Happy birthday to me!

Yesterday was my birthday.  I treated myself to a bag of Reese's mini peanut butter cups,  let my kids watch too much TV so I could keep the active parenting to a minimum, Andrew made mexican and margaritas for dinner, and I got tickets to see Wicked when it comes to Boston in September!  It was a pretty good day considering it wasn't even a "big" birthday.   For a few hours I thought I had turned 33 and then I realized that I'm only 32!   What a day!

I've wanted to see Wicked for years and years and I'm so excited that we are finally going.   Is it wrong that I'm already thinking about what to wear?  Probably. 

I wasn't accepted in the lottery to run Falmouth, but Andrew was.  That was.... disappointing to say the least.   I've stopped pushing pins into vodoo dolls resembling race officials, but I can't say I wouldn't trip one on purpose if given the opportunity.    Not getting in has pushed me to finally bite the half marathon bullet.   I haven't actually signed up yet,  but plans are in the works. 

Hopefully I'll be in Harwich in the fall!

3!

M!y baby girl turned three yesterday.    She had a small family party,  but this was the last year of that.   She had been asking me why her friends weren't coming to her party and if she could have a jumpy.   I barely got away with cake, ice cream, and sandwiches this year,  next year it will be some overpriced playspace with pre-school friends.   But at least I won't have to clean up!

We now have to find room for some more toys,  which means it's time for the bi-annual cleaning out of toys en la Casa de O'G!   I must harbor some hoarder tendencies,  because I have a hard time with the Post Birthday and Post Christmas cleaning of the toybox.   I'm always convinced the toys that she hasn't touched in 6 months are secretly her favorite and it will destroy her to get rid of them.   I had finally decided to bag up all the stuffed animals that she never plays with and wait to see if the Little Guy is more into stuffed animals than she is.   The minute after I came to my decision,  she started playing with the stuffed animals.   Kid,  we live in 881SF of hell,  you can't keep every toy you have accumulated since June 23, 2009!

This was Baby Girl's birthday cake.   You are mad jealous,  I know it.   The frosting was as good as it looks.  I love Roche Brother's cakes - in fact, my wedding cake was from Roche Brothers 

So happy third birthday Baby Girl!  You have turned into a smart, curious, talkative, and imaginative pre-schooler.    I can't wait to see what the next year brings us! 
  

Happy Birthday Baby Girl!

Michael Jackson died two days after Baby Girl was born.

On her second birthday Whitey was caught and OJ confessed.

I wonder what will happen on her fourth birthday?


Oh my dear god. Baby Girl will be 4 in two years.

I can't think about that.


More pictures of Baby Girl when she was still a baby!

Baby Girl, about 3 weeks old. Yes, that head of hair is on a 3 week old. MY GOD.

Baby Girl at her Christening - November 1st, 2009. I honestly didn't realize how hot and sweaty she was until I saw these pictures. Luckily we took her out of her dress as soon as we got to the after party.

Baby Girl in spring of 2010. Her hat doesn't match her outfit. Oops.

I still can't believe she's two. I guess I can stop counting her age in months and start doing it by years. Where did my baby go??

less cranky

well, no, I'm not any less cranky, but I am going to try to come across as being less cranky. It's all about perception!

I may be trying to be less cranky, but I am getting a little scared about the road race. My longest run to date is 4.25 miles. I'm still running between an 11.30 and 12 minute mile so time is of some concern too, but as much as the distance is. I have basically 3 more miles to go before I could even feasibly finish the race. And the begging of this race is extremely hilly. Everyone who has previously run it keeps telling me to practice the hills, they are deadly. I'm trying, but there aren't a lot of hills in my area. So I have anxiety over adding in hills to my workout and getting my workout to at least 6 miles.

In other news, my daughter turns 2 tomorrow. There will be a full post dedicated to that, but for right now, Happy 2nd Birthday Baby Girl!!!!

Baby Girl the day she was born. Isn't her little hospital hat cute? It's covering the unnatural amount of hair she was born with.

Baby Girl at her 1st birthday party, completely disinterested in what is happening around her.

Baby Girl about a month and a half ago, not quite 2. I wish I had a better picture of her close up so you could see her adorable blue eyes and curly hair (born to parents with brown and green eyes and straight hair....). But it's impossible to get a 2 year old to sit still!

all about me!

I taught my girl a new song:

happy birthday to..... MAMA!
happy birthday to ..... MAMA!
happy birthday dear...... MAMA!
happy birthday to Mama!

It's our current favorite song. But Tim McGraw is better with words than we are:

I think I’ll take a moment, celebrate my age
The ending of an era and the turning of a page
Now it’s time to focus in on where I go from here
Lord have mercy on my next thirty years

Hey my next thirty years I’m gonna have some fun
Try to forget about all the crazy things I’ve done
Maybe now I’ve conquered all my adolescent fears
And I’ll do it better in my next thirty years

My next thirty years I’m gonna settle all the scores
Cry a little less, laugh a little more
Find a world of happiness without the hate and fear
Figure out just what I’m doing here In my next thirty years

Oh my next thirty years, I’m gonna watch my weight
Eat a few more salads and not stay up so late
Drink a little lemonade and not so many beers
Maybe I’ll remember my next thirty years

My next thirty years will be the best years of my life
Raise a little family and hang out with my wife
Spend precious moments with the ones that I hold dear
Make up for lost time here, in my next thirty years

In my next thirty years

Through the Years:

hmmm.... circa 1986 or 87 I think.

Fall, either 1994 or 1995. I'm leaning towards 1994


Our wedding, June 18 2006



My little family, April 2011

lessons learned

I'm kind of in a fight with every daycare mother... in the world. We took Baby Girl to her friend's 3rd birthday party this weekend. When we got there we noticed something... every other parent there had a coffee. All of them.


Except us. No coffee for Baby Girl's parents! No one told us that parents bring coffee. It wasn't that one of them had a coffee and I wish I had thought of that. Oh no. Every. Single. Parent.


I should have guessed, we do live in New England and we have a Dunkin Donuts on every corner. And they do make the best coffee in the world. So I should have been able to figure it out that the parents bring a coffee while they sit and watch their kids run crazy around the little gym. Well, my girl was attached to my leg for awhile, but she did eventually loosen up. It's not like she hasn't spent most of her waking hours with the kids...

I'm so ready for the next party. I will be there with coffee in hand! Bring on the next Princess Birthday Party invitation!

Also, the daycare gossip was fabulous and I want more!

August

I'm back. I had another vacation this past week and I do try to remain somewhat unplugged during vacation. I say "somewhat" because I will always have my phone with me, but I try not to post too much. I don't feel like I need a vacation from the interwebz (after all, what kind of hobby would all my online fun be if I needed a vacation from it?), but I find it helps me zone out from work. 100% of my job is done on a computer and the less I see and deal with computers, the more I can think about anything else. However, that was my last planned week off this year, so there will be no more unexplained week long absences. Aren't you happy?

I haven't changed the picture yet - my bad. I had hoped to take a nice picture this week that captured August, but wasn't a flower. I failed miserably in that regard. I'm going to take a look through the archives and see what I can find; hopefully have something new up this week. If I can't find anything, fear not - I took about 67 trillion flower pictures this week.

I celebrated a very good friend's 30th birthday this week. We went to Martha's Vineyard for the night, and not only did it commemorate a 30th birthday, but it also marked my first night away from my baby. I did remarkably well - which I think is pretty healthy. It's been 13 months and not a single sleep away from each other, so I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I loved it. I bet she did too - Andrew left her with my mother and went golfing with my dad, so she got lots of Nana time. She has to share Nana with The First Granddaughter - who is my only niece and my goddaughter and I love her to pieces - but she is still the First Granddaughter and that can be hard to compete with. And now we have the First And Only Grandson - and while his age can still be counted in days, he happens to share a name with my father so there is just no competing with that - plus he's adorable (what new baby isn't?). My point being - there's not a ton of Nana time for my baby, so I'm pretty sure she loved all the attention she got. I'm really glad I was able to take advantage of the opportunity to leave her for the night. I got to spend some time with some really great ladies and an old friend, and everyone survived without me. Yay.

Unfortunately I have to go back to work tomorrow. We did not win the lottery in my time away, so I still must work. 529s and 401(k)s and IRAs and savings accounts do not fund themselves, so back to the grind I go.

freaking out here

I noticed tonight that my child is huge. HUGE. I don't know how that happened. I don't understand how one day I had this teeny tiny baby who I could with one arm and the next day I have a GIGANTIC boddler (boddler being the in-between stage of a baby and a toddler). I was putting her lotion on her tonight after her bath and I could not believe how big she is.

It will be a few years before we have another baby, unless of course, we hit the lottery tomorrow. I'm sad that we don't have a baby in the house anymore. We have this mini human who is standing and trying to walk and babbling some words and is obsessed with Elmo. She can hear the first few notes of Elmo's World no matter where she is in the house and immediately crawls faster than I thought possible to sit right in front of the TV and waggle about. "ELLBLA!!" "ELLBLA"!!

Who knew how bittersweet first birthdays are?

Different sort of Friday

Yes, it's Friday, but no confessions this week. Today is a special Friday because it is my Birthday Graduation Day!!! I officially graduated from UMB today, I am done with school forever and ever, Amen. I am also another year older.

I started my grad school journey in September of 2005, and it was a really long dark road. Now it's over, I have my MBA, and no one can take it away from me! When I started I was 24, single, and living at my parents house. Now I'm... well, NOT 24, married, paying a mortgage, and about to become a mother. I can safely say I did not let school get in the way of living my life, though it did add a whole lot of stress to it. I think we all know I did not enjoy the ride. But now it's completely and absolutely over. Praise Jesus.

It's my birthday today too! Last year Andrew and I went out to Boston for dinner and drinks. This year I think we will come home after my graduation dinner, eat leftover cupcakes that my friends gave me yesterday, and I'll fall asleep early. Hopefully next year there will be fresh margs included in the birthday celebration!

27 down...

Aside from having 8 hours of training to sit through on my birthday, it was a pretty good day. Intrigue was really nice and the weather was so warm that even I was able to sit outside and not be cold. Unfortunately, we got a square table which meant only one of us was able to look at the haahbah. They try to squish in a lot of tables which means that almost have the diners have to stare at the restaurant. Considering you are paying for the view, it's kind of cheap of them that they don't arrange the tables better. The food was good - nothing terribly special, but good enough that you almost don't mind the prices. I got ravioli and Andrew got a grilled pizza. Neither one of us had any complaints. The drinks were good too - way to expensive, but you know that going in - anything at the Boston Harbor Hotel is going to be overpriced. However, they didn't water them down and then charge $10 for a drink so all in all, it's a pretty good price. In the end, we didn't pay as much as we thought we would (though we also got the 2 cheapest items on the menu) and the view for me was fantastic.

I guess if you must turn 27 it wasn't a bad way to go.

Last one

I started my last summer semester of school. I can now officially start countdowns. One year from tomorrow I will graduate. Actually, one year from tomorrow I will be 2 years older than I am today. BECAUSE TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!!

Sorry, I had to get that out.

Anyway, I will never have a first day of a summer semester again. And I am giddy about it. I'm not sure how I am going to get through the next 12 months, but I've already done about 31 months of it, so I am sure I will make it through. I can almost taste my freedom. And it tastes goood.

Speaking of tasting good, I made reservations for me and Andrew tomorrow at Intrigue. I wanted to go to Meritage, but let's face it, I am not made out of money. As it is, we are going to have to be somewhat cheap at Intrigue. But I love playing with Yelp and Open Table way too much so I couldn't not do some reservation somewhere.

It's also Andrew's last day of working in town, so I guess it's fitting that we meet in there after work one more time. It might actually be easier for us to go into town after work, we can hop on the train together instead of having to meet up in Back Bay.

I'll do a mini review of Intrigue tomorrow and let y'all know how it is. And how fabulous my birthday was :)