Burfday Day

Yesterday was my birthday. Happy birthday to meeeee!

And in honor of my birthday, my body decided to rebel and shut down, wracked with cruddy cold symptoms. I was tired, dizzy, sniffly, my lungs hurts, my sinuses were on the verge on explosion. Neat.

But, it was my birthday! MY day. My princess all-about-me day! I don't get many days that aren't all about Wesley, so I had reeeeeally been looking forward to this one. Ben made me breakfast in bed and brought me my favorite newspaper, and then left me to eat berries and read about Poland's economy and the Dutch girl who wants to sail around the world. My appetite was failing me and I was sleepy, but I managed to relish the quiet breakfast in bed alone time. It was kind of lovely. But also kind of sad and sickly. Bummer.

To add to it, Ben and I have an annual August tradition that we call Burfday Day. Since we both have August birthdays, and since we have more than enough gift giving occasions throughout the year, for our birthdays we don't get each others presents. Instead, we pick one day of the month and declare it Burfday Day. We take a chunk of cash that we have set aside for frivolous spending and then we go shopping together and out for a yummy dinner. It's mucho fun. And this year we decided to do Burfday Day on my actual birthday. Otherwise known as The Day I Felt Like I Was Going To Just Curl Up And Die.

Somehow, though, it was still a great day. Ben is a miracle worker and I am a trooper and together we made a great Burfday Day.

Since we've been in Europe, we made Burfday Day a day of online shopping instead of going to the mall. Because, well, we don't have malls. And there are plenty of stores and stuff, but it's just not the same. So we head to Starbucks with our laptops, get a couple of pieces of chocolate cake, stretch out our fingers, and put our credit card through a major workout.


Once we're exhausted from from eating cake and spending money, we move the birthday celebration to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner. This year, due to Wesley scheduling conflicts, we ended up getting some take-out sushi for a living room picnic at home.

This was probably for the best. As it was, we put in a movie, I ate my sushi, just said no to champagne (so sad!), and then curled up and fell asleep on Ben's lap. At the end of the movie, Ben nudged me and said, "He ended up with the blonde girl." I nodded, "I could see that coming." And then I stumbled upstairs, took a dose of children's cold medicine (I can't handle the real stuff. Really, I could barely handle the kids' stuff. I was buzzed until lunchtime today), and passed out in bed. And Ben cleaned up dinner, cleaned up the living room, and came and told me he was sleeping in the guest room so I could have the bed all to myself and get a good night's sleep. Ahhhhh, my hero!


Happy Burfday to us!

The most exciting Friday ever!

At least for a 1 year old boy.

There has been construction going on outside our house for about eleventy billion weeks, and finally (FINALLY) the houses being built there are almost done. As far as construction goes, it actually hasn't been that bad. Nothing too huge and loud, just quiet plodding along.

So although there has been a constant stream of big trucks coming in and out, blocking all the streets and leaving a trail of muddy tire tracks, it hasn't been all that exciting. Until today, when they rolled in a huge crane and a huge truck full of rocks. Ooooh boy....

Then, they parked the truck directly in front of our house (blocking our driveway - thanks, construction guys) and spilled rocks all over the street (again, thanks for that, superconstructors!). That was pretty neat for Wes. But once they got their mess cleaned up, that's when the real fun started.

Directly in front of our window, they repeatedly filled a thingy on the crane (so technical, I know) with rocks and then lifted it up and over to dump them on the flat roofs of the new houses. Wes thought it was soooo coooool. He was totally mesmerized and watched until I made him come walk the dogs with me. And then watched some more when we got back from walking. He didn't come away from the window until the truck drove away, the crane left, and all the guys went inside because it was raining.

Wes has a lot of years to decide what he wants to be when he grows up, but for today I think he wants to be a construction worker.

Guess what?

It's my BIRTHDAY!

Yay!

Everyone kept saying it was coming, but I didn't get what the big deal was. Now I know... Presents!

I got cool new toys! Mama and Da never buy me anything! Ever! But isn't my new tent neat? Mama says it's for big boys like me, not for little babies.




And then Mama and Da said it was time for breakfast, and I thought Mmmm! Maybe I'll get oatmeal or strawberry yogurt! Oh! Or applesauce!

But then they put this cupcake in front of me, lit it on fire, and started singing (badly; they are so embarrassing). Oooooookay, guys. Then we blew it out and Mama and Da told me to eat up. Cupcakes? For breakfast? I always wanted a cupcake!!!

And the cupcake was good and everything. And Da showed me that there was actually cake under the frosting, and that was fun to squish.






But after I killed my cupcake, I looked around for some real breakfast and Mama got me some applesauce! My favorite!

I love my birthday! I think it's going to be my birthday tomorrow too! And every day!

Bye!

So, um, hi...

It's been a while. [Insert excuses here] But we're still around, having a great (albeit very busy) summer and Wes is growing way too fast. We've done tons of stuff and have tons of Wesley updates, but the sheer amount of stuff is so overwhelming that I'm going to try to be short and sweet instead of long-winded and brilliant.

So, to start, the Wesley's Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Raegan came to visit us in July. They got to spoil Wes with attention and presents and hugs and kisses, which he loved. They also got to see fun places like Maastricht, Aachen, the Margraten Cemetary, Amsterdam, Cologne, and... wait for it... Paris! Of course! Lou Ann took buckets of photos from their trip, and I tool quite a few too, but with all that's been going on lately, my photos are a bit disorganized and the only proof I have on my computer that they actually visited us is here:

Raegan at the Eiffel Tower! Très belle!
Wes also enjoyed the trip to Paris




As did Ben and I



But sadly, shortly after we returned to the Netherlands, the Illinois Morrisons returned to Illinois. But to Wesley's delight, they did leave tons of John Deere toys for him so he can dream of farms and think of them.

After Ben's family left, we went back to our normal routine for, oh, about two days. And then it was back to Paris. I know. That's a little ridiculous even for us. But we had to go. It was the Tour de France! For Father's Day, I had booked an apartment within walking distance of the Champs-Elysées for the final stage of the Tour, and Ben was beyond excited. And I have to say, it was pretty cool.








And then, we took a break, right? Errr, ummm, no. Actually, the next weekend, we left Wes with his fabulous babysitter overnight and went to Antwerp for Ben's Half Ironman. What???? Are we crazy or dumb? Ben is maybe both, I think. Why else would someone participate in a race that consists of a 1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike ride, and 13.1 mile run? Oh, and it was really cold and pouring rain for the first half of the day.

Brrrrrr. After this picture was taken, Ben stood around shivering in the rain for about an hour and a half and then jumped in a cold lake and swam a mile. Who does that???

Luckily, it eventually stopped raining and warmed up a bit, and Ben made it through the race like a champ.


Wow, right?

Yay for Ben!

After that, we did settle down and chill out a little. As much as we could, anyways, with a little boy who has learned to walk, loves to climb, and never ever gets tired...





And now what's next for the Morrison family? Well, we have a couple trips planned, a visit from Papà in the near future, moving preparations... but most importantly, Wesley's birthday! Tomorrow! He'll be 1 year old! And you know what that means... Cupcakes for breakfast! Stay tuned for messy baby cake pictures.