It's My Birthday!

AND this is my 400th post!

Holy blogging, Batman!

It's also Monday Listicles so I will present to you a list of 10 Things Birthday. Sound good?

Well, it's my birthday so I say what goes.

1. I was born exactly 38 years ago today, at 5:12 AM. My mother's onset of labor was marked by hurling her spaghetti dinner.

2. I was named after Jennifer O'Neill. Or so says my father. I wonder if all the other millions of Jennifers were also named for her. Something tells me no. My mother says she liked Jessica and Jennifer, but preferred the nickname Jenny over Jessie. She's never called me Jenny.

3. My astrological sign is the first on the zodiac, Aries. I have spent all of my life disagreeing with much of what is said about Aries, as relates to me. I'm told that both your sun sign and rising sign matter. According to a Free Instant Rising Sign Wizard mine is Pisces. Apparently: "This peculiar mix is more like a multiple personality disorder." Huh.

Aries Traits

Adventurous and energetic - No & No

Pioneering and courageous - Not pioneering

Enthusiastic and confident - Iffy

Dynamic and quick-witted - Not really

On the dark side...

Selfish and quick-tempered - not usually & a little

Impulsive and impatient - when I was younger

Foolhardy and daredevil - NOT EVEN

4. I spent my 16th at Disneyland, my 19th in Florida, 21st in Reno (legal, baby!), 25th in Orange County and another in San Francisco. I got engaged on my 23rd.

5. I thought my 30th was all big and important and invited all these new "friends" I had met right after moving to Washington out to lunch with me. There were 8-10 women at my table that day. I felt so special and important and liked. Eight years later, I know it's not the quantity of people, it's the quality of the people. Also, most of them were moms with young kids and probably just wanted an excuse to get out of the house!

6. My 31st was only 4 of us, but it was one of my most memorable.

My very happy friend there is Jessica!

7. I got pregnant with AJ shortly after the above photo was taken, so by the time my 32nd rolled around, I had this little cutie to cuddle:

8. I've shared my 33rd birthday photo before. My 34th didn't yield a good pic, but it was a fun night of homemade fondue and Friends on DVD. Um, my 35th...don't seem to have any pics. Probably did dinner and a movie. Oh! I got my tattoo for my 36th birthday! And last year on my 37th, we took a day trip to Leavenworth, WA.

9. As this birthday approached we met a new heart specialist, an Electrophysiologist, who diagnosed Mark's arrhythmia as Ventricular Tachycardia. This is more serious than Atrial Fibrillation and means Mark's heart could freak out and stop again at any time before he has a defibrillator implanted. I thought about cancelling plans to go to dinner an hour away from home.

10. But I didn't cancel and everything was OK (except Mark let the kids stay up really late). Here are a few pics from dinner at The Melting Pot in Seattle. It's an amazing fondue place. This dinner was from my dad for my birthday, and also to thank my besties for being so awesome while Mark was in the hospital.

Carin and Jessica - Carin brought extra lighting for me

Me and my Dad

The Flaming Turtle chocolate fondue

Dessert bits to dip

My s'mores martini - crushed graham cracker around the rim of the glass!

Tonight we're hittin' Red Robin for my free birthday burger! Hmm, which one should I get...Blue Ribbon, Banzai, Whiskey River, Guacamole?

I think I like my late 30s. Mostly. I like not being young and dumb anymore, but I could do without the aches and pains. Seriously, my lower back PITA decided to act up this weekend. Why? Just to mke me feel me age? Probably.

Well I say Pfft! to my back.

Oh, my kids let me sleep in until 11:00 yesterday morning! I don't think I've done that since I was in my early 20s. The next logical thing to do after sleeping the morning away is stay in your pajamas all day. Yup, pretty nice Sunday, I'd say.

Day, say...that rhymes!

PS: All my fave bloggy friends contributed to a special post as a gift for me over at The Sarcasm Goddess' For the Love of Writing!

What I Like About Me

There’s a little something that seems to be spreading through the blogosphere which I found at Ciao Mom’s site. This little something has people listing all the things they like about themselves.

Yes, apparently we CAN actually LIKE things about ourselves.

Kind of a revelation, right?

So, I think I’m going to use categories, because I’m just not real good at being random.

What I like about me - Physically

My hands and wrists, and feet and ankles - They are nicely shaped and sized. A jeweler once told me I have “jewelry store hands” I guess because I wear the stock ring size.

The color of my lips - A very nice shade of pink.

My breasts - Mostly (could be more round). They are a generous size without being too big (full C) and breastfeeding didn’t affect them much. I always hear about breasts deflating to a smaller size after nursing, but mine didn’t.

My body shape - I’m not a “perfect” 36-24-36, but I do have an hourglass figure, meaning my bust and hips measure pretty much the same, and my waist is smaller. So I’m not top heavy nor bottom heavy. My weight is distributed well.

I have blue eyes - but that’s all I like about my eyes because they don’t work right!

What I like about me - Personality

Good sense of humor - I love British humor, stand-up comedy, sarcasm, quirky humor, totally inappropriate and wrong…..I’m not easily offended. Politics, race, religion, men, women, sex are all fair game. And I can laugh at myself. My husband taught me how to have fun at the hospital. Children are a riot!

Open-minded - The older I get the less I judge, and I’ve found the less I judge the happier I am. Each and every one of us is just a human being doing our best making lives for ourselves. Well, except for murderers. They’re not doing their best. But even then, I have a hard time with the idea that bad deeds can’t ever be forgiven. The human heart is limitless. I will always listen to another’s point of view.

Authentic - My life is an open book (hence all this blogging I do). I don’t do or say anything I don’t really want to, unless I absolutely have to. Along with being authentic I have had to learn tact, however. I wear my heart on my sleeve. It’s very hard for me to hide how I feel. This isn’t always easy, and I’ve gotten into trouble because of it. But at the end of the day, it’s still something I like about myself.

Attitude - I am generally content, positive and grateful. Even if I’m struggling with something, I’m not all “everything sucks” or “I might as well just give up”. There’s always something to be learned, the grass is not always greener and it could probably be worse.

Love - I am a really loving wife and mother. I mean, they still drive me crazy sometimes, but my husband and kids know I love them with all my heart.

What I like about me - Skills

Touch typing - I learned how to touch type in high school and I do it pretty well. I can’t imagine not. Especially with my eye problems. Yeah, I think touch typing was meant to be.

Great with dates - I can remember the dates of so many things. It’s crazy! I can even remember some of my friends’ dates better than they can. Now I’m talking special occasions here, not the date of my husband’s next doctor appointment.

Crafts - I can scrapbook, makes cards and knit! I’ve also helped my daughter put together a couple of science projects.  Does that count?

Common sense and logic - I may be a jumble of complicated emotions, but they are tempered by a decent amount of common sense and ability to use logic and deductive reasoning.

Multi-tasker - What mom isn't?  But seriously, I can have several things going on at once and somehow manage to get through them all.  I get a lot done around my house when I'm on the phone!


Man, this really is kind of a difficult exercise. I feel a little silly going on like this. I tweeted @CiaoMom about my feeling silly and she said back, “Do not feel silly, feel empowered. Celebrating yourself is a gift to yourself in the long run. #BeEnough”.

Alright then. Now I will post.

The Preschool Graduate!

In reading some other "Mombloggers" (Scary Mommy, My Suitcase Full of Tricks) there seems to be this general consensus that the idea of a preschool graduation, at first, sounds a little absurd. But then you get there and you're all, "That's my baby! Go baby!" And you're happy and proud and taking photos just like all the other crazy parents. Darn kids.

The reason I think even something that seems small in the grand scheme of things IS important, is because it's about celebrating accomplishments.  It's about celebrating LIFE.  And by holding a little graduation ceremony for preschoolers, we're showing them this.  That milestones matter, that they matter, that we love them and we're proud of them.  It's never too early to show our kids those things!

For me, AJ is my last child, therefor this was my last preschool graduation.  At least until perhaps he or his sister have children and they graduate preschool.  My little boy is a Kindergartner already!  Why did his first 5 years go by so much faster than Cami's?  I swear the love and pride I feel for my kids could fill the universe!  On a good day that is.... LOL

And now for your viewing pleasure I present a pictorial of AJ's Pre-K year:

First day of school

A masterpiece

Snow day!

5th Birthday

AJ & Julius - LOVE!

Valentine's Day

Stylin' & Profilin'

That's my boy!