Mama's 31

Yesterday was my birthday.  My original plan was to play hooky from school and go to play in the snow with the Edwards.  But Monday afternoon Eddie had a fever and was SUPER DUPER cranky...until we dosed him with acetaminophen   And then he was an angel again.  We spent two full days playing/working outside in the glorious 80 degree weather on the weekend and I suspect he just over did it and his body was protesting.

So, following daycare rules, I had to keep him home until he was fever free for 24 hours.  Edward still came up to hang out with us anyway, since it was clear that Eddie wasn't that sick.  And I'm glad he did because otherwise it would have just been any ol' sick day at home with Eddie.  As it turned out, Eddie was symptom free all day Tuesday.

Eddie's preferred position for snacking when Uncle is here.

We didn't actually do much of anything but it was just so nice to have him around.  After breakfast we took Eddie out for a bike ride while we did a run/walk program on my Run Double app.  (My quest to run has been foiled by a bad knee but that'll be in another post some day.)  Half way through the run, Eddie ditched the bike for a ride in the double BOB stroller and we just put his bike up on the shades.

Edward ran back to the house while I walked Eddie to the Dollar Store to get some balloons.  He'd found a very sharp pencil in the house that morning and I warned him about being very careful with it.  For some reason he equated it with popping balloons and asked if we could get some just so he could pop them.  Sure, why not?

While walking to the store I called Justin and arranged for him to babysit sleeping Eddie that night so Edward and I could go out for sushi (buffet is free on your birthday!).  Edward met us at the dim sum restaurant for lunch.

Running home with Uncle after lunch.

By the time we were back at the house, the neighbors were home from school so Eddie headed out to play with them.  He took all the balloons in a big box and they had fun playing with them (not popping them, ironically).

At 3 pm I asked their mom if they could join us for some birthday cake.  I'd taken Eddie to run errands with me on Monday before my class and he was a good helper at Costco that we got ice cream cones at Baskin Robbins using my free scoop birthday club coupon.  While there, I also bought myself a small mint chip ice cream cake using my $3 off coupon.  (For the record: why do I always end up making/buying my own dang birthday cake?  Ahem, Mr. Bower....)

Mama's 31. It's true.

Anyway, so Edward and the kids and I gathered around a dirty old Rubbermaid tub on the driveway and ate some cake.  The kids didn't want to sing happy birthday to me so I just let them pick out which part of the cake they wanted and we divied it up.  As usual, Eddie only ate the frosting and then asked me to put the rest of it back in the freezer for later.  I don't mind him not finishing desserts so I just wrapped it up and put it next to his other abandoned portion of ice cream from a few weeks ago.

Callen (6), Mary Jane (5), Eddie (3), and me.

While the kids were playing outside with the box and balloons, they would "surprise" or "trick" us by getting into the box and knocking on the door.  It was so fun to play along and watch their reactions.

"Ooooh, look Edward, someone delivered a birthday present for me!  I wonder what it could BE?!" While I'm saying this, there are snorts of laughter escaping the box and it's jiggling around like crazy.  It was so funny.

Before I could open it, Eddie burst out because the anticipation was killing him.  Hahahaha.  "It's not a present, Mama! It's just MEEEEEEEE!"

I teased him by pretending someone had gifted me a sweet, quiet little baby boy.  I rocked him and announced that if I ever had such a sweet baby boy I would rock him and then put him to bed immediately.  Eddie was very, very insistent that he is NOT a baby--he iss a BIG BOY and big boys don't go to bed when it's light outside.  Hahahahaha.

That evening I got Eddie's dinner ready a little earlier than usual but still only managed to get him into bed by about 8 pm.  Sigh.  Edward and I watched something random on Netflix until Justin arrived.  We thoroughly enjoyed our sushi dinner--I was stuffed full of miso soup, lots of nigiri, a few rolls, seaweed salad, and jalapeno-laden fried calamari.

Edward took off right when we got back to the house and I went to bed and watched the latest episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Dave surprised me with a vase of beautiful flowers when he arrived home last weekend and then gifted me a really sweet (and giant) card and a lovely mother of pearl watch before he left on Monday.  It's so pretty and even has some bling on it!  Plus a date window, which is super helpful because I have trouble remembering what the date is.    I got a bit of birthday money from my MIL and I think I might save it to buy myself a microscope from the campus bargain barn...since I can't get any younger (as much as I want to), I might as well just get nerdier.  Plus, I have to make up for the fact that I dropped the ball and didn't think of a nerdy mathematical thing to write on my cake as I've done nearly every year since I was 24.

24 = 4! (factorial)
25 = 5^2
26 = nothing apparently.....I actually had to look at my blog archives to see what happened for my birthday this year and it was a big, fat nothing.
27 = 3^3
28 = 7 x 4
29 = ummm, no idea. I know I made a cake because Dyani was visiting and she got upset that I was baking my own cake.  Eddie'd had his testicle surgery the day before and everything was a little out of sorts.
30 = nothing...again, looking at the blog archives I see that I made myself a GF tiramisu cake when we had friends visiting in Gualala

So actually I guess I've only done a nerdy cake decoration 4 out of 8 times.  I guess I do need a microscope if I intend to embrace my inner nerd and make up for the cakes.