Today I quietly turned 28.  Well, “quiet” is a relative term since I have a 4 month old who likes to yell at me now, but you get the idea.  Without friends in the area yet, it was just me and my boys to celebrate this year.  And I’m okay with that because last year I had a pretty outstanding birthday that no birthday can top.  As a few of you may remember, I decided to celebrate by performing one random act of kindness for every year that I had been alive but I didn’t finish them all before I cryptically announced that I was “sidetracked.”  Well, I was sidetracked by the doctor telling me that I was, in fact, pregnant and what better birthday present then 9 months of nausea in a Phoenix summer?  But I digress.  Last year on my birthday my mom told me that her random act of kindness for the day was donating to March of Dimes because “everyone deserves to feel the love for a child” which was extremely fitting while I was in the parking lot of the doctor so this year I donated to them myself on my birthday.  Really, my birthday should be a national holiday or at the very least come pre loaded onto the calendar of new smart phones.

But here’s how I gracefully turned 28 (because after all, I’m a mom now so lets hike up my jeans to my bellybutton and stash children’s toys in the glove box of my car because it’s a sleigh ride into menopause from here):

First, I woke up early (too early if you’re asking my opinion, which I know that you were dying to) and got myself and Lucas ready for a Mom Group at the church that we went to on Sunday.  While Lucas is great company when he’s not blowing out his diapers, I promised myself that I wouldn’t spend my birthday in the house alone.  So I went this morning and I met some great ladies in the area and may even make this a Thursday morning tradition!  On the way home, I bought myself lunch because I didn’t feel like cooking and then met the painter at the house to repair the holes in the walls that the movers made last month.

Then, and here’s the best part of my day, Lucas curled up and fell asleep on my chest so I laid propped up in bed with him sleeping on my chest and Molly sleeping at my feet and I took a nap.  Afternoon naps with my son and my dog are honestly my absolute favorite part of any day and the fact that Lucas let me enjoy it for 2 hours instead of his normal 30 minutes leads me to believe that he knew it was my birthday and wanted to throw me a bone for the evening of screaming that he had planned.

I got beautiful tulips from my parents delivered in the afternoon and then made leftovers for dinner so that I didn’t have to cook and Angel took Lucas to the basement for 2 WHOLE HOURS so that I could do whatever I wanted to upstairs.  I understand how incredibly dull this sounds to non moms, but go ahead and take my word for it that baby cuddles and 2 hours alone are like gold around here.

But then because it can’t all be sunshine and green grass (or around here I would say “grey skies and snow”),  Lucas puked ALL OVER my comforter that I washed yesterday so that it smells again.  He may as well have just peed “Happy Birthday Mom” on his carpet while he was at it

Tomorrow Angel is working from home so that we can leave early because we’re going to Chicago for the weekend!  We (and by “we” I mean “Angel”) are excited to take Lucas to his first Bulls game.  We (and by “we” I mean “me”) are nervous about how a baby is going to handle the loud noises in the evening and how often mom is going to be required to whip her boob out in public to calm him down, but maybe I’ll get lucky and he’ll decide that bottles are okay again and then peacefully sleep in his carrier so that I can enjoy the game.

Well, a woman can dream!