Happy Birthday to me

I am now 40 years old. Many great things happened during my 39th year but I can't help but hope that 40 treats me better. I think that the medication is starting to work. That is a major relief as I have been so sick and miserable since that first panic attack in October. I have lost so much weight that I now weigh less than I did on my 20th birthday. I have been having moments of peace at increasing intervals and especially when I am sitting and cuddling with the kids. 

I was a little apprehensive about this birthday. My new found nervousness about everything coupled with the social weight of turning 40. 

I took the day off work and even that change in schedule had me a little aprehensive.

The day was great.

We went to the Port Discovery Children's Museum. 

Megan was the yellow team and then the admiral...

And then she discovered the shoe room and all was lost.

She was a very happy girl.

Kiernan found the Egyptian exhibit.

He pulled himself across the Nile.

He got to be an Egyptian Zombie. This is a lifelong dream fulfilled for my little guy.

Once we got to the museum the kids ran in two different directions and David and I split with them. I went with Megan to splash and play and David went with Kiernan to climb and explore. It was one of those times when texting and phone cameras are a blessing.

Last year we were in time for an exhibit on the Trojan war and I was worried that the museum wouldn't be as much fun without that. The Egyptian part was even better. There was a maze, some secret passages, a few mummies, pottery shard puzzles and spices to smell. I loved the whole thing.

Nana and the kids have been baking Christmas cookies so that the house is bursting with sugar and sprinkles and festivity.

Megan has moved solidly into a princess phase. 

I was never a girly girl. I was in the far extreme of tomboyism and wondered how it would be to have a princess for a daughter. I am pleased to say that it is adorable. I find myself not caring in the least that she loves pink or wants to dress in a ball gown all the time. I am not thinking about feminism or her role in society, I am not pondering the deeper cultural significance of her Disney and fashion choices. She is simply Megan. She loves to jump off the couch like a kamikaze and she loves to be a princess. 

I love her!

Aunt Licia came over on Friday and we went for a cold playground run.

Then to noodle company. 

I have been so sick that going out to eat has been completely un-appealing and I find this return to noodles  reassuring and reason to celebrate.

We've all got a cold. Mom sounds like an asthmatic train and Kiernan erupts into fits of coughing at the most surprising moments. I have a sore throat and Megan is stuffy. She asked the other day to go into the hot tub. Boy did that help. She had been clingy and whiny and miserable but after a minute or two in the BIG BATH as she calls it, her sunny disposition was restored. I am so glad to have that hot tub.

The snow melted and it got crazy warm. Heat records were broken up and down the east coast. We went to the park repeatedly. It was good to get the kids out and playing in the fresh air. They had been a little cooped up with all the slushy snow in the yard.

Megan finds her own forms of energy expenditure of course. This is our view of her at ever meal now-a-days.

She takes a bite of food and then runs a few laps and then grabs another bite.

We have begun some paint color sample trials for redoing Megan's room as well. More on that to follow.

Kiernan is in a major daddy phase right now. It is the sweetest thing. He wants to talk about his father all the time. He wants to do things with David and show off to David and generally be David-centric.

What a lucky boy that I married so wisely.