The "count down"...

When I was younger, I used to start my birthday count down about 30 days in advance. Now when I say "younger", literally I mean up until 3 years ago when I turned 30. Even my Dad made the comment a few weeks ago "What happened to the birthday countdowns?"...yeah, once you hit 30, birthdays just don't seem to hold the excitement they once did.

I remember one year (when I was in grade school), I wanted a sleepover as part of my birthday celebration. Hesitantly, my parents agreed, although they (being much more wise than I) knew that it would mean a sleep-deprived Chrissie ... thus an unhappy camper. Sure enough, around 2:00 a.m., while all the girls were still awake and giggling, I tip-toed into my parent's room and said "I'd like them all to go home now please...".

I find it funny, too, that sometimes I/we have the mentality of "I'm not old enough for this...". The other night we were out to dinner with my parents. On the way, Chris asked if I thought my parents would get upset if he had a beer (or two) at dinner. My response was "need I remind you - we're nearly 33 years old now. No, they won't get mad." When the OB confirmed my pregnancy in late July, I looked at him and said "Gosh, I don't feel old enough to be going through this..."(as though there's a "perfect age" to be pregnant?)

Life has a way of flying by ... despite that, I still enjoy my birthday and, although I don't officially make up birthday lists anymore, I still do make one request from my Mom every year as my gift ... one of her famous white cakes with white frosting. The perfect present at any age!