A Birthday of Epic Proporitons

I am officially 31.  I had a birthday...if you know me, you know that I love birthdays.  I don't just enjoy them, I anticipate them.  I long for them.  When my birthday inches closer, I begin to remind my husband that it is almost here.  I get all kid on Christmas morning about my birthday. I think even when I am 80 I will still feel that way!

I'm not really sure why this is the case.  In general I tend to be a person that normally puts others first and thinks of others often.  I have been called a bit of a people pleaser. My family and friends try to remind me that it is okay for me to think of myself.  On my birthday, however, that is not an issue.

I blame my parents.  Since I was born just three days after Christmas, they always sort of made a big deal of my birthday.  I had an awesome party, presents were NEVER wrapped in Christmas paper and NEVER combined-unless I specifically requested it.  Even as I entered adulthood, I was the lucky one out of my siblings.  Since the family is generally together at least every other Christmas they still usually have a big birthday party for me.  I feel a little bad, my siblings don't get that option usually since we are all spread out on their birthdays.  Last year my dad even broke out the ice cream maker and whipped us up some of his famous homemade ice cream. 

When we were first married, Kev didn't truly understand my love for my birthday and how much I enjoy being pampered and celebrated.  After this year, there is absolutely no doubt that he gets it.  The man went all out.  We are talking epic.  It was a birthday celebration of massive proportions, so big we couldn't even fit all of the celebrating into one day!

He actually started planning weeks in advance.  Not only did he start planning, but he let me know that he was planning!  This man knows me!  He knows how I love a surprise and love to anticipate something exciting happening.  I was hooked.

Tuesday, December 28th finally arrived.  The past year of my life has gone through valleys and over peaks.  I experienced our third miscarriage at the same time that we were moving into our first home together.  An incredible high happening in sync with an incredible low.  I learned that I had a full time job again in May, a few weeks later we found out that I was pregnant again.  My little brother said "I do" and I also got to see him walk the stage graduating from university.  My cousin and I realized that we would be having babies together, a dream come true after years of hoping and anticipating that very thing.  There was so much that we loved and I enjoyed about this past year of my life and I was truly excited to celebrate all that God had done in and through me.  My husband got it...oh did he ever!

It started with snuggles from my little man.  He came running into our room at 7:30, climbed into bed, and gave me oodles of hugs and kisses.  My big guy then swept him away, dressed him and took him off to Nana and Papa's house for the day, ordering me back to sleep.  He claimed he would be back in an hour and had "errands" to run.  I woke up several hours later, looked at the clock, and was shocked to see that it said...wait for it...10 a.m.  TEN A.M.!!!  That does not happen for us anymore.  Even on weekends when we take over for each other it is rare for me to sleep past 8:30.  Something about being alone in the house, quiet, and totally relaxed induced incredible sleep.

Yikes, I just realized how truly dirty the night table is!

I rolled from the bed, took a long, hot luxurious shower, and slowly started to get ready for the day.  We were meeting the family at 11:15 for a family lunch, so I had a bit of time to chill.  My hubby returned shortly after I got out of the shower with these in hand.

Yep, a nice hot peppermint mocha, a loaded up Starbucks card and gorgeous flowers, including my favorite flowers, lilies, as always.  He has never given me a bouquet that did not have lilies in it.  He always remembers!  The Starbucks card made me pretty excited, as I love their lattes and mochas so much.  There is one pretty close to our home, and I look forward to loading the baby up in its snuggly bunting bag and head for a walk down for my morning coffee.  I hope to stretch it out for as long as I can!

This was also accompanied by this,

yep, it's the tear-inducing card.  The man can write...seriously.  Every year he claims that he can't, and then every year he manages to write the most perfect message that just sums up us, our marriage, and everything that I love about him.  This year's was especially good, filling my eyes with tears and my heart to overflowing.

Eleven a.m. took us off to pick up our little man for a drive down to Red Robin's.  It was the place I had chosen for family lunch compliments of my father and mother-in-law.  I love their chicken burgers and I also knew that Rusty would do well there.  Did he ever!  He was a cute little man, ate pretty well, and mostly enjoyed the hockey game on tv.  He totally takes after his dad!  We got a lot of cute grins out of him, and the highlight was his blue balloon at the end of the meal.

After lunch he went back with Nana and Papa for the day, and our day of fun continued.  It was off to the movies!  Kev and I love going to the movies.  We used to go a lot before Rusty was born, but these days we often simply rent.  I still enjoy sitting in a theatre though, and taking in a flick.  We headed downtown for a movie at Tinseltown.  We chose 127 Hours, a film we hadnt' really heard of, but ended up being amazing!  I won't bore you with the details, but if you get a chance you should see it.  The story was an incredible true story of human triumph and it was unbelievable.

Next on the list of the "day of Stacy," as Kev was calling it?  Dinner at KOBE!

I LOVE KOBE!  It is probably one of my favorite restaurants.  The atmosphere is so fun, the steak is always amazing, and I just enjoy the entire show.  Even though I have seen it many times now, it never bores me, and this year our chef was especially funny.  He even switched it up a bit at the end by making flaming sprout hearts!  I was impressed!  Some of what I truly love about going there is sitting next to Kev, all snuggled up at the table, and even watching other people enjoy eating there for the first time.

After KOBE was the highlight of the night...Canucks tickets!  I usually don't get to go to Canucks games...if we get a ticket it is often for Kevin to go with a buddy.  I really enjoy going to the games...much more than watching them on TV.  This year the Canucks have been doing pretty well, and as the years go by I get better and better and understanding all that is going on in the games.  Kev was particularly surprised on Tuesday night.  At one point he stated, "Wow, you really know what's going on this time!"  Perhaps it helped that the game was super exciting, with more than 20 shots on goal in the first period alone.  The Canucks ended up winning 6-2.  There were tons of fights, the fans were rowdy-we even saw two Philly fans in the next section over thrown out, one for throwing his beer all the way down the entire section at another fan.  Crazy!  With the win, the Canucks ended a long-we're talking since 1989 here, people-losing streak against the Flyers in Vancouver.  I'd say they ended it handily!

Boo to the Philly fan throwing his beer!

Final Score 6-2

The final part of the birthday celebration came today, when my hubby sent me off to the spa with one of my best friends for an hour long prenatal massage and a peppermint pedicure.  My toes are sparkly and baby ready and I am so incredibly relaxed.  That massage was...well, I can't even describe it in words.  Being all wrapped up in a cuddly blanket but have the very capable masseuse working out the kinks in my back, neck, legs...heaven?  Can that describe it?  I always forget how great it is to have my legs massaged.  It's just not something I really think of until I am smack dab in the middle of the bliss, ready to fall asleep.  Why must that hour go so fast?  I was thinking that an hour of massage compared with an hour of labour is probably not something that can really be compared.  Do those sixty minutes REALLY move at the same pace?

The color?  It's called "The Show Must Go On."  I thought it appropriate for heading into labour, and really cute!

In the end, I must say a huge thank you to my amazing husband.  The detail and thought he put into this amazing day was so incredible.  He really thought about all of the things that make me happy and would mean a lot to me.  The best part of the day, however, was really just spending so much time with him, having him kiss me, cuddle up to me, and remind me of all the reasons he loves me.  He's pretty romantic and pretty amazing.  I love you honey, thanks for the birthday of epic proportions!

Last but not least, we are at 38 weeks!  Can it really just be two or three weeks until we meet this little one?  Guess we'd better get that car seat unpacked and the old suitcase loaded up!