Birthday, embarrassment and Annabelle Update

Everyone always complains when they hit their 30th birthday. Or at least, most of the people I know have. I guess the moving from the carefree 20’s to the dutiful 30’s is a frightening thing?? The fear of getting “old” maybe?

For me, turning 30 is a fun thing.

I’m the youngest of 3 sisters (with my little brother 8 1/2 years behind me…) so my sisters both hit their 30’s long before me. I got one of my sisters a card for her birthday one year (as she lamented about getting “old”) that had a little girl on the front with her thumbs in her ears and her tongue sticking out… inside it said, “na-na-na-na-na, I’ll always be younger than you.”

That pretty much sums me up. HA!

I did everything early. I got married when I was 18… had my first daughter when I was 19… besides some college courses, I didn’t do that either, but started working and defied the notion that you “can’t get anywhere in this world without a college degree” because, well, if you tell me I “can’t” do something, odds are that I will go out of my way to prove you wrong.

Not sure if that is a GOOD trait or a BAD one to have, but I guess I don’t like someone telling my abilities are limited. I think we can do anything and be anything as long as we have enough perseverance, determination, and the blessing of the good Lord to do so. The last one of those three being the most important

All that to say, I’m turning 30 tomorrow, April 4th. No more, “You’re only in your 20’s???” comments! *grin*

I love milestones, as they are really good times to sit down and think about where you’ve come from and where you are going. God has bestowed upon me 30 years on earth… what have I done with it? Have I been a good steward of the time He’s given me?

I hope so. But God has used Annabelle to open my eyes up to a lot of things, many being my own failings and short-comings. I see all the time I’ve wasted on piddly, unimportant things. All the times I’ve been selfish and cared only about me instead of embracing, loving, and caring for those around me. I can see much more clearly just how meaningless a lot of things I used to care SO much about really are now.

Scratch that. I don’t mean “meaningless” but maybe less important.

My writing, for example. In NO way do I think it is meaningless. It is something God has called me to do, and at first, I jumped in feet first and let it take over. I was so afraid if I stopped or slowed down that I would miss out on what God wanted me to do. Part of it is impatience… but in my hurry to “write” and conquer all things in the fiction world, my family suffered more than they needed to, and I lost sight of where it needed to be on my priority list.

I’ve only recently started writing again, and it feels SO SO SO SO good. But I’m careful not to overdo it, and I *think* I’m a better writer for it too. Instead of plowing ahead (which is my nature), I’m being more thoughtful and prayerful.

I have a ton of other things I could list on the way I “wasted” my time in the last 30 years, but I’d rather look forward to the ways I can spend my time in the next thirty!

Party:

Since my husband has to work ON my birthday… the plan was to celebrate by going out to eat on Sunday. Instead they planned a surprise party at my sisters house not far from the hospital. That was great, we cooked out hamburgers and played games. It was a BEAUTIFUL day for a picnic too! Temp in the 80’s, a light breeze, sunny skies. Especially since we are supposed to have horrible storms tomorrow!

But they also decided that since it was a “milestone” birthday, I was required to be embarrassed. If you know me at all, you know that even though I love to have fun and I am pretty decent at embarrassing myself from time to time, I have a horrid dislike of being embarrassed by other people.

So you can imagine my mortification with my sisters and mother came to the hospital and made me wear a cardboard sandwich style sign announcing my birthday on top of a crazy birthday hat thingy.

I forgive them though… because they did it out of love!

In all, it was great fun, and I am so VERY VERY blessed to have such a WONDERFUL family who loves me and makes me feel special! THANK YOU!

Annabelle Update:

She’s doing SO SO SO good, y’all! No fevers in a LONG time, she’s been playing up a storm every day, and is sticking to her schedule almost perfectly! Mommy is BEYOND impressed with her! She doesn’t roll over yet, but rolls to her side good, and now that she figured out how to smile again, she does it ALL OF THE TIME!!! We walk in the room and tell her hi, and immediately she has this huge grin on her face. I LOVE IT!

Grandma Johnson bought Annabelle her Easter dress yesterday! I bought it back and showed Annabelle, who was sitting her bumbo, and OH MY GOODNESS I wish I’d had a camera! Her eyes immediately opened wide and as did her mouth… it was like she was going “WOW!!!!!” and was in aw of it. The nurse and I about died laughing it was so funny!

Dare we hope that she gets her heart in time to be home by Easter??? If we got our heart soon… it’s still a possibility! Every day morning I get to the hospital, and think, “Will this be the day? Is this Heart day?” One of these days… it will be!

Lacy had her first softball game yesterday. They didn’t win, but they had fun, and she tried her best! She’s my good softball player! Our life just got a bit busier though, as we now add 2 games a week and 1 practice to our schedule!

A few parting pictures… including one with Annabelle’s late Christmas present I told you about a few posts ago! SHE LOVES IT!!!

BLESSINGS to you all!

In her new summer dress and hat! (She outgrew all her 3-6 month clothes so I had to go get her a few summer clothes!)

I’m sorry, but this was just too funny with her hat… she was playing with it and it looked like she was doing the peace sign:-)

Chillin’ in her bumbo!

 Mommy’s sweetheart… SO SO SO true!

 Not sure where Annabelle stops and her blanket begins!!!

(By the way… just because I LOVE saving money… Last year at Thanksgiving I’d gotten Annabelle some stuff at Gymboree, a place I ONLY shop when there are sales and even then on the clearance rack… anyway, it was Black Friday so I got a bunch of stuff for winter, hoping she could wear them when she got out of the hospital. Since she never got out, and we had too much stuff, I took a bunch of it back for a merchandise credit. Soooo… they were having an additional 25% off all their sale stuff the other day, AND I had a 20% off coupon, AND I had a $5.00 reward coupon, AND I had my merchandise credit… yeah, she got about 4 outfits and a blanket, and I spent a total of $6.00. I was quite proud!)

Play on the floor time!!!

Smile time!!! LOVE THIS ONE!

Enjoying her Christmas present!

As you can tell, she LOVES IT!

And she gets good exercise too… it tuckers her out!

But her feet can’t quite reach the ground, HA!!! We put a slew of blankets or a book under there now so she can try to bounce herself!