He'll cry if he wants to. . .

As a special birthday present to his mommy, Sullivan picked today to decide that my arms were the only acceptable sleeping, sitting, playing, eating, resting spot. Granted, it probably has more to do with his recent illness than my birthday. ;) It was a challenging day, but I'm sure that's what I get for having plans to accomplish anything.

Our upcoming trip to Arizona has us all on our toes. It doesn't seem like I'll have enough time to get all the laundry done and the house in shape before we go - ENTER: LUPITA! She'll be here tomorrow at 3:00, so hopefully w/ a few hours of her help I can get it all done. As an added incentive to me - if we *do* get it done at a decent hour then Kyle and I can sneak our date-night in. If not, then we'll plan a night out when we get back to the US.

On a SUPER high-note : Sullivan's passport arrived! :o They're quoting people in the U.S at least 8 weeks from the time they submit their application. Thanks to the magic of the U.S. Consulate here in Guadalajara, we received ours in a little over 3 weeks. I am *so* glad to not have to deal with the headache of convincing the Mexican airline to let us on the plane w/ our passportless infant.

And my rant for the day - What is the deal w/ Raisin Bran? Why can't they figure out that people really only eat it for the raisins? I mean, if I wanted to eat just plain BRAN cereal, I would have bought it, right? I always end up pouring this HUGE bowl because I'm trying to get just a few more raisins in there. Good for my digestion, but not so good for my waning cereal supply and caloric-intake. They have the raisin thing figured out though. They are SUPER dehydrated making them harder and chewier than regular raisins (which I usually don't like.) and then I swear they roll them in sugar(as if they needed any. . .I mean compared to bran, they're like pure sweetness, right?)

And on a funny birthday note: my kids couldn't figure out why my birthday wasn't a bigger deal. I kept them home from school and halfway through my (fussy sullivan-ish) day, I decided we needed to get out. We went to Costco for my official birthday lunch (don't laugh, my kid-friendly, budget-conscious choices are limited.) Guthrie wanted me to buy a cake, but I said no - so he and Addie sang me "Happy Birthday" over our shared Berry Sundae and Hotdogs. (in no particular order.)

Addie wanted me to go get a pinata - but Guthrie quickly informed her that moms and dads don't get pinatas - just kids.

Later, Guthrie asked me what present I was getting. I told him that he could give me the present of being a good boy all day long. He thought that was stupid as "you can't open that!" So, I told him to go ask dad where my present was. That led to an amusing little conversation in which Guthrie *insisted* that Kyle come up with a present TODAY! Kyle informed him that I would get my present tomorrow - and that frustrated Guthrie to no end. "Tomorrow isn't her birthday!"

So - Happy Birthday to me! A few more birthdays and it will no longer be embarassing to tell people I'm a mother of 3. In the meantime, I'll start saying, "I'll be 26 soon." It works for little kids.