No Privacy At All Around Here

First of all, thank you very much for all the birthday wishes. It means alot to me that you all have stuck with reading my blog even though I don't update it nearly enough. I had a really wonderful birthday and your well wishes added to it.

Now, on to the privacy thing. I'm not one of these paranoid people that think "Big Brother" is spying on me or anything, but holy cow, does information travel fast these days. Tuesday morning, when I left the house to take the kids to school and go to work, we were running a bit behind (as usual) so I might have been in a bit more of a hurry driving down our street than I should have been. (You can see where this is going, can't you?) So, wouldn't you know it, one of our cities finest motorcycle officers was hiding in the bushes down the street, just waiting for me to speed on by. Yep, caught in a speed trap. I got a lovely $157.50 ticket for going 38 in a 25 MPH zone. Not a huge deal, it just got my morning off to the wrong start. But I'll just pay $75 to the ticket clinic and let them handle it. In about 6 months I'll get a letter saying it was dismissed.

But, here's where the privacy thing comes in and how fast word gets around. I got that ticket just after 8am on Tuesday. In the mail on Friday, was a letter from a lawyer in the area offering his services to handle my ticket. Holy cow!! They must hover at the court house when they enter the tickets in the system. I mean, I know traffic violations are public record and all that, but I still feel a bit exposed about the whole thing. Maybe it's just me but sometimes it feels like our lives are a bit too much of an open book these days. Know what I mean?

Lordy, Lordy, Look who's 40!!!

Yep, it's official. I have reached the big 4 - 0!!

Not a bad day so far. I got to sleep in past 9am then went out to breakfast at the Original Pancake House. We got lucky and were seated almost immediately, the food came out really fast and we were out of there before the big after church crowd hit. Sweet!

We're headed to the children's museum soon for a birthday party for one of N's little friends from school. I almost wish I could just stay home and relax with a good book all afternoon, but the museum is pretty big and poor D would be overwhelmed trying to keep up with 2 active preschoolers there without me. So I guess I'll go. It's only 2 hours so I can relax with a good book later while the kids nap. That's the plan anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Tonight, we're going out to dinner. D gave me a choice of places and said we could go with or without the kids. I chose with the kids. I've suddenly realized that with A going off to college in a few months, this may be my last birthday with all 3 kids together for a while. Guess it's a big birthday in lots of ways.

Well, gotta go wrap the present and change N's shirt. Mental note - preschooler with white shirt + blueberry pancakes = not a good idea. Oh well, at least I buy the stain spray in the giant economy size.

I'm off to celebrate. Thanks Elisabeth and Amy for stopping by and wishing me a happy birthday. Oh, and thanks for calling this morning Erica. I'll call you later.

How Lucky Are You?

Your Luck Quotient: 75%

You have a high luck quotient. More often than not, you've felt very lucky in your life. You may be randomly lucky, but it's probably more than that. Optimistic and open minded, you take advantage of all the luck that comes your way.

How Lucky Are You?

This one seemed appropriate since it's St. Patrick's Day. You know, lucky 4-leaf clovers and all that. When I was a kid, I LOVED St. Patrick's Day. I'm not Irish but since my birthday is the day after, it was always a day I looked forward to. LOL

Now that I'm turning 40 tomorrow, I don't look forward to it in quite the same way. Not that 40 is any big deal, not in an over-the-hill kind of way. At least not to me. I choose to celebrate being 40 as something to be proud of, not something to dread.

I had an awesome birthday party last night with lots of good friends, food and fun, even though I suck at playing pool. Looking around the room last night during the party and seeing friends from all different stages in my life, I felt very fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.

I've had some rough times in my life, but all in all, I think the sum total of my life experiences have made me a better, stronget person than I would have been without those things. So, I guess I have been lucky. I'm here, I have great friends, a wonderful husband, amazing, beautiful, healthy kids. Life's good!! (Even though it was a bit rough earlier in the week - I guess you need those bad days every once in a while to make you appreciate the good days more).

Did you ever.....

have one of those days where no matter what you do, nothing seems right? Where every time you turn around someone is biting your head off? Where you wonder why the hell you even bothered to get out of bed that morning? One of those days where you question what you're doing with your life and why? One of those days where you are so mad and frustrated that you just want to throw something?

Yeah, me too!!

Enough said.

4 Years Ago Today........

my beautiful baby girl was born. We didn't find out what we were having ahead of time and I was completely shocked to have a daughter. I carried her the same as I had my older son so I thought I was having a boy. Looking back, the lack of morning sickness should have been my first clue that I was having a girl.

I cried tears of joy when they made the big "IT'S A GIRL!!!" announcement in the delivery room. Part of it was relief that she was OK after my emergency c-section, the rest was sheer joy at having my sweet baby girl. She was a skinny little thing at 6 pounds 2 ounces and 19 & 1/4 inches long. She had a bit of light brown hair and huge bluish-gray eyes. Her cleft palate wasn't completely unexpected but still a bit surprising. I didn't think it was that big a deal at first, since I seem to have done alright with mine. Little did I know the challenges it would present and the turns my life would take as a result.

It's a long story that I won't go into here but as a result of the feeding difficulties and lack of information we faced, I became involved with our local craniofacial team and that's where the part-time job I now work came from. But back to my darling baby girl...

She is a very bright, funny, inquisitive little girl. She has recently discovered knock-knock jokes and while the punchlines don't make much sense to us half the time, they crack her up. She has this little wicked laugh that you can't help but laugh along with. She's a really good big sister to her little brother and looks out for him alot. Only occasionally does she feel the need to whack him to keep him in line. She loves to ride her bike and go to the park to play in the sand. She also loves the computer and we're always amazed at how well she navigates the internet even though she can't read yet. She knows her letters though and is always asking what sound different letters make. At this rate, it doesn't seem like it will be too long before she starts to read. I don't push it but when she shows interest, I teach her about letter sounds and basic phonics. Her older brother was reading basic words by 4 & 1/2, so she probably will too.

She can be a bit stubborn. I have no idea where she gets that . I imagine we'll butt heads alot in the years to come since we are so much alike. Not that I totally believe in all this but we are the same sign (Pisces) and the same chinese year (sheep). I may be in trouble. LOL.

This is a fun age, though. She is still discovering the world around her and figuring out how things work. It's funny to hear some of the things she comes up with sometimes. She'll make her little brother pretend to be a dog and will want me to hook the dog leash to his shirt collar so she can "walk" him. Sometimes, she'll take 2 laundry baskets and pretend they are her "rocketship" to take her to the moon.

She's just growing up too fast. It seems like just yesterday I held her in my arms for the very first time and yet 4 years have gone by already. Where does the time go? And how can I make it stop so I can enjoy my little girl before she grows up any more?

I love you, baby girl!!! Promise me you'll always be my little sweetie pie.