Happy Birthday to Me!

We've been a little slow on the posts since we've been back in States. Chalk that up to jet lag and sleep deprivation after our looong journey home! In the ten days we've been home, we've waded through lots of Christmas cards, bills and other mail, e-checked and renewed the tabs on my 1998 Mazda Protege for probably the last time, started getting our tax stuff together and copied lots of paperwork so we can remove the conditions on Niels' green card. Not so much, really. Next up is getting photo cards printed and our Christmas/New Years letters out!

But today, we're celebrating my 38th birthday. Niels and I stayed up til midnight, when he surprised me with another gift. (He bought me season 1 of Big Bang Theory when we were in Holland.). He gave me 3 tulips and a bag of Lindt truffles and...a list of 38 reasons why he loves me. The list is a little tradition we started when we were engaged as a way of showing appreciation for each other. Last year, in the sleep deprivation of having a 3 week old, he forgot and I realized how much I missed it so I had him make a list for me at dinner! This year, he was on the ball and made a very sweet, sometimes funny list of things that both he and Daniel love about me. We joke that I'm easy to please, but I really look forward to my list each year. Thanks, Sweetie!

Daniel was so excited to celebrate with us that he stayed up all night...yawn. He hasn't done that for awhile, so we're guessing something didn't quite sit well with him. Fortunately for me, Niels got up with him most of the time. We figured out in the morning that the reason he didn't drink his bottle was that the nipple was clogged. Oops!

I woke up to an impressive amount of birthday wishes in my mailbox and Facebook, including a e-card from Dutch dad taunting me with the cinnamon ice cream they are eating in my honor today. (If only it could be sent through email!)

Niels is now off to work and Daniel and I will both be napping this morning. We'll have a low key day here at home until Daddy comes home and takes us to Bravo, a local Italian restaurant, for dinner. The chef is the husband of one of my new mommy friends. He grew up in Belgium, so it will be fun for them to meet!

So, I have an awesome husband, a happy son, pretty good health (for me, that's impressive!), a nice home, a little money in the bank (and today is payday!), a cuddly dog, there's no blizzard (a January miracle) and lots of love from family and friends. It's the best birthday ever!