Birthday festivities

So far my birthday has definitely been the best ever. Last year I didn't even really celebrate because it was just a crap time and I had to do a divorce trial on my birthday and I was really just mourning that I wasn't going to be a mom as soon as I had hoped. I wanted to forget all about turning 30 and just get on with it.

But this year--ah, how much changes in a year!--I am super-excited to celebrate another year and look forward to the next. And I am celebrating 30 and 31 in one birthday festivity time, so I get 1) double the cake, 2) double the presents, 3) double (or possibly quadruple) the parties, and 4) double the babies. Actually, I had zero babies last birthday (hence sadness) and now I have two, and Ms. Ehrich in 7th grade taught me that zero times anything is still zero but whatever.

The birthday festivities kicked off Tuesday when Jeff and I went out to a great dinner at Asti's here, thanks to my friend Helen for babysitting, then continued last night with some beers and cake on the deck on our new deck furniture. Delicious. If you ever want to drain some unusual beers, invite Dave Moore over to your house! This weekend we have lots of fun in store, including Kath's housewarming (2nd anniversary) party and seeing Sarah and Adrienne and Kate and Aaron and Dylan and Ollie in Ithaca, as well as a birthday dinner Saturday night sans babies (thanks Tricia and Michael!) and then a delicious cake from Sarah's Patisserie! Then Sunday we get to celebrate the wedding of Todd and Kristina at the Ellis Hollow Community Center. It is going to be a great weekend. I should be an honorary Bleisenberg, with all this weeks-long birthday celebrating!

Grandpa Stu and I took advantage of a short nap yesterday to assemble crib #2 for the boys so that they stop beating on each other and waking each other up. Seriously, we manhandled that crib and had it up and made within 30 minutes. We're champs. It also helps to have an identical crib sitting in the same room while you are assembling the second. Pictures to follow. And I need to make another mobile for the second crib. My plan is not to assign each boy a crib, but rather to move them back and forth. Because it's easier to move the boys than it is to move the mobiles. The next one is going to have pictures of family for the boys to look at.

And to celebrate my birthday the boys have decided to make a habit of sleeping six or more hours at a time. I think it helped last night that a) it was cool, and b) they were in their own cribs. We think they fell asleep in friends' arms on the deck around 9 or so, and they slept through diaper changes and wardrobe malfunctions at 10 and didn't wake up to eat until 3:30! I'm not even sure Beck would have woken up except that he was soaking wet through to the sheet, and I'm not sure Theo would have woken up except that Beck cried while I was changing him and cleaning him up, and Daddy had to strip the bed and start over. Lesson learned: diapers must be tighter!