Happy Birthday to Me!

You would think that spending 7 hours on campus would put a damper on my 22nd birthday, but it has really been such an incredible day – thanks to my wonderful husband and a few other people I’m so lucky to have in my life!

Jeff woke up at 4:30am to make me breakfast in bed (we usually get up at 5:00 and he wanted to have it ready for when I woke up). Despite the early hour, he managed to create some pretty near perfect waffles for me, which I enjoyed while opening the exciting pile of presents he brought me. Every gift I got was perfect!

Mom color coordinates the package she sends me every year and uses beautiful wrapping paper, ribbon, and fake flowers to make it all very pleasing to the eye.

My gifts from Mom and Dad: 3 cute maternity shirts, maternity capris, a Border's gift card, an adorable jungle animal cross stitch for the baby's nursery (which my DAD picked out! So impressed!), and some orange M&M's. Katrina got me a gift card to Target and the card that Jeff's sweet Grandma Fisher sent me (along with a check) is also in that pile.

Somehow, this cute card from my parents and hilarious feed-the-wind-up-shark game didn't make it into the picture. That shark has wheels so when it's wound up, it rolls around and you have to try and drop the little rubber fish into it's mouth. I usually find a goofy little gift like this in the box every year. It definitely makes the package!

Mom and Dad got Jeff a present too so he wouldn't "get jealous." It's a bunch of little wood pieces that can be assembled into a dragon.

Greg and Renita sent me a very very generous gift card to Destination Maternity, which I am so excited to put to use! Renita also sent me a DVD of old pictures of Jeff (and a few of me and the two of us together too) since I've had to ask her to send me a few of them in the past. Now I will have them all right at my fingertips.

Jeff got me Encino Man on DVD. He also laser etched a beautiful frame for me. I LOVE it so so much! I have the BEST husband!

Jeff actually came up with the fabulous idea of sending me and my friend and concert buddy, Shelley, to an Aerosmith concert as a gift, but there is some uncertainty about whether or not the concerts will actually happen. So we are waiting to see if they do before Jeff spends the rest of my birthday present budget on other gifts - he's only spent about $5 so far (of course the tickets would go over budget, but we're choosing to overlook that fact).

The morning was already off to an awesome start and then I got and an unexpected treat: Jeff stayed home with me for an extra hour before leaving for school. We stayed in bed and watched an episode of Alias and Jeff gave me a heavenly massage the entire time.

I stayed in bed finishing up coding Spiderman for my research group and picking out goodies on which to spend the generous Destination Maternity gift card Jeff’s parents gave me, before heading to my 9:30 meeting with my research group. We didn’t have much to discuss so the four of us girls just sat around talking mostly about baby stuff, along with a bunch of other fun topics. Gotta love a little girl talk every once in a while!

I still had about 2 hours before my 12:00 class so I talked to Mom and Katrina on the phone and then spent the rest of the time sitting in Jeff’s office working on my new cross stitch, while Jeff did homework. I was set on avoiding doing any homework all day. That means I have to take an exam tomorrow and another one the next day, but the break has been totally worth it!

After my class at noon, I went back to Jeff’s office, talked to Patrick, Dad, and Renita, and continued working on my cute cross stitch until my class at 3:00. Jackie called me during class and left a message wishing me a happy birthday and informing me that she is sending me a birthday gift as well! I’m so spoiled!

When I got home after class, I saw this (with a goofy, cute version of Happy Birthday playing in the background):

Jeff barely had time to ride his bike home as fast as he could, hang the sign, make the cake, wrap the book (which had just come in the mail) and get ready for me to walk in the door. My husband is so wonderful! I don't think I can say it enough!

After I blew out the candles, opened yet another present (Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein), and thanked Jeff again and again for being so sweet and making my birthday so special, we went to Iggy’s for dinner. The Olympics were playing on the big screen while we ate. Too bad curling was the only thing on the entire time we were there! What a ridiculous event! That’s all we’ve seen of the Olympics so far since we don’t have cable.

Jeff bought me this book with our free Amazon money that we earned using our credit cards, so he says it doesn't count as part of my birthday money. What a guy!

Dinner at Iggy's

After dinner, we came home and had cake and ice cream. Then, we relaxed for the rest of the night, watching The Mask, while I typed up this blog post and Jeff put together his dragon.

I have regaled Jeff with tales of the incredible Magic Shell ice cream topping that I loved when I was a kid on a few occasions. He got some for me so I could enjoy if for the first time in years tonight. It's still just as magical as ever! I'm also wearing a maternity sweater that my grandma sent me in this picture. I love it! I just pretend it fits.

Jeff putting together his dragon

It turned out so great!

What a fantastic birthday! Thanks to everyone who made it so great!

Side Note: During the couple of days before my birthday, we received a lot of exciting mail from my wonderful Mamal. She sent us an adorable crib, a crib mattress, a changing pad, and a mattress pad. So exciting! She also sent me a whole bunch of really cute maternity clothes. I can’t wait till I finally fit into them! Although, I'll probably start wearing them before that happens. I can't resist!