I Had a Birthday, Shout Hooray!

Yesterday was my birthday, and it was so great! I was awakened early by the sound of The Man's voice calling my name. I figured something must be wrong. He NEVER wakes me up before he leaves for work. I rolled over and opened my eyes to find him standing there with a tray full of french toast, eggs, sausage and orange juice. YUM!!! Nothing beats a great breakfast in bed. And oh, the very best, most fabulous part was the sausage. Anyone who knows me well knows that I almost never cook sausage or bacon. I can't stand how the smell lingers for more than a day. And then you try to shower and get ready, and the smell gets into your hair, so you continue to smell it ALL day long. Yuck. That's also the reason my kids bathe in the mornings. Yes, it makes our mornings a bit more hurried than some, and a little more stressful than those of you who give baths at night before bed. But when we go out, I know my kids don't smell of bacon or syrup. Anywho, back to my breakfast. The Man knows how I feel about lingers smells, and so he barbequed the sausage for me so that I wouldn't be able to smell it in the house. What a guy!

He made breakfast early so as to give me a peaceful meal with no kids. And it was nice while it lasted. The girls came in just a few minutes into eating, and they all started singing "Happy Birthday" for me. Then they crawled into bed with us and shared bites of french toast and eggs while they took turns opening presents for me. What a great way to start the day!

I asked The Man if he was going to be late, and then my day got even better ... he had taken the whole day off! I LOVE having him around all day. So we all finished breakfast and got ready for the day. Then I called and got a sitter so we could go out to lunch and catch a movie. Although our plans were to see the new Harry Potter this weekend (which would have given me time to finish the book), we decided to see it that afternoon. It was a great movie, but, like all the others, the book is SO much better. As we came out of the theater, we ran into some friends of ours who invited us out to dinner to celebrate my birthday. I had already gone to lunch with her the week before for my birthday, and they came over Saturday for a BBQ for my birthday, so I felt like I had almost a week full of birthday celebrations.

On Saturday we went to pick out my gift; a new rocker. We have one downstairs, but we put it in the baby's room when we finally started having him sleep in his crib so that I could rock him at night when I fed him. I never realized how often I sat in that chair during the day until it wasn't there anymore and I had to go all the way upstairs to use it. So we found an awesome chair that goes perfectly in his room, and I adore it. It's a nice big rocker/recliner that's huge and comfy, and I swear I could sleep in it. Now I can't wait to finish Mini Man's room. Yes, I'm lazy, and we haven't painted it yet. But it's going to look so great once it's finally done!

I wanted to say thanks to everyone who sent cards and gifts, and to all those who called or send emails or text messages (and pictures!). It means a lot to know that you remember my birthday and were thinking of me (especially old roommates and friends from high school!). I need to be better about that. So to all of you who I've forgotten your actual birthday dates, I'm sorry, and I'll be calling you soon so I can mark it down on my calendar for next year. You forgive me, right?

Speaking of forgiveness, I'll leave you with a funny incident from last week. I was driving with the kids down to my sister's house for dinner, and the girls were in the back misbehaving. Shocking, I know. I use our trip to visit their cousins as bait to get them to start being nice to each other.

"Girls, if you can't be nice, we're not going down to Aunt K's. I will turn around and we will go home. "

Yes, by the way, I have just turned into my mother by threatening to turn the car around.

And so they are good ... for about two seconds.

"Girls. I mean it. If you can't be nice to each other, we're not going. I'm not going to listen to this anymore. If I hear you being mean one more time, that's it. We will NOT go."

And it works again ... for about two seconds.

"Fine. We're not going."

Then the screaming and crying starts and they realize I truly am turning the car around. "Mom! Pleeeeeease! I won't be mean anymore, I promise! MOM! PLEEEEEASE!!!"

Trying to be firm and follow through with my threat, I say, "I'm sorry, but I warned you. I gave you plenty of chances to be nicer, but you wouldn't do it."

More screaming and crying and begging.

"I'm sorry, Miss Priss. I really wanted to go, too, but you just won't behave, and something's got to change. There has to be a consequence for the way you're acting. What am I supposed to do? What do YOU think I should do?"

Through her tears she looks at me and pleads, "You should forgive me."

Aawwww. And I did. Geez, I'm such a softy.