the camera to her step-mom and headed out into the mall in search of a few Christmas gifts. Multi tasking is good. The rest of the girls goofed off taking “MySpace” pictures.

Once her makeup was completed, the plan was to go to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. Jason, Jessalyn and Chris wanted to join us for dinner and he got to the restaurant first. He called to let us know it was going to be 2.5 to 3 hours before we could be seated. After checking the time (6:30) we decided hell no we’re not waiting that long. At this point you may insert your own special brand of drama from a teenager and I’ll leave it at that.

Jason went back home and we ended up at TGI Friday’s for dinner, which I can tell you was way more fun than the Cheesecake Factory ever would have been. When it’s your birthday, they randomly come to you throughout dinner and tie balloons to your hair. Caitlin had 7 balloons tied to her head at one point.  Dinner was fun and we all ended up having a fantastic time.

(I’d insert a picture here but I can’t because I didn’t take any pictures after dinner)

From there it was back to her step-mom’s house where we had a huge spread of dipping items such as a metric ton of fruit, to cakes, to pretzels, and  marshmallows, cookies, you name it we had it, and we attempted two chocolate fountains. We had a white one and a milk chocolate one but neither of them worked worth a darn. The white chocolate was grainy and the milk chocolate refused to even flow. That didn’t stop the girls from trying though. Even though that portion of the party was a bust, they all still had a great time.

Everyone was spending the night there but me. I headed out around 11:15 to sleep in my own bed. That brings us to this morning. I’ll be going back in a while to join them for breakfast before bringing the girls home and getting on with my day.

I hope Caitlin really appreciates all that went into the planning and execution of her party. It was an expensive venture for sure, but one she’ll remember probably for the rest of her life. She wanted to welcome her teenage years with a bang, and she certainly did. The evening wasn’t without drama, but even so, I think the good outweighed the bad.

Here she was in the summer of 2000 at age 5 when this photo was taken. It’s awful hard to wrap my brain around the fact that she was ever so little.

So here’s to Caitlin for her 13th birthday, and here’s to us, her parents who now have a teenager living at home. Lord help us get through the challenges that lie ahead.