October Eighteenth, Two Thousand Twelve

Leah Ruth. Age 32.

Don Raine Alexander. Age 1.

My birthday morning started off with this a certain megawatt dimpled smile. Could there be anything better!?! :) Raine woke up a pinch earlier than usual which was very, very nice of him because mama was stinky and needed that extra time for a shower. We played and had breakfast, watched some Barney and Sesame Street. We dressed up in our finest. It was a special day, after all. We were making up for last year's pjs and drool. The rest of the day was made up of the usual Herzing celebratory things...Flowers, beer, and fun.



Raine and I stopped at the store for a chai and some flowers to put on my desk at work. I set Raine down on the ground and let him grab for whatever bouquet he wanted mama to have. He has great taste! ...And then he was off and walking away from me, grabbing at discounted DVDs and magazines. I am just beginning to let him down to toddle around and explore in stores. It is adorable and I am not ready at all for him to get better at walking and ...running! ;)

My boys met me at Sawatdee for lunch. Raine devoured his first plate of Thai food like a real champ. I don't think we could have been more proud! After lunch we walked next door to the grocery store for a cookie. Raine was sweet enough to blow out his diaper and drench his pants for me. I struggled with that one in the grocery store bathroom for a good ten minutes. He had already blown out his cute corduroy pants for the baby-sitter that morning, so THANK THE HEAVENS I was a good mama and had a THIRD change of clothes in his bag. Just when you think you don't need a THIRD change of clothes? YOU DO.

On Tap On My Birthday! Cheers!

When I got home from work that night, I was excited to find another bouquet, card, and presents on the coffee table. After we put Raine to bed I ripped open the card and presents. I have to say, I was a little disappointed. It was weird. Dan got me baking sheets and a pizza stone. Not that these aren't great things to have in the kitchen, but you know, I'm NEVER in the kitchen. That's Dan's thing. Yes, I am trying to cook a little more and he is doing a great job patiently teaching me, but you know, cooking tools are the kind of gifts that I usually give Dan. And these were two things that I had happened to mention recently that we needed to pick up at the store. Our current baking sheets were beyond repair and we broke our pizza stone years ago. I recently ordered some pizza dough from Amy's Wildtree Tasting Party and Dan said we should get a stone again for it. These just weren't the types of special gifts that had much to do with me at all.

I spent about fifteen minutes folding laundry before I finally told him in an outburst: "That was like me getting you light bulbs for your birthday!" I told him how disappointed I was that there was no special thought behind his gifts. He said he lost track of time and did the best he could but he was sorry I was upset. He asked if there was anything he could do to make up for it.

I could totally picture him running into the store after picking Raine up from the baby-sitter and making a mad dash through the aisles trying to find something to get me. I saw him getting the card and signing it really fast. I saw him grab the same bouquet of flowers that I had already sent him a picture of earlier that day. It just seemed so UNLIKE him. (I know there are many of you reading this who find this to be absolutely typical behavior but my husband was raised by a crazy, creative, thoughtful, and often romantic father and his crazy, creative, thoughtful romanticism rubbed off on Dan big time. It just wasn't like him to not put some extra thought ahead of time into my birthday!)

While Dan cooked dinner I approached him again and explained that I wasn't trying to be mean or naggy. I just thought it was unusual for him and wondered if there was something else wrong. I mean, I really dragged the situation out. I popped another beer open and waxed and waned on his history of sweet gestures. I emphasized that it wasn't about the gifts themselves--at least, it wasn't about the size of the gift. I wasn't expecting another iPad like Mother's Day or a love-bomb of letters from all of my friends, like he organized on my 30th. But even in the absence of fancy gifts, scavenger hunts, or other sweet surprises, there was at least a very heartfelt hand written message in a card or letter. So I was stumped. There was just something missing that showed his genuine and thoughtful spirit that I had grown so accustomed to experiencing! We ended the night joking that he had totally set himself up for future failure by an early history of awesomeness. I mean, you can't be perfect each and every single time, right? LOL.

Well, actually, YES, you CAN be perfect each and every single time. And he did it again. I'm sure his father would be proud. He pulled off a huge surprise.

At the end of the evening, I climbed into bed exhausted only to find something unusual next to me. A flat screen TV was hidden underneath the sheets.

OH MY HECK. 

We had been talking about getting a TV for our bedroom for a while now but hadn't officially decided. I secretly really wanted one but felt like it was such a silly and frivolous thing so I hadn't pushed it or bought one myself.

Dan laughed and teased, "And you think I'm not paying attention!" I pretty much started crying because I had been giving him grief all night long! I was so totally thrilled but at the same time absolutely horrified that I had complained and been a baby. I couldn't believe he didn't just tell me a few hours earlier and save all the trouble of listening to me go on and on!

Needless to say, it was a wonderful surprise. And he is so stinkin' awesome that he knew it would be an even BETTER surprise if he let me wait it out in my misery until the very end of the night! ;)

Awesome.