Happy Birthday to me!

Steve's way of letting the entire neighborhood know that it was my birthday

Saturday was my birthday, and it was a big one. 35. Thirty-five? Really? Not possible. However, it is. I am old enough to drive a car, be a wife, be a mom, and own my own puke pail. Seriously, that is a thought that I had the other day when I was caring for my sick kids. I thought to myself, "when did I get old enough to own my own puke pail?" I actually find myself asking a lot of questions like that. Questions like, "How is it possible for me to be graduated from college?" Or "When did I become old enough to worry about laugh lines?"

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anywho...

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Back to my birthday. For the most part it was fabulous. Probably one of the best ones I ever had. I think it was because it was a simple day and I was surrounded by my family. On Birthday Eve, as Steve and I were drifting off to sleep I informed him that anytime after midnight, if either of the kids should wake up, he was in charge. I also told him that I would be sleeping in and he would be responsible for entertaining any early riser.

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It was a good plan. Clara was up at a respectable time and I am not a person who can sleep in, so I got up with her and we had a great morning. Steve and Thomas both slept in until 10 am while us girls cuddled together and watched reruns of Curious George.

I made my way back upstairs after I heard some noises and told Steve I wanted some donuts for breakfast. Within 5 minutes he was out the door and on his way to my favorite donut shop to get me a buttermilk bar and rainbow sprinkle. Yes, I ate 2. I was the birthday girl and calories do not count on birthdays.

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The 4 of us spent the rest of the morning together. We didn't do anything spectacular, we just were together.

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In the early afternoon, Clara went down for a nap and Steve took Thomas out to run some errands leaving me all alone. ALL ALONE ON MY BIRTHDAY!!! HOT DIGITY!!! I had 3 hours all to myself. I finally was able to watch the Masterpiece Theatre version of Emma I had been saving on the TIVO for almost a month. I got to sit and watch it in my PJ's without anyone interrupting me.

About 30 minutes into the movie, It dawned on me that I was all alone and I could break out my illegal peanut butter I have hidden in a very secret place. It's pretty sad that a PB and honey can make you giddy, but when your kid has nut allergies and you can't have any nuts around, a simple PB sandwich is heaven.

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The boys got home around the same time Clara woke up and we went out for a nice dinner with my other favorite person, my Mom. We had a great time. However, in the middle of dinner things started to change - for the worse. Remember the puke pail comment? (Both of the kids came down with a horrible, violent stomach bug late Thursday night. Steve and I thought that it must have been food poisoning for them both to get it within hours of each other.) During dinner I started to feel strange. My stomach didn't hurt, but I felt weird. I had a feeling that I was getting sick - that I was going to be the next person to have possession of the puke pail. I also started to change my theory on what had made the kids so sick two nights ago. I knew at that point it had been the dreaded stomach flu.

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In the car on the way home I was telling Steve and my Mom how I felt strange. I even made the stupidest comment ever and said, "I hope I do get flu." I only said it because I was feeling a little guilty for all the junk I had eaten all day. I thought it would be a nice little gift to be able to puke everything up and have it not count.

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What a stupid, STUPID comment! Sure enough, 2 hours after we had made it home I was in the bathroom having my wish granted. It was the worst stomach flu I have EVER had. It was violent. I was up all night long. Steve took such good care of me. I told him to go down and sleep on the couch, but he ended up sleeping on the floor so he could help me if I needed him. It was an awful night. Around 4:30 am Steve sat up and had a very familiar look on his face. The same one I had at dinner. Sure enough, he was sick, too.

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We finally fell asleep at 6:00 am and woke up at 7:30. Steve and I were in such bad shape. I called my mom. As soon as she answered the phone she knew that I was sick. I told her both of us were down and that we needed her help.

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She was at the house within 45 minutes. She packed up the kids and took them for the the day and had them spend the night. Steve and I spent the day in bed trying to sleep and recuperate. It was very strange to be in such a quite house. We missed our kids, but we knew that there was no way we would have been able to take care of them.

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Lucky for us it was only a 24 hour bug. Both of us woke up this morning feeling fantastic in comparison to yesterday.

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What a way to start 35! I think I will be a little bit more cautious about my birthday wish next year.