Gifts that keep giving

They say it’s my birthday. On Friday my BFF Patrice surprised me with a microwave veggie steamer set. This sort of practical gift is my absolute favorite kind. Some girls might prefer diamonds and perfume – but I’m a sucker for a veggie steamer and a Dustbuster. Mark laments “But that’s for the house,” but getting things for the house makes me happy. Mark and Noah gave me CDs (The Killers, Hot Hot Heat, and more Bollywood Favorites) and two nights next weekend at a Seaside beach motel. Music and memories – divine. And I got some overly generous cash donations from Mom, Mark’s Dad & Sylvia, and Mark’s Grandmother. I can’t wait to buy myself some clothes – these plastic trash sacks are getting a bit tired. And the best birthday gifts are all the warm wishes from friends and family members. I am one very lucky 31 year old to have so many loving people in my life.

Saturday we trucked to Qtown so that we could go out to dinner and leave Mr. Noah with my Mom. Once again she gave us a lovely gift certificate for dinner at the Washington House. The meal was good and so was the company – thank you Mr. Mark. Luckily we survived braving the Hawaiian shirt and lei bedecked crowds attending the Jimmy Buffet inspired Parrot Beach show next door at Sellersville Theater. Good Lord. Sunday we left the monkey with his Grandma again so we could go see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. The original is one of my favorite movies and though I don’t think the remake necessarily stood up, it was enjoyable and visually stunning. Depp of course was oddly darling. My one big complaint is that the Oompa Loompa songs were dreadful. There were a ton of kids in the theater – many belonging to the family in front of us, who had 7! The 3 year old boy directly in front of us got quite bored after awhile and began entertaining himself by growling, running up and down the row, and throwing a shawl up into the air. Sort of aggravating in a way, but I couldn’t help laughing. In fact he made the movie more enjoyable. All the popcorn, soda and candy we ate held us over until my Dad treated Noah, Mark and I to dinner at Bubba’s Pot Belly Stove. Our meal was good and ENORMOUS – especially after sucking down that piece of delicious Key Lime Pie. Mark looked like he might burst afterwards. Thank God I didn’t get to eat much of my salad – Noah knocked it on the floor with his foot while I handed him over the table to Mark so I could retrieve Noah’s pacifier from under the foot of another restaurant patron. Luckily the restaurant was busy and a bit loud – so people weren’t disturbed by Noah’s loud squeals of excitement at dinner. My Dad said that people don’t mind loud, happy babies – as long as Noah wasn’t crying that he was a model restaurant patron.

It was a fun and filling weekend. Tonight we’ll celebrate the actual day of my birth with a trip to Babies R Us to price gates. Of course much of the weekend was spent marveling at Noah’s crawling. That boy gets around. It’s insane how much has changed in one week. Last Monday – no crawling. This Monday – all crawling, all the time. It’s a whole new world. It is this sort of exciting change that makes the passing of another year feel triumphant rather than sad. In the past year my life has changed drastically, I've learned volumes and received the one thing I've wanted more than anything else in the world - to be a mom. It is a very Happy Birthday indeed. Love to you all.