Haaaaappy birthday!

Tom and I joke and sarcastically say "Haaaaappy Birthday" or "Meeeerry Christmas", if one of us needs to buy something that evokes the roll of the eyeballs from the other. As if to say, "Yeah, go ahead and buy it. There's your birthday present."

The other approved usage of the sarcastic "Haaaaappy Birthday" is if something goes horribly awry on/near your birthday. As if to say, "Your birthday has just gone to pot."

And so today as well as events surrounding today, my birthday, had it's share of ups (Happy Birthday!) and downs (Haaaaaapy Birthday.).

As usual, my family celebrated my birthday before we all left after Christmas. We had dinner at Legal's Seafood (best chowda) and my mom fed and entertained Eli at the table the whole time so that I could dig both hands into my lobster. Tobey also sang Happy Birthday to me as they brought me my birthday profiteroles. It was one of the sweetest things I have ever heard. Happy Birthday!

Wednesday morning Tom says something about, well, at least you already have your birthday gift, to which I'm like, what?? Turns out the two gifts (wireless headphones, food processor) I got for Christmas was intended to be one for Christmas and one for birthday. Since he knows better than to combine my January birthday gift with a Christmas one, this was a case of miscommunication but we had a fun time light-heartedly yelling at each other about what we assumed the two gifts were for. We also argued right in front of the kids. Hope they knew we weren't actually mad at each other. Haaaaappy Birthday.

Resuming our Thursday nights off, Thursday dinner Tom says that I can have the night off. Happy Birthday!

This morning, Eli wakes up at 7AM, finally getting over jet lag. He also takes good naps today. Happy Birthday!

I am still in organizational mode so our only outing today was just a quickie to Target. After finding what I needed in a fairly efficient trip, I find out at checkout that I forgot my wallet. They wrote a hold slip saying, "Angela, 01-05-07", my birthday written out, but to me, it read "Angela, birthdate 01-05-07, forgot her wallet, derrr. And on her special day too.". Haaaaaapy Birthday.

On our way to birthday dinner, Tobey realized he forgot to bring his space shuttle and 747 toys that he wanted to bring to the restaurant. He goes ballistic and I mean, the most ballistic he's gone besides the freak tantrums he throws when he wakes up on the wrong side of the bed. The kind of ballistic where he has a hard time breathing, he's talking while sobbing. He even said a few times (through sobs), "I-I-I-I c-c-an't s-t-t-top cry-ing-ing-ing!" He cries and screams all the way to the restaurant, despite our attempts to comfort, teach and ignore him. Part of me knew that the episode would end if we just turned back. Most of me knew that it would be ridiculous to turn back. A bit of me felt bad that he forgot and also that we don't consider his toy important enough to turn aroudn for. The rest of me wanted to plug my ears. Haaaaappy Birthday.

Dinner was yummy. Yes, it was "just" Chevy's but I love their chips and salsa, my decision to try a fish taco comboed with my steak fajitas turned out well, and they scared the bejeezus out of me by singing Chevy's version of happy birthday (complete with sombrero and ice cream). Eli didn't refuse any food and Tobey was cooperative. The kids got balloon animals and were generally happy. Happy Birthday!

And finally, before dinner Tom kept on saying he had a small present for me, like a token present for my birthday because I didn't realize one of my Christmas presents was really my birthday present. I open it at dinner: it's an iPod Nano! It turns out that the very morning Tom and I "discussed" my birthday present situation, he went to work and found an email in his work inbox that said, "You have won an iPod Nano!". Skeptical at first, he went to inquire and claim. It turns out that all the names of the people in his division were put into a drawing for 5 Nanos and he was one of the winners! Since he already has one, this one became mine! When I first opened it, I was surprised, impressed (it was a Product Red version) and guilty that he got a lavish gift for me when technically I already had a not-so-cheap birthday present. But then when he told me the story behind it, it was win-win for all: I had a new Nano and Tom didn't have to spend money for it. Happy Birthday!

After waking up with jet lagged Eli all week, I was hoping to sleep in tomorrow being a Saturday. Turns out that Tom has his men's accountability group at 7AM so I don't get to sleep in. Haaaaappy Birthday.

Two nights ago, I had to pat Eli to sleep or he would stand up and cry. Last night, Tom let him cry for 50 minutes before he (Eli) gave up. Tonight, he went to sleep without a peep! Happy Birthday!

After putting the kids down I had to go back to Target and buy the stuff I didn't buy earlier in the day because I forgot my wallet (Haaaaappy Birthday). But all in all, especially when Tobey sang Happy Birthday again to me in the car on the way home, it was a Happy Birthday indeed.