Birthday Bliss

How does one describe the nightmare that I lived through on the 11th of February? Imagine a cranky child who is trying to cut a tooth. She wants her mommy to make it better, but her mommy is powerless. Her mommy is exhausted and on the edge of the cliffs of motherhood. Six hours of crying later, I'm ready to lose my mind. I'm exhausted. At one point, I was crying and Kenly was crying. The dog walked in and started whining. I said, "Chance, we can't all be crying. Right now you have to be the brave one..." Believe it or not, he stopped crying. At least I could soothe one living being.

Enter my knight in shining armor. Adam came home from work and allowed me to cry and unload all the horrible thoughts and images I had been plagued by the whole day. He let me vent these without judgement or without saying, "oh my gosh, are you stable?" He made me dinner. We watched brainless television online. He took care of the baby who was being an angel now. (I swear that she saves her worst behavior for me.) Adam then began to tell me of my birthday surprise. He took my birthday off. The night of the 11th, he took night duty so that I could sleep without having to get up. On my birthday he watched a horrible chick-flick called "She's the Man." He didn't complain once--this movie is only suitable for 6th grade girls. It might even be a stretch of the imagination for them. He made breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He built me a birthday fire even though we're having a heat wave. He let me take a million birthday calls and read a million birthday emails/facebook posts without feeling robbed of my attention. But perhaps the biggest sacrifice was agreeing to go to a consignment sale at the Ag Center. Baby stuff as far as the eye can see...all for sale. Lucky for him, babies were not allowed--NO EXCEPTIONS! So, he took baby duty so I could shop. All the stars aligned on my birthday which allowed me to somehow get into the presale undetected. I did not know I had done this until I watched the general public line up around the building with laundry baskets waiting to get in. Kenly racked up. Her first birthday shopping is done, minus one item. We bought a $200.00 Kelty backpack for $80.00. I got toys, a life jacket, and a shopping cart cover. Everything goes 1/2 price on Sunday, so I might sneak back and get a few more things. It was so much fun. Adam compared all the moms to ants with laundry baskets. He felt like he had kicked an ant hill, and all the ant were carrying laundry baskets. (Who knew you needed one?) All the ants can carry 3 times their weight too. I know; I was one. I had an amazing dinner, a candle lit bath, and birthday snuggles to top it all off. It was the perfect day. It was the dream come true after the terrifying nightmare of the 11th. I felt loved and adored. I felt important. I felt worthy of the attention. That makes for an excellent birthday. Love always makes the best gift.