I am 34!

IT IS MY BIRTHDAY I am now 34, and the birthday gods have smiled upon me. Joel was on overnight call but nobody had any babies! So he slept all night! So I sent him to the Fun Factory with the girls instead of taking them myself, and I sat around and ate too much cheese and read trashy novels all morning! Also I went through one random box and purged a bunch of stuff, just to give myself that Having Done a Thing feeling.

Eleanor has been talking about my birthday for days, and this morning, when I went into her room to get her, she popped up in her bed and said, Happy birthday, mom! And Geneva, of course, echoed, HAPPY DAY DAY and this happened periodically throughout the day and occasionally they would burst into Happy Birthday, which Geneva did not know the words to until today but now she knows ALL OF THEM.

Back in December, Eleanor's Christmas present was two tickets to see Mary Poppins, and the only available matinee was ALSO MY BIRTHDAY and that is fortuitous. So that's how we spent our afternoon.

IT WAS SO LONG. It was almost three hours, which is actually shorter than the movie, which we watched in preparation (we also read the novel, which is also long). There was so much dancing and whimsy, however, that we didn't mind the length. Eleanor's favorite part was when a statue came alive and started dancing. My favorite part is when Eleanor tried on my shoes after we got home.

We got home in time to kiss Joel goodbye (he leaves tonight for a week) and pick Geneva up and head to Le Bon Temps, because it's my birthday and damned if I'm cooking for anybody. They didn't have the hush puppies we wanted but the poutine was just big enough for three girls.

Keep living your best life, Geneva.

(She puts these on indoors and goes I TAN'T SEE. I TAN'T SEEEEEE. and then whips them off and goes OH! Here are!)

Le Bon Temps is where Joel and I went the day before I had Geneva, and so the mud pie there was the last thing I ate before Geneva was born (because they don't let you eat in the morning before they cut you open). It was hellamazing and basically the reason I took the girls back there tonight, because I wanted one for my birthday.

Now all the girls are in bed and I've already crept in and snuck Geneva back into her sleep sack without waking her up (STOP TAKING OFF YOUR SLEEP SACK, GENEVA) and I haven't cleaned up a THING, which I know is going to make my life harder tomorrow but tomorrow's not my birthday. Now. Do I finish my trashy novel? Or do I watch Game of Thrones. Either way, I will round out this birthday by starfishing in the middle of my bed, with every pillow available to me. Come on in, 34. You're great.