SURPRISE! Happy Birthday to me!

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

I cannot believe they pulled it off! How did so many people keep their mouths shut since December/January? 

The background: Phil told me months ago to not worry about arranging something to do for my own 30th birthday party because he would take care of it.  That was pretty much the last I heard of anything until a couple of weeks ago.  My mom sent out an email entitled, “The Birthdays are coming!” in order to plan when we should all get together to celebrate the numerous birthdays that my family has in February and March. After checking with Phil and him telling me that we have to keep Saturday, March 29th available for my birthday, we arranged to have dinner with my family at my parents’ house on Saturday, March 22 to celebrate mine and my sister’s husband, Mark’s, birthday.  

So, that’s the background. A couple of weeks leading up to my birthday, I started hearing from my friends asking me if I had anything planned for my birthday,  It began to become clear to me that Phil had dropped the ball and hadn’t actually put together a celebration like I was hoping.  When I asked him last week, “So, are we doing anything for my birthday?” he responded, “Oh, do you want to go out for dinner or something?” and, “Oh…well, I’ll come up with something.” He had me really believing that nothing was going on to the point that I found myself praying the next morning that I wouldn’t be disappointed if we didn’t have a party and that I would be content no matter the circumstances. 

So, Saturday rolled around and I was booooorrrrrreeeeeedddddd. Maddie woke up from her nap and I wanted to get out of the house, so I told Phil we should leave to go see my sister, Danielle, soon.  After-all, she was having a baby shower the next day and wanted me to drop off a table at her house before heading to dinner at my parents’. Phil started acting weird at this point. He told me he wanted Maddie to play outside and at the mall (Phil hates the mall!). Oh, and maybe we can go get some new books at the library. So, I complied. What other chance would I have to show Phil how much Maddie loves to play at the mall.  

So, before we left the house, I got a text from my mom that she wanted us to come over at 5:30 instead of 5 for dinner. She was stressing out about her pea pod delivery and needed some extra time.  Me, wanting to get out of the house asap pretended not to see the text until we were strapped into the car and ready to leave.  Phil apparently was sweating like a pig wondering why I hadn’t mentioned the time change, yet.  

All of this to delay me from getting to the real event too early, including Phil’s fake bathroom trip. Haha.  

So, we finally are on our way from the mall up to Danielle’s house. We pull into the driveway and Danielle is waiting for us outside. She tells Phil that she wants me to see the room’s set-up before deciding if she actually needs the table or not, so we leave it in the car and go inside.  We walk past some balloons and other decorations and I am quickly whisked away from it all into the living room where I get an unexpected, quick glimpse of my parents before hearing a loud, “SURPRISE!” 

I think my expression changed from confusion to elation pretty quickly as I scanned the room and saw my best friends, my family, including my (real) mom and my sister, Rachel, who drove pretty far to make it. I will say this again: I had no idea any of this was happening and I am usually pretty good at picking up on this stuff.  

So, the story was that my sister, Danielle, and Phil have been planning this since December.  They sent out the invitations in January or something crazy like that. And everyone was in on it! Those decorations that I walked past, the ones I thought were for the baby shower the next day, were in fact for me and said, “Happy birthday.” Haha.  And I didn’t have time to really consider why the crock pot was on in the kitchen with Portillo’s beef until after the surprise was revealed.  

I had the best time! I just mingled around and chatted with everyone. I stuffed my face with food and laughed hysterically at my hilarious friends and family. We opened gifts, had cake.  Rachel attempted to sing my grandma’s famous Happy Birthday song to me and, in doing so, slammed my hand into the ceiling so hard that everyone in the room was left wondering if she broke my finger (I was fine). Danielle, working through a few glasses of wine, then more wine, kept the mood up as we joked around about “feelings of hurt, love and pain” and my creepster dad in his suspenders and star trek shirt made us all jump when peering in through the outside window as we were all talking. The few of us left at the end, Phil, Danielle, Andres, Ivan and me, rounded things off with some board games and good memories. The party, as I told Phil and Danielle later, was exactly what I would have planned if I could have planned a surprise party for myself. 

Yeah....that's not scary at all, Dad.  LOL! 

I am just so thankful to my sister, Danielle, for all of the work she put into this. I know that planning a party is super stressful in and of itself, but adding the surprise element takes an extra toll.  Thank you for hosting it and filling your beautiful home with so many people that I love and for making me feel special. Your fake baby shower thing was ingenious, the spring inspired decorations,including the beautiful tulips (my favorite flower) were gorgeous and the event went off without a hitch. And, Phil, thank you for helping to work out the details, for tricking me and making me think that you had dropped the ball and subsequently making the day one of the most exciting I’ve had in a long time. And for getting me there.  : )

You all made me feel so so so so loved despite how old I am.  Haha.  Thank you for celebrating with me and giving me the party of a lifetime! 

She soon realized her mistake.
(i.e. that's I'm in fact, only 29)

Welcome Spring!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Today is the first day of Spring!!! Which means, hopefully, no more shoveling for poor Phil.  

My Hero!

It also means, hopefully, no more winter coats, even though Maddie looks so overwhelmingly adorable in hers. We have been going outside a lot over the past few weeks since we have had a few days in the 40’s and 50’s and I don’t think I am the only one that loves the fresh air and the nature all around us that is about to burst into bloom.  

Playing outside in front of the house. 

And at the park. This day was in the 50's! 

Speaking of nature, we planted our seeds for the garden on Saturday and have already seen some cucumber, tomato and basil sprouts. Green makes me so happy. 

A few other things that have happened over the past few weeks: Our dishwasher broke and we have publicly vowed to never again buy another Whirlpool product EVER. 

Our thermostat broke, but we got a super cool new one that we can control using an app on our phones.  Yes, I can adjust the temperature of my house from out of state.  Be jealous. 

Oh, and we finally announced that we are expecting our second baby! Little Maddie doesn’t know what she’s in for come October.  

This was at around the 8 week mark, so there's not much to see. But, there is a little leg bud  on the left. 

Phil took me out on a nice date to Daruma, our favorite sushi restaurant, while Grandma babysat. We had a really nice time and don’t worry, I didn’t eat any raw fish, although I really would have loved to.  

Dressed up and ready to go! 

"Bye bye"

Maddie has been super clingy recently. I don’t know if this is because she can tell that a new baby is coming or if it is just a phase that she is going through, but she has never insisted on being in my arms so much.  Yesterday when I went to Bible study, Maddie really did not want me to leave her in the nursery, which was unusual. Playing in the nursery is one of her favorite places to be. If this is a phase, I hope it passes quickly because I am already experiencing some lower back pain and sciatic nerve twinges. It’s making it very difficult to carry Maddie around and to bend to put her in and take her out of her crib. 

Maddie is developing into a little girl! I still call her my baby, of course, but the truth is that she is growing up. She has a sassy little personality and loves to imitate everything that Phil and I do and say.  She will try to pronounce any word that you throw at her and copies all of our facial expressions and our dance moves (look out world!). 

That’s pretty much all there is to report for now. Oh, if you are interested in following my pregnancy blog, too, here’s the link: http://watchnikkigrow.blogspot.com I’ll be posting some new entries soon that I have written over the past couple of months, but in the meantime, there’s plenty of stuff on there about my pregnancy with Maddie if you’re interested. 

Oh, and PS: I’m going to be 30 in 5 days.  What?!?!?!  Go ahead, tell me I’m old.  : )