Birthday Round-Up

Woo-hoo! 37! I am totally rocking it! Let me tell you a little about 37, apparently, real life still happens while you are planning on having a Birthday. 

First off, on Birthday Eve, Connor was up before any Rooster crowed on the east coast.  Being a Mom with Mom hearing, I heard him up, and hung out on the couch with him in the wee-hours of the morning.  We watched the sunrise.  I'd love to say it was wonderful, but honest, I was stinking tired. I sent the kids to school, but I knew they were both tired and a little cranky.

When they came home from school, Connor sounded horrible (yeah, croup) and CC was running this stupid low grade fever.  Fast forward to a doctor appointment for them, and..... Connor has croup (again) and is on more steroids while Calista has an ear infection.  This means CC is back on antibiotics..... THIS means I am on high alert.  Last time CC was on 5 days of antibiotics, I was vomited on 4 of the 5 days.  She even now knows to run to the toilet when she feels the urge. Ugh.

So, I talked the doctor into a different antibiotic for her, and I crossed my fingers and said a prayer. I knew at bedtime that she seemed off. And by 12:30am - 30 minutes into my Birthday--- I was elbow deep in a stinky little girl covered in vomit.  However, I must mention this is not my first birthday that has vomit involved.  What I did not realize was my birthday started and was going to end with the Vomit Queen.  The new antibiotics suck too.

Besides the Vomit Queen, another funny thing occurred. My sweet as pie husband tried to plan a nice little dinner with a few family members.  He thought it would be a sweet surprise for me. And it would have been....had the guests not called ME directly to confirm or decline my husband's invitation.  Poor Jeff, he tries so very hard to make it special, and somehow each year he is slightly thwarted in his plans.  However, he did throw me a very successfully and super surprised 30th birthday party. And I had a bunch of fun on my 37th-- if we skip the vomit parts. But, even those parts reminded me of my Mommyhood- and THAT was a birthday wish for so many years.  My wish has come true, just wish it was a little less vomit filled.

All in all, the kids and I hung out all day of my Birthday.  We watched TV, played, made a cake, napped, then had a great dinner.  If we just skip the vomit parts, it was a nice day.  I'm just pretty happy it wasn't me vomiting :)  Then again, Calista did sneeze directly into my open mouth while I was talking. So, most likely, she infected me again. I'm 99.9% sure the biologic weapons of mass destruction are in their pre-school. I'm sure pre-school is the perfect breeding ground for any biologic warfare.   

Final note, all day, all I could remember was it was 4 years ago a little meeting with Connor's birth mom changed 3 families forever.  Heck, that meeting is the whole reason I HAVE a family. Which reminds me, I need to watch Juno....

Next, up...January 27th - our Family Day Celebration.  This is when we celebrate Connor's adoption finalization. Now, THAT was also an awesome day....

Birthday Eve

Yep, today is my Birthday Eve. I know, it SHOULD be a national holiday....alas, it's not.  So, we are all stuck working. Blah.  This morning, I woke up early with Connor.  I had one of those moments of, I cannot believe I am going to be 37 tomorrow.  37...looks like I'll be in my late thirties come tomorrow.  I was about to embark on a small pity party, as I was checking some random Facebook statuses.  My husband's status popped up.  Then, I said a small prayer of thanks and a quick hello to an friend who is spending his birthday in heaven.  Thanks to Jeff for that little perspective change I needed.

Jeff worked side by side with D for years working on cars, listening to talk radio, debating the issues, and just being guys. When Jeff started at the shop, we quickly realized that D's birthday was the day before mine.  D and I would tease a little about how great January birthday's were and how much it sucked that poor Jeff has D's birthday, then mine back to back.  However, the godsent was D's birthday was a reminder that MINE was the next day.  Before kids, I would try to sneak up to the shop and drop off some sweets to celebrate the guys birthdays at Jeff's shop. It was so easy to remember D's- as it was on my Birthday Eve.   And if you remember my story to becoming a parent, it was D who brought Jeff and I a can of Ovaltine for our first IVF - as a hopeful prayer that we would have that perfect "ovaltine" kinda kid. 

D passed away last May, at the way too young age of 41.  Behind he left a wife, daughter,  mother, brothers, sisters, many friends, and his lovely puppy - Dude. You can imagine how heart wrenching it all was, it was horrible.  He is missed everyday by all those people. 

Today, reading Jeff's status...reminded me to just be thankful I am having a birthday and that I am still on this Earth able to hug, touch and love my family and friends. I imagine that D would love to have just one more day- I know his family and friends wish that.

So, for D- Happy Birthday -- you are missed by so many, you will never be forgotten.  You will always be my almost birthday buddy- I will think of you forever on my birthday eve.  Here's hoping you are have a nice steak and glass of red wine in heaven, and riding your dream Harley.  I'm going to find a nice bottle of that lovely $9 Rosso you turned me onto, and pour a glass for you.