One year older and wiser too . . . ?

I suppose I'm a little ahead of myself, since there are still approximately 18 hours until the official anniversary of my birth, X many years ago. (Those of you who need to know how old I am, already know--the rest of you probably don't need to know). This year, my birthday coincides with a federal holiday, so I get the day off. More importantly, Dan gets the day off (otherwise, it would look just like any other Monday for me). It's nice to have an occasion to celebrate, even if I don't feel appreciably wiser or more mature than I did at this time last year.

You already know something about our week from my midweek post--we started sleep training again, and Andrew got sick. That about sums up our week, although I have to admit that, aside from that first horrible night, the sleep training hasn't been too bad. The next night she slept mostly through the night, waking up a few times, but only to cry for less than a minute before going back to sleep. Friday night she woke around 10 and cried on and off until 11:30, but she didn't cry for long at a time. This morning, she did the same around 4, but, on the whole, she seems to be making progress toward sleeping through the whole night. Andrew, also, is improving. I could tell he was quite sick on Thursday, since he's never that quiet unless something's wrong. He spent most of the day laying on a couch or in bed (voluntarily!) and took two or three naps--in fact, he was so tired before lunch that he decided to lay down on his bed and fell asleep without taking any lunch. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), this unnatural lethargy didn't last more than 24 hours. By Friday he was back to bouncing off the walls again.

Friday morning was also a big day for me: I got my haircut. For the first time since Evelyn was quite small (I think it's been 16 months since my last haircut). I thought about getting it cut fairly short, but then, predictably, when I got to the hairdresser's I chickened out. Instead, it's a nice mediumish cut (as you can see below).


Yesterday we decided to launch into our birthday festivities a bit early by heading down south. Dan and I were able to attend the temple together, thanks to Bubby's babysitting offer. Afterwards, we went to Costco and then met Bubby and Poppy at Red Robin for lunch. By the time we were done, both kids were visibly drooping, although Evelyn was the only one that actually slept that afternoon.

Last night we had our first real date (where we paid a real babysitter) in I don't know how long. We went to a movie (Leap Year--a truly charming rom/com for all you fans out there) and then our plan was to get dessert, but our first choice closed too early so we went to Chili's. Two restaurants in one day has to be a record for us, except for when we've been out of town. So we splurged and had a nice time, but I don't imagine we'll be able to replicate this anytime soon. So thank goodness for birthdays and good excuses!