Happy Birthday. Happy Life.

Yesterday was my birthday, and as most of you know, I am a big birthday person, so I always expect it to be an awesome day. Also, I’m the big 3-0 now, so it had to be an extra special day, and while it was a pretty standard work day, there were a few subtle, special moments that stuck out to me. It began when I got Ella out of her crib and she reached up her arms to me as usual and put her little head on my shoulder. Then, she looked up at me and gave me a big, wet, open-mouth baby kiss right on my lips! She has only kissed me a handful of times in her whole life (her whole 13 months of life) so it felt like it was her own little version of a birthday present and it was just what I wanted. Here are a few more highlights from the day:

1. Coconut macaroons from Wendy

2. A happy birthday song from sixty teenagers auditioning for Amity Link Crew

3. A beautiful candle and candle stand from Christina

4. Cards and gifts from Mom and Dad

5. And a lovely evening of sushi and a movie with Mike and Jessica (thanks Jess!)

6. The picture at the top of this message is the present that Michael and my parents got for me. (This is just from the Ballard website, not my kitchen). It is a beautiful print that we found from Ballard (a cool catalogue I hadn’t heard of before).

But the best gift I had was a few hours in the afternoon with my grandmother. For those of you who don’t know, my grandmother is having open heart surgery today, which is a pretty big deal since she is 90 years old. So, it is a risky, but necessary procedure right now. However, you would never know this from spending the evening with her. She was in excellent spirits- laughing, joking, and acting happier and more full of life than I have seen her act in a while. She told me that she wasn’t nervous about the surgery at all and that she is so happy about the life that she has had so far, and about all 33 people that she has helped to bring together into this family. I didn’t leave feeling sad or nervous, but hopeful and thoughtful about the future. My grandmother reminded me that now that I am 30 she is exactly three times as old as me and it got me thinking about the next sixty years of my life and what they may bring. I am so happy with what I have today: a loving husband, a crazy and amazing baby, a huge family, loyal friends, a beautiful home, a rewarding career, and my own health. I can only hope that when I am 90 years old, I will have even more to be thankful for and will be able to look back on my life with contentment and joy as my grandmother does.

So, all in all, it was a happy birthday and this is a happy life.

If you are so inclined, please say a prayer for my Nanny today.

A hope for the future

Today's post is a little bit more serious. Okay, it is a lot more serious, but it is something that is on my mind. Yesterday at my school someone painted the word "fag" on the rock reserved for students to paint messages in support of their teams and clubs. The rock had been painted with rainbow colors in support of The Day of Silence and someone decided to deface it out of hatred, fear, and self-loathing. Luckily, we have some very brave students at our school who were willing to stand next to that rock today holding up signs that said, "Stop the hate," and my personal favorite, "You wanted a fag on this rock, well here I am." I'm writing about this on my baby blog because this has got me thinking about Ella B's future. Is she going to grow up in a world where people throw words like that at each other, or will homophobia be as foreign to her as cellphones that aren't smart? Will bullying be worse or better? Will she feel comfortable with who she is, both at home and at school? Will she grow up to be as brave and confident as those students who stood by the rock today? And what can I do to make that happen? I'm not sure, but I'm going to start with this, a message to the future Ella B:

My beautiful little girl, please know that you are amazing and strong and that you are already everything you were ever meant to be. I will love you no matter who you love or who you grow up to be and all I want is for you to feel proud and comfortable in your own skin and to help other people feel good about themselves, too. You are perfect just the way you are because, "you were born this way."

Thanks for listening and please remember that our kids learn how to love and to hate from us first.

Happy Easter!

Today was a good day. First, it was Michael's day to get up with the Beez, so I got to sleep until 7:30! Then, Nene and Pop pop came over for a lovely brunch and then Beezer took a nap in her crib for the first time! She slept for an hour and a half and Michael and I hardly knew what to do with ourselves. Then the sun came out and we did a little gardening until Candy, Izzy, and Mason showed up. We all played outside and ate Chinese food and cupcakes. Best Easter ever! Here are a few pics of the totally relaxing day.

You and "Mii" and Ella B

I hung out with my Trumbley boys today and had a blast. Sam did his own thing, but perked up a little when Mike showed up. Jacob was his usual cute self despite the poopy hand incident after his nap (don't ask). And Nathan was Nathan, of course, meaning adorable, hilarious, and full of five year old energy and silliness. He also mentioned several rules of the house while I was there, such as "Don't close the basement door when I'm down there,"and, "If you find someone's toy, you have to give it back," and even, "no tickling- Kristy and Tom said no tickling." Apparently, eating dinner in front of the TV is not one of the rules because he said his mom lets him do that. He did also inform me that he has been sucking his thumb for twenty-five years, so I'm not really sure how reliable he is. Ella loved playing with her cousins and I think I have daycare to credit for her ability to hold her own around the big boys. She wasn't about to let Jacob take her bike away from her, come hell or high water. She was also pretty excited about drinking out of a straw and walking up and down carpeted stairs, so, all in all it was a good day for Me and Ella B.

We also had fun playing the Wii and it turns out that I am pretty good at sword fighting people. Who knew? Nate said I was, "a tiny drop" better than him, so that was cool. He also showed me the Mii he made for Ella. I guess you know you've made it in the world when you have your own Mii.

Thanks for stopping by!

To keep you coming back...

Here are some recent pics of the beezer to keep you coming back for more.

I know what you're thinking

Okay, okay. I know I tried this before. And yes, I know I was way less busy last time I did it, but I'm way more motivated this time. Why, you ask? Well, for a few reasons. It all started with my friends Jeremy and Christina who are having a baby next month. Jeremy has been secretly keeping a journal of little messages for the baby to read when she grows up and gave the first installment to Christina on her birthday (I know, swoon). I was really inspired by that and figured better late than never and started my own little notebook for Ella B. I've written quite a bit in it, and I am really going to try to keep up with it, but I also wanted something I could share with everybody else in our lives, which brings me to my second inspiration, Mom blogs. As of late, I have become a little obsessed with hipster mom blogs, specifically Harper's Happenings. I read this blog every day and think about how awesome it is that Mandy (the mom) has this daily record of Harper's (the daughter's) life. There is so much that happens every single day that we forget about and now it will all be there for Harper and her family as long as this crazy thing called the world wide web is still around. So, I'm going to try my very best to keep it going this time. Because now it is not just for me. It is for you and me and Ella B.