Birthday Rundown

My birthday was the 12th. Friday night John and I went out. Usually, we go see a movie (like we did in this picture! "Star Trek" at the Imax was awesome!), but there was literally nothing out. So, we went to Target to get Charlie's birthday presents . . . I know, we're becoming such boring parents! But I've got to admit it's always fun to get stuff for Charlie. The next day I went shopping with Mari, which is always great. I spent half of my money, so I've still got plenty left over for later. Unfortunately, I had been having a lot of bad pain and my medecine wasn't helping. I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to have fun on my b-day, so I went out Friday and Saturday morning anyway. By the time I got home Saturday afternoon, I was miserable. I went upstairs to find a new pair of slippers and some bath salts on the bed. John felt guilty that my present (other than shopping money . . . a pair of black and white spectator pumps!) hadn't come in time and so he got me those things to make up for it. BEST. HUSBAND. EVER. That's EXACTLY what I needed. Sigh, what a guy!

Charlie's b-day was the 18th. We took him down to John's parents' house. That day I whipped together some last minute cupcakes, attempting to make them look "Cars" themed (Charlie's favorite).

John's parents got pizza. Charlie pretty much only wanted to play with all of Grandma's cars (she has HUNDREDS). We forced him to open presents . . . I wound up opening most of his presents. Finally, around 8 o'clock, Charlie decided to eat pizza and he went to town--he can't have dairy, but we figured a little cheese wouldn't hurt. Maybe I'm a mean mom, but I didn't give him a cupcake. He has a lot of stomach problems, and I thought pizza was enough for one night . . . and it was. He was dog sick the next day and he's still having problems today! Needless to say, we'll be talking about tummy issues at his checkup. Poor guy.

Then, Sunday night, we had a little dinner for Charlie. Of course, my mom had to get "Cars" everything, plates, a banner and a racetrack cake. She originally was going to make a Lightning McQueen cake, but she was afraid he'd cry if we cut him up. So yeah, this cake is my mom's idea of a "cop-out." Can you believe this cake? (Er, that would be my niece Caroline's hand on the cake!)

I told Charlie ahead of time to not put his fingers in the cake. I know a lot of people allow their 2 year olds to just dig in, but I find that seriously disgusting and unsanitary. But, here we go, Charlie stabbing his spoon (at least it wasn't his finger!) in the cake, as if to mark his territory. I love the look he's giving his Uncle Paul. That look says, "Yeah, I just stabbed my cake. Whatcha' gonna do about it?"

AND, Charlie got to keep the cars afterwards . . . all around, a great idea. So, here is the Lightning McQueen haul he got . . . . I've sold my soul to Pixar! Well, most of this stuff came from grandparents. Can you tell he loves it? (And, make note, that his pjs are Lightning McQueen, too!)

All together, he pretty much got a new fall/winter wardrobe (tons of great Carters' clothes--and some ADORABLE pjs), dozens of cars and books and much more. Whew! I'm glad he's not QUITE old enough to understand how spoiled he is.

Tomorrow I've got a CT scan to see why I'm having such bad pain. I probably won't know the results until next week, but if you can remember me in your prayers, I'd appreciate it! I'm hoping for the best, which would be, they find a problem they can fix. Either way, it's a step in the right direction, no matter what results show (or don't show). Thanks!