Thirty ONE-derful Years

Last weekend, I celebrated my 31st birthday.  I am officially 'in my 30s'.  I told one of my doctors a few days before my birthday that I was 31, and then he corrected me and asked why I was in a rush to turn another year older?  I laughed and said that nothing makes you feel older than being a parent.  Being the father of three, he knew exactly what I was talking about.

JD planned a very special surprise day for my birthday (actually the day before):

It started out with a beautiful flower delivery - in a pumpkin!  JD always has the florist do something unique with my flowers - either the actual arrangement or the container.

Three years ago, I learned how to play disc golf during one my sessions with Leadership Germantown. I had such a good time, and have been asking JD for THREE YEARS to play disc golf with me to no avail.  He thought it looked silly, etc.  He had a babysitter come over to our house on Friday afternoon, and told me to get dressed 'casually', that we would be walking around in the woods.  I rolled my eyes, but complied.  As we left the house on foot, he was carrying a huge wrapped present.  I kept peppering him with questions about the present, but he just acted like he always carries wrapped presents on his walks.  As we got closer to the park, I realized what we were about to do - he was going to play disc golf with me!  Our neighborhood park has a really well-known 18-hole disc golf trail.  After we located the first tee box, I was allowed to unwrap my first present - two disc golf sets and a carrying case.  We played nine holes, and JD was hooked.  I enjoyed muttering phrases like "I'm going to need my putter for that," and "I can't believe I lost my driver in the water."  We are already recruiting friends to play with us:)

As we got back to the house, JD told me I had to hurry to get ready because we needed to be in East Memphis by 5:45 p.m., but wouldn't say why.  About a month or so ago, I ordered so many clothes for Nora that JD made me promise to stop for a little while.  I agreed, but kept lamenting about how much I loved dressing Nora up in unique, adorable clothes (IMO).  At 5:45, JD parked in front of one of my favorite baby boutiques in Memphis.  He said - "they close at 6 p.m., I'll buy Nora anything you pick out in the next 15 minutes"...or at least, that's what I think he said because I was already out of the car and headed for the door!  I think he underestimated my shopping abilities because about ten minutes into my 'baby shopping spree', he gave me a look and said that I had been 'most efficient.'  We had fun, and JD even picked out a few outfits.  FYI - his weakness is pink clothes for our little girl.  If I think he is wary about me buying clothes for Nora, I just have to show him something pink.  Haha!

After the baby shopping spree, he took me across the street to pick out one book from my favorite bookstore.  Of course I convinced him to purchase three;)

Then we headed downtown for dinner.  JD knows how much I love dining outdoors, so he found the perfect combo - a new restaurant with a patio!  We ate amazing things like lobster pronto pups and split a bottle of wine.  After a quick walk for ice cream, we headed home to our sweet, sleeping baby.

The next day, on my actual birthday, I got to open my other presents - a gift card from Nora to my salon (she is always pulling on my hair), a ping pong net for our recently acquired ping pong table (the previous homeowner left it for us and I love to play) and a volleyball net for pool volleyball (the new house has a pool with holes in the floor of the pool for volleyball net poles).  We spent the day running around together, getting Nora's hand print made at Itty Bitty Bella (of course I had to buy her another outfit!) and doing projects during Nora's naps.  What a fun weekend!