The Big Day...33 years

I've always loved my birthday. As a child, my mom made it so special for us. We'd always wake up to a balloon and a birthday sign posted on the front door. Even now that I'm an adult, Mom still comes through for us and now she even includes the kids in the birthday surprises. For about a week now there have been secrets floating around the house, mostly with Ellie, Mom and Rob (Luke has a tendency to spoil surprises). We got home from swimming yesterday morning and there was a birthday sign on the front door! Must have been the birthday fairy... Ellie was so excited and proud, it was obvious that she had worked hard on it. Then, the next thing I know, she's coming around the corner with an ice cream pie in her arms. I thought she was anxious to get home from swimming, now I know why! We each had a tiny bite, very delicious...

So, as a mom of three young kids, one of the best birthday presents I could ask for is a little "Karley time." We went to lunch yesterday with my family (all of my extended family is in town this week) and as we were leaving Ellie and Luke threw a fit because they didn't want to go home with me...(boy does that make me feel good). Anyway, my mom volunteered to take them with her for a little while. Drew and I ran a quick errand and, as I hoped, he fell asleep on the way home. Could it be...would I have a few minutes to myself? It looked so promising. I was extremely quiet when I got home. I tip-toed up to Drew's room to make sure everything was "in place." (If his lamby was not straight and his fan not on, he might awake when I put him in his crib.) I carefully went to retrieve him from the car, I do this all the time successfully but this time there was so much more riding on the line, "Karley time". As I picked him up he briefly lifted his head. I stopped in my tracks and rocked him back to sleep in the garage. Now I am finally in his room, again I rock back and forth with him to make sure he's in a deep sleep. I prepare for the handoff into the crib. I lay him down and his head pops up, he sees me! I close the door quietly and hear the dreaded cry. Crap...he's awake. I run downstair to get a bottle thinking that if I get back up to him before he gets too worked up I have a better chance of him going back to sleep. As I'm feeding him his bottle I glance at my watch...only 20 more minutes until Ellie and Luke are due back home. Drew finally falls back asleep and I have 13 minutes to myself. What should I do? I have a full dishwasher to unload, a load of laundry to fold, toys to pick up, the list of chores goes on and on, and on and on. But...since it's my birthday and I now only have 12 minutes left, I decide to sit on the couch, relax and read a magazine. I deserve it don't I?

The rest of the day was great. We went to dinner at Rock Creek Tavern with the kids (my night out with Rob is on Saturday night and I can't wait!!) Then my parents came over to help celebrate. And, I finally had, a rather large, piece of ice cream pie for dessert. Yummy!