Happy Birthday to Me!

It happened. I turned 30.

We went out with our friends, the Marres, and when I met them at the door everyone was wearing birthday hats! It was fun. I sort of wanted to wear them to the restaurant. My birthday- how was it? Well let's start back a week. Sunday the Primary sang to me and I was excited about my bday (which was friday) all week. I was pumped to be 30. It seemed exciting. Then . . . we got a mouse. Whether the mouse came and left already or was still around- we were unable to confirm just yet. But the whole thing disgusted me and freaked me out. Not to mention that we found all the evidence in my night stand! That means as I lay asleep at night that thing was a foot away from my FACE!!!! Anyway, the whole thing gave me the heebee geebees and every sound or any spec of anything I saw made me think, "Oh my gosh! Is that a mouse?!" And it seemed the next few days we had a lot to do and couldn't tackle the problem in one swift kick like I wanted to.

Also . . . we signed on with a rental company (to rent out our house, while we're gone) and we were WAY pumped, until we never heard from them again. A week passed and I was like, "Hello??? What happened to our enthusiasm 7 days ago???" So I called her and left an unreturned message, then followed up with a snippy email and WOW, what do you know- suddenly our house was on their website the next day- A WEEK after I sent her all the pics and info she needed. The whole thing left me quite unsettled. We're putting a lot of trust into this company, as we're going to be across the country, and I was starting to freak out about our already made decision.

And for whatever reason, probably 'cause a lot was going on and I was so stressed, Greg and I were a little short tempered and really argumentative with each other. So that was awesome too.

So all these things were taking over my mind for my whole birthday weekend. I had a lot of trouble relaxing, which was the plan all week. My actual birthday Greg had mandatory training so he had to work- stinky. Otherwise he would've had the day off. So he took the NEXT day off and planned a big night out with our friends after he came home from work. Knowing I had a lot to do, but knowing it was my bday, I decided to blow off everything IMPORTANT and to spend the day with Scarlet playing and going to the park. Well, the moment she woke up she was demanding Pooh and I had so much on my mind I just let her watch it all morning and was sad she wanted nothing to do with me. In reality, it wasn't any different than any other morning, I was just being sensitive. So I packed her up and dropped her off at Pat and Randy's. It was the plan all along, I just took her earlier. Oh yes, and we were COMPLETELY out of food. So that was another thing to add to the misery. I came home feeling pretty depressed and Greg came home for lunch and he gave me my presents and I LOVED THEM. I GOT A PANINI PRESS!!!! A totally frivolous thing that I have REALLY been wanting. In all honesty, I don't think it's going to be frivolous at all. I'm pretty confident I'm going to use it a LOT. It's just one of those things that one could PLAN on using and all it really does is take up space in your cupboard. But it won't be for us. I am so excited to use it. He also got me this portable speaker to take out in the stroller. I know it sounds a little strange, but it sounds pretty good and I'm pretty excited about it! I think Scarlet will like it too. It would also work really well to bring outside while I'm gardening. And then I got a panini recipe book, which actually looks pretty good. One that actually has been TESTED, not just written. For whatever reason, I wasn't expecting very much and I felt totally spoiled. So that perked my day right up and everything was good again.

Greg rushed back to training and I took a shower. And what do you know, when I was putting on my jeans I THREW MY BACK OUT!!!! How appropriate, on my 30th birthday. I immediately laid on my bed, 'cause it was right there, hoping I could "rest it out" or something. I was thinking, "Are you kidding me? I have SO MUCH TO DO TODAY!!!! And I want to go OUT tonight! This could ruin everything!!!" After 15 minutes or so I slowly get up and hang around the house doing nothing, taking it easy, all the while time is ticking away. Slowly but surely I'm able to move around carefully and spend the rest of the day running errands. So I don't think I officially threw my back out, but it's been 3 days and it still hurts, so something happened. But it's getting better each day.

Greg and I went with our friends to an Indian restaurant and everyone was ooh-ing and ahh-ing the whole meal. To be honest, it was good, but I didn't get the "amazingness" that everyone else was getting. But I'm glad everyone was loving it so much. Then we went to Sherlock Holmes and it was fun! Adam and Laura had already seen it, so they saw War Horse and hated it. I felt bad. Then we went to Coldstone, next door, and they brought candles and matches!!! Greg was all paranoid about fire codes and making the sprinklers turn on so we lit them outside on my little cardboard bowl of Peanutbutter Perfection. They sang real loud and I blew out the candles. It was fun. People were staring. It was FREEZING!!!! Then we ate inside and talked for a long while about cop stories. That's just the way it goes, especially when Greg and Adam get together. He's in the FBI and works with the police all the time so they always end up telling tales by the end of the night together. But honestly, cops have the best stories, I've come to discover. I never knew how absolutely insane SO MANY PEOPLE were, until Greg became a cop. Anyway. We came home and went to bed and it was a fun night.

The next day was supposed to be incredible and fun and relaxing, but it ended up being Greg and I taking the whole house apart and checking for mouse evidence and cleaning up where we found it. It wasn't too bad, really, but just the thoroughness of it all took FOREVER. And then I just did a major cleaning everywhere because I thought, "Who knows where this thing has traveled! Just because it didn't leave anything behind, it doesn't mean it wasn't there." So it was a long, hard day's work, but by the end, we got it all done and all I could think was I was SO glad Greg was there to help, and I didn't have to do it all with Scarlet around.

Then we rushed to get some groceries and went to Pat and Randy's. She make lemon bars (I LOVE lemon bars) and brownies (and who doesn't love brownies?) and Pat made me the cutest bag!!! I should've taken pic. It's red, black and white and totally me and I love that she knows that. She did such a good job, I was so impressed. She's been sewing up a storm lately. To be honest, after the long weekend, I was SO exhausted, I was just about sleeping after a couple hours and we drove home at 8 pm so Scarlet could go to bed. Then Greg and I watched the Bourne Identity and it was so good! It'd been a long time since we watched it. Greg was supposed to play video games with his buddies, but it fell through last minute. But I was glad, I wasn't done hanging out with him.

I've been very reflective on the last decade in my life, this week. Comparing the now to then. I was a very different person at 20 and even though I changed a lot by 25, I can't even describe how I've changed the last 2 years and especially the last. Kids really do change everything. I would assume that there's no way I'll change or improve so DRAMATICALLY THIS decade around, but who knows- a lot can happen in 10 years. I mean, gosh- Scarlet will be 11 and probably all our kids will be born and not babies anymore. That is weird. Living life is weird. So that was my birthday.

On to Scarlet . . .

Lately we've been sitting Scarlet at the piano to play. She only lasts a few minutes, but she likes it. I used to be too worried about her falling to leave her there alone, and granted, she still could fall. But I figure the distance isn't that great, and she'll survive if she does. Is that terrible parenting?

Scarlet has officially switched to one nap at noon. Which is simply . . . AMAZING. At first I thought it would be a drag to only have one nap, instead of two- but it's AWESOME!!! SOOOOO much easier to run errands or get together with friends. She's also completely off the bottle, which WAS a struggle- but like everything in Scarlet's life the "something" just hangs on and drags out and then suddenly . . . it's gone. She has a sippy cup of milk MAYBE once a day, if even at all. I always ask her before bed if she wants one and her little voice says, "No." She's basically down to 3 meals a day with maybe one snack in the afternoon. It is GREAT. It is so much easier.

She is talking SO MUCH. It's good and just STARTING to be bad too. She knows what she's saying but we don't always, so that's starting to get tough. She says new words constantly and today it just seemed like she was repeating me all day, all on her own, which she's never done before- unless we're TRYING to get her to say something. She'll say a word and I ask Greg if he taught it to her, and he usually says, "I know! She said that yesterday! I was so surprised! How did she learn that word?" It's pretty fun. I just love her little voice. I literally LOVE when she says no. Because it's not this angry defiant NO! It's just this sweet, little, quiet reply of no.

Scarlet is officially throwing fits now. Literally throws herself on the ground, very dramatically and cries. It's pretty funny. You know- annoying AND funny. I'm just glad it's funny at all. The thing I don't understand is when she throws a fit and I'm doing exactly what she's asking for! Like I ask her if she wants milk and I go get it and she's suddenly on the floor crying. I figure it must be because she simply can't wait for me to get it ready and breaks down. I don't know.

As much as she's been throwing fits, she's been getting very snuggly too. She's always been a snuggler, but she'll just come up to us and hug our legs, or lean on my leg while I'm on the computer. It's really cute and really sweet and I totally love it.

Did I mention she's going to Nursery now? It's been 2 weeks now, and it's amazing. She's two months too young, but she loves it and I'm so grateful they let her in. It is such a stress relief to have her in there. It's just so funny because there are kids in there that scream the whole time and are so sensitive and afraid and Scarlet just runs away from me to go play. I love it! She's so easy going. It makes life so much easier. I cannot WAIT to move and be RELEASED from my calling as ward organist!!! The woman I work with is driving me CRAZY! Really. Making me HATE my calling. I hate playing soft hymns while I'm livid inside, it just ruins the whole experience and then I don't play as well because I'm focused on why I'm so mad at her instead of playing the songs correctly. Two more months. I wish it was now.

It's officially LESS than two months 'till we're in DC. Crazy. It's just so weird. It's weird that we won't know ANYBODY. When we moved to Brussels we stayed with my employers the very first night. And they were sort of our go to with any questions. We won't know a SOUL. It will be weird. I'm so glad we go to church, otherwise I would be freaking out about where to find friends. It's a comfort to know there will always be nice people at church, wherever we end up.