What birthday?
When I was a kid, birthdays were like christmas. I counted the days until I would get presents & cake. The birthday cake is one of the only special memories that I have of my mom. She liked to bake & cook & at one time was thinking about starting a catering business. When it was birthday time for all of us girls, she would bake us a cake & decorate it so that you were almost afraid to eat it, it looked so nice. I remember having a unicorn, a 3-D Garfield, bears & whatever else I wanted. It's a birthday tradition that I want to pass down to Logan. Which means that I have a few birthdays to practice my baking & cake decorating skills before he can make a request.

Now that I'm older, birthdays are still something to get excited about, until this year. I almost forgot that today was my birthday until Bill mentioned it on Sunday. Bill's birthday is next week, so our tradition is "Birthday Weekend". The weekend between our birthdays we do something special. In the past we stayed at a nice hotel downtown & partied all weekend. We always go out for sushi & sake (a sacrifice that Bill makes for me because it's my favorite food & he hates sushi). I've always thought that Birthday Weekend was the coolest thing to share.

We've had some pretty wild times. They stopped after my 24 th birthday though. That was too crazy. I've never had alcohol poisoning & passed out until then. Not even when I turned 21 in Vegas. I don't remember much of the night. I remember our friend having a DJ gig at a club that we went to. I remember everyone buying me drinks...12 shots of tequilla & I don't know how many other mixed drinks. I remember waking up in the hotel asking Bill about the night & he wouldn't tell me. "You really don't want to know what happened". After trying to drag it out of him, he told me & I cried for days. I made such a fool of myself & made it a point to apologize to our friends for being such an idiot. They all thought it was pretty funny, but I didn't. Needless to say, I've never had much to drink after that night & Birthday Weekend has been a lot more mellow.

Now with a baby, I don't know what Birthday Weekends will be like. This weekend will be quiet. We don't have a sitter & Bill still has a couple of weekends to work until the new schedule takes effect. Tonight we're going out for sushi, minus the sake. It will be Logan's first time going out for a nice dinner. It will be interesting to see what happens, especially since his fussy time is in the evening. I'm sure he'll be good, otherwise I wouldn't even consider going. I never want to be "that parent" that takes their unruly child to a nice place & ruin the experience for everyone else. So, we'll see what kind of adventure this will be. Happy 26 th to me!