Happy 30th!

So I woke up this morning wondering how I felt about being 30 years old. That age is one of the "markers" in life- "when I am 30..." The good thing is I have always wanted to have a baby when I was 30- in my 30th year. This started when I realized my mother's mom had her at 30, she had me at 30, so it became my destiny to have a baby at 30. And if that baby happened to be a girl, that would be perfect. I remember years where I looked at my future, and not being married at the time, saw this as a mere dream rather than something I had power over making reality. Then once I was married and beginning to "plan" when to start our family, waiting 3 years seemed like a long time, but I sure didn't want a baby right away- Jared and I only knew each other 7 weeks before we were engaged! We still had a lot of "getting to know you" to do. Additionally, I had always thought that I would have problems with getting pregnant, so the thought was, if we had not yet had a baby by that time, in my 30th year we would adopt. With the miracle of my pregnancy with Corban, that was how it was taken- purely a miracle (which I still believe is the case with EVERY pregnancy). I was quite amazed with myself that while still in the delivery room someone asked me if I would be wanting to do this again soon- my answer was "YES!" And all through Corban's first year I felt like I wouldn't mind being pregnant again, which then turned into "I WANT to be pregnant." Those first few months after having a baby I felt like I would be embarrassed if I was pregnant because it would seem as if Jared and I couldn't control ourselves. Proves my self consciousness. I got over that at about month 8 because I have plenty of friends that have close babies...and I really did want them close. Now I am not sure if that was because I was so set on the idea of having a baby when I was 30, or if it was just right for our family to start out with the first 2 being under 2 years apart. Whatever the case, it is nice to have that dream come true, which also makes turning the big 30 easier to swallow.
So after my thoughts of what I felt on my 30th birthday, this was all while I was taking a shower, I then thought about whether I should remind Jared. I have never been the type to make a big deal of my OWN birthday. I usually don't like to tell people, though it is really nice having people remember. I vacillated a little bit over the idea of reminding Jared because I didn't want it to be as if I didn't give him the chance to remember on his own (it was only 6:15 am) or that I had some sort of expectation from him since it was MY day. But the real reason I was even thinking about telling him is that we had our FREE frozen yogurt day in 3 of the stores today and the last thing on his mind would be my birthday. We have talked about it in the weeks leading up to this date, so I know he knew it was my birthday and that he wouldn't be able to do anything for me on the day. His mind is so entangled with everything that takes place on this monster of a day, that it would be practically impossible to have this be his first thought. So again, the point in me reminding him was so tomorrow wouldn't come and he was feel bad having not even said "Happy Birthday" to me on my special day. That thought won, and I reminded him before he left.
I believe he was grateful for the reminder, and he has remembered throughout the day. His gift to me is not letting me feel guilty for not being much help on this big day. I ended up getting sick yesterday afternoon and it has just gotten worse and worse every hour that passes, so after my morning shift, I have been NO HELP at all. In fact, I went to sleep when I put Corban down for bed at 7:30. Miche then called to wish me happy birthday at 10:00 and I haven't been able to fall asleep again. I can think of a million things I would like to do- but I don't have energy for any of them. In fact, I am sort of hungry, but going downstairs to get something to eat seems like too much of a burden. Unfortunately, this baby isn't going to let me forget about it so eventually I am going to have to give in.
Jared is pulling another one of those Superman days. With the 3 stores having a Free day, he has made a goal to be in each store throughout the day- just like what any good owner would do. Little did he know that he would be adding a forth store to the day. Why is it that things tend to go wrong when you have no time for them to? The Del Mar store had an issue with their water tower, which is a machine that helps cool the yogurt machines, which will not work without the tower. AND it just happened to be a problem in a store that isn't so easy to fix. The other 4 stores that have water towers can easily be changed over to "city water", which means you just use cold water running through the machines. Del Mar has to have a hose connected because the system was put in as an afterthought. The only reason we don't always use this "city water" method is that it wastes gallons of water each minute. Add up all those minutes that the machines are operating, and that is a lot of water. Not exactly GREEN.
Anyway, my Superman fixed the problem completely, which entailed scaling a wall to get to the water tower that is on top of the building, changing the fuses, and then switching the machines back to the non-wasteful water tower. Ta-da! Then back to grind of Free Days, while I got to come home and take care of our little tyke!
Our little guy is growing up so fast. Daily there is something he does that I realize is new. He is constantly entertaining me with his huge personality trapped in a little body. He had his 15 month appointment this week and he is still below the 3rd percentile for height, below the 25th for weight, and just below the 90th for head :) Just like his daddy with the "pumpkin head". I don't think his head looks that out of proportion, but it is something we laugh about because of the percentile it is in- Corban's and daddy's. He is still a little chatter box, with not too many distinct words being formulated. He knows what he wants and finds a way of getting the message across, but it isn't through language. And whatever I don't catch in the communication throws him into a tantrum- apparently right on schedule developmentally. It is so cute to see him throw his little body face down on the floor all of a sudden- okay, it isn't always "cute", but it usually is.
His favorites are toothbrushes (STILL- I wish this one would pass since it is a danger to have him walking around with a stick in his mouth), emptying this particular basket on the bookshelf, playing the hot glue gun and sticks that are in the basket, playing outside...in the dirt, seeing at mommy's level (usually wanting to see what I am working on in the kitchen, at the computer, or in my scrapbook space), playing with the hand mixer that comes from a drawer at his level, and tonight he was trying to climb into that drawer. It was hilarious! I heard him whining so I look over and he was high-centered on the drawer front- feet not touching the ground, but he wasn't completely leaning into the drawer either. He was trying to reach for a bottle in the drawer, which he could have easily got to had he gone by way of the side of the drawer rather than the front. The other day he discovered the little drawer in the first step of his step stool. He kept pulling it out and pushing it back in. Then he realized he could stand in the drawer. So then my attention had to be more focused on him because I feared him tipping the whole thing over and banging his head. Standing back a bit of a distance, I wasn't there to catch him when HE lost his balance and went backwards. However, his bum and head never hit the floor because the tops of his feet had caught the step (where the drawer pushes into)- so he was just balancing on the drawer front with his bum hoovering the floor. This then turned into a game for him- to sit back so his bum wasn't sitting on the drawer front anymore, but was hanging off. Words don't do it justice, but I didn't pull the camera out in time.
Bubbles are another fun thing I just recently thought to try. I am not so thoughtful when it comes to giving Corban experiences, he usually has to find them on his own. Anyway, we pulled out the bubbles the other day and I just enjoyed watching him and Nika trying to catch the bubbles. Nika was hilarious because she would jump to snap at the bubbles, many times knocking Corban over. Corban would run back and forth through the bubbles, being amazed when he actually touched a bubble.

Well, my tummy is still asking for food, so I better sign off. Here is it 12:30 am and I still don't have a husband. Hopefully very soon!