I'm writing this from my sick bed, which started as a nest of towels in the bathroom but has gradually migrated to the couch. Joining me on my divan of death is Edward who started throwing up a few hours after I did... but, hey, look at that. I've leapt ahead of myself.
Last week my mom called and told me that she and my brother were surprising me for my birthday (my FORTIETH birthday - can I get a woot woot) and they would be flying in on Friday. After my initial shock (the words "surprise" and "house guests" do not often tango together in my daydreams) I was very excited. However, Steve and I had long-standing dinner plans with our friends John and Lauren for My Big Day (please feel free to think of it in caps; I did) and I felt like an ass calling and cancelling. I solved this social dilemma by racing out the door for Edward's eye appointment and tossing Lauren's number onto Steve's desk.
"Call! Explain!" I shouted and when I returned home Steve said that Lauren had said of course my family should join us. So that was resolved and I spent the week putting sheets on beds and happily anticipating what was shaping up to be the best birthday ever. Oh, and I bought four new towels because twice in the past year my mom has asked if I want her to buy me some new towels. You know, guest towels. For guests. I can take a hint.
Friday was the preschool Halloween party and I did a dry-run for costumes the day before. Caroline was enchanted with her butterfly princess fairy ballerina ensemble and I am sure you will all be surprised to know that she went on to become the Halloween parade line leader and was praised for her excellent wrist-twist parade waving.
Edward?
Not so much.
We got to preschool on Friday and he lost it. Total meltdown. Refused to have anything to do with his costume or the parade or school or Halloween or freaking anything. You want the truth? YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH. Under normal circumstances I would have unloaded him onto the closest state-licensed childcare provider but they all had their hands full trying to herd a bunch of costumed preschoolers into a line so I wound up sitting on a chair with him outside the classroom and waiting for the parade to be over. And waiting. Aaaaaand waiting. By the time I got to the airport my mother had been there for over an hour but hey! It was My Birthday! We hung out at the airport for another fifty minutes or so, got my brother and headed off for a nice lunch. It was lovely and the day was marred only slightly when it occurred to me that perhaps Edward was psychotic because his ears were bothering him. I took him {FORESHADOWING} to the urgent care that afternoon {END FORESHADOWING} so that someone could look at his new ear tubes - they said he was getting a yucky cold but his ears were fine.
Saturday was hectic. We breakfasted, played with the children and puttered and then my mom, brother, Patrick and I went out for an outing. I wanted to be home in time for Steve to take the kids to an afternoon Halloween hayride with the neighbors. The timing was terrible but I thought he could go and make it back before we had to leave for dinner and drinks. In retrospect it was probably overkill but it seemed like too much fun for the kids to pass up just because it was My Birthday Dinner. I decided the hayride was a good time to bust out the batman shirts, largely inspired by a comment Victoria left here re. Caroline. She noted that Caroline likes to dress up so, really, can there be too many costumes? Uh, no. No, I suppose not.
I drew bats on their cheeks with eyeliner and Patrick donned his new button-down tie-dye and they went off to hayride and I assumed they would be back in an hour. Wrong. The babysitter came at five but there was no one to babysit. Steve called at 5:15 and said he was mid-hay ride and we should just go without him. He'd follow. I worried that this was both rude and weird but my mom and brother were there and John and Lauren were waiting so we went.
About three-quarters of the way through our cocktails Steve called. He was on his cell phone and said that things had gotten crazy and he would tell me all about it but he wasn't going to make it for drinks and we should just head off to dinner without him. He'd meet us at the restaurant. My first thought was that he had broken one of the children and had to take them to be repaired. My second thought was that he had better have broken one of the children because unless he had a damned good excuse for showing up half-way through MY BIG BIRTHDAY DINNER it was totally uncool. I mean, hell, Steve.
My brother had had to parallel park for me at the bar (nope. still not embarrassed by the fact that I cannot parallel park) and graciously agreed to be my designated driver so he drove while I sat and alternated between fretting and fuming. When we got to the restaurant the hostess apologized for how busy they were and took us to the back where...
SURPRISE!
It was a party! A surprise party! A surprise fortieth birthday party for me! And Steve was there and the kids (plus our wonderful sitter who fed them cupcakes and then took them home again) and my mom and brother (of course) and my friends including Julie. Julie had come from Vermont with Charlie. I saw her and I said "Ohmygodohmygodohmygod" several times and then I did what any mature woman, any woman in her forties, any woman who stands unblinking in the blazing sunshine of Life's Afternoon would do. I burst into tears.
It. Was. The. Best. Birthday. Ever.
Then I came home and instantly got violently violently ill (remember that trip to the urgent care?) and did not get up for three days. I slept (and worse) through Julie's entire visit. I missed my entire birthday day. I missed Halloween.
Seriously. I got off the couch long enough to take these and that was it. Such a bummer. I LIKE Halloween.
And poor Edward was right there on the couch with me. This was his Halloween night, poor kid.
As my mother said: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times...
But mostly the best.
PS Somewhere in the middle of all this I took Patrick to his pediatrician for a long-awaited physical. We talked about the infections and he said, if it were my kid I would take him to Mayo. So now we are just waiting to hear back from them.
PPS I have a billion book ads right now. Please click on them, for surely there is something there to suit your taste? Oh! And that class action suit up there? Not sure what it is about but they are also generous underwriters so if you ate low-salt canned tomato soup under the impression it has less salt than... I dunno. Click and learn.
Happy birthday, a little late! I'm very sorry about the illness, though. I sympathize. Having a birthday right at the point when winter turns to spring, I've spent way too many birthdays in bed blowing my nose. Hope you're all better soon!
Posted by: bethany actually | November 04, 2011 at 12:59 AM
Happy Birthday! Belatedly, that is.
I am so sorry you were sick, happy that you and Edward are feeling better and wish you good luck with Patrick and the Mayo Clinic. Hopefully you will get some answers.
(And now I want my own bat man t-shirt. Do they make adult sizes?
Posted by: AnnaN | November 04, 2011 at 09:34 AM
I am convinced your problems are being caused by unseen mold spores. I think you should have the basement tested.
Posted by: Samantha | November 04, 2011 at 10:32 AM
Happy Birthday!
Posted by: Betty M | November 04, 2011 at 02:51 PM
Happy belated birthday!
Posted by: Emma | November 04, 2011 at 08:32 PM
Lovely story. Thank you for sharing it with us. Happy Birthday from a (huge) fan in Canada.
Posted by: Angela | November 04, 2011 at 08:40 PM
I love the costumes!!
Posted by: B yeti | November 04, 2011 at 10:08 PM
Happy 40th! What a wonderful and awful day it must have been. Kudos to Steve for planning such a great event for you!
My 39th is a just over a week away, and I am hoping to be pushing out this ginormous baby. I would truly love to celebrate my birthday with a whole lot of wine.
I love seeing the pics of your kids - good job on the tutu! And I love Patrick's Rubik's cube.
Posted by: Julie | November 05, 2011 at 10:48 AM
I am so sorry you were sick but what an awesome surprise!!!!!!!! Hope your Mom liked the new guest towels. Patrick's costume is awesome, and Caroline's? All I can say is that she is a girl born for tulle and tiaras and thus I am very, very worried. I don't know that there is anyone in the Brit royal family the right age for her and I don't know that there is any other country that does Royal Weddings so well. That costume rocked. Poor Edward... a cold and the stomach stuff... and make sure the Mayo looks hard at Patrick's immune system as well as the sinuses etc. You're the best.
Posted by: terri c | November 05, 2011 at 07:18 PM
Happy happy birthday! What an amazing surprise.
In those pictures in the batman shirts, the twins look sooooo much alike! Usually you can't really tell they're twins but in that picture you can.
And that first picture of Carolyn in the tutu and tiara is just adorable :)
Posted by: R | November 05, 2011 at 10:15 PM
I have to show you Annabel, who also wanted to be a Fairy Princess for Halloween. Is it something in the air? It must be nationwide, because we're pretty far away from you.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sturm/6301073102/
Posted by: H | November 06, 2011 at 09:11 AM
Happy birthday; I hope you and Edward feel better soon!
Posted by: Emily Drew | November 06, 2011 at 01:46 PM
Happy belated birthday! Glad it was memorable, but so sorry you & Edward were sick.
Love the Halloween pics! Photo of Edward rejecting his costume is priceless!
Posted by: kristi | November 07, 2011 at 12:11 AM
Happy Birthday! I'm so so so sorry you got sick and din't get to enjoy your loving family and friends.
Posted by: victoria | November 07, 2011 at 03:45 PM
Happy Birthday! Loved you were actually surprised and that at least the sickness held off until after the party.
Posted by: Chris | November 07, 2011 at 07:32 PM
Happy Birthday! My three best friends flew in this year for my 40th - such a blast. I'm sorry you were sick for so much of it, but go Steve, Julie, and family/friends! You done good.
Posted by: Cris | November 08, 2011 at 09:25 AM
Wow. I so totally did NOT see the surprise party coming! Seriously ... they did a great job setting you up! I'm so sorry you were sick, though. AWFUL. I hope you are feeling much better now.
Posted by: Rebekah | November 10, 2011 at 08:57 PM
Just saw Lands End has tie-dye shirts for boys - thought of your Patrick! Although he may prefer to make his own.
Posted by: Priscilla | November 11, 2011 at 05:01 PM
I hope you are all feeling Much Better Now. The surprise party sounds awesome (and the illness sounds equally terrible). I do not mean to laugh at poor Edward at all but his photo as the boo dragon is absolutely priceless. Your kids are all just so cute and all of their costumes are wonderful. Thanks for sharing!! And happy birthday again - for 40 I think one is entitled to a full month of celebrating...
Posted by: kara | November 12, 2011 at 05:54 PM
i would love to be 40 again.. enjoy being so young...and it is young.. i hope you are feeling better... write soon!! i miss you......
Posted by: kris (lower case) | November 12, 2011 at 06:54 PM
Oh! I choked up at the birthday surprise party part... and Julie was there? That is so lovely! Sorry about the virus, though, what a bummer. Happy 40th! You most certainly don't look 40!
Posted by: Erin | November 14, 2011 at 09:16 AM
Happy (belated) birthday!!! I think you deserve a mulligan.
Posted by: Alison | November 14, 2011 at 02:34 PM
My birthday present to you is a list of wonderful books I've read recently. I apologize if you've read/discussed these before- I used to read your blog all the time, but my office started blocking it because it was too fun, and I've been without a home computer now for about a year. My new iPhone had put me back in the blog-reading game, though! Here are my suggestions:
Special Tpoics in Calamity Physics, by Marissa Pessl (not at all about physics)
Freedom, by Jonathan Franzen (I didn't like The Corrections but I loved this)
Faithful Place, by Tana French
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, by Rebecca Skloot
Hope you and Edward are feeling better, and that Patrick's appointment gets you some good answers!
Posted by: Abby | November 15, 2011 at 02:48 PM