I want someone else to make my cake so I can eat it too

(My mom made a couple cakes like this for me when I was growing up. Yum!)

My birthday is this Saturday, Flag Day. The most awesome holiday ever!? Right?

I'm looking forward to my birthday-- I always look forward to my birthday. On any given day I can usually tell you that it's my something year, 5 month and 3 days birthday because I think of birthday's being THAT COOL. Like cool enough to always be celebrating. I think that's because my mom and dad always made our birthdays so special for us growing up.

HOWEVER, adult birthdays are NOT what they're cracked up to be. Especially I'm-a-Mom-Now Birthdays. This will be my second birthday as a mother. And I just hope it'll be better than last year.

Last year on June 14th, 2007, Eliza was celebrating her 1 month and 15 days bday AKA Colic! I spent most of the day in my yellow pajamas in a stale unshowered state, tired and mostly breastfeeding, watching Lost episodes on my loveseat, and pacing throughout the apartment rocking Eliza while singing the verses from Wheels on the Bus song over and over and over as she screamed at me.

It was sooo sad to see my baby so sad. The only time she wasn't crying was when she was eating and sleeping.

Steve came home and I got a shower, and we decided to meet Kate and Aaron for some Mexican Food. Eliza was really cute, but before the meal was over, she was crying! We passed her around to everyone once, and then we figured she was probably hungry. That's when we realized that Steve had forgotten to pack the bottle of breastmilk that I had set out. Not to point fingers or anything.

So I found myself sitting on the tiled floor of a Mexican restaurant bathroom nursing a very sad baby and changing a poopy diaper while people knocked on the door to find out what was taking so long.

We went home to have some Ben & Jerry's cake- my favorite!! YUM. and open presents, and Eliza started just screaming. This was the first day she had ever done this kinda crying before. It was clear none of us were enjoying ourselves. Eliza's colic lasted way through to the 4th of July as I recall.

So at the end of my birthday 2007, after we had finally gotten Eliza to sleep, I was feeling sorry for myself. So since it was my birthday, I cried cuz I wanted to.

So I'm predicting sunnier weather for this Saturday. Hoping! I actually have work off so Steve and Eliza and I will get a whole day together- a rare occasion for our family. We're still trying to decide how to enjoy this boon. We're gonna do some joint father's day celebrating too. We like the idea of eating and spending time together, but we still need our creative juices to start flowing a bit more.

But how do the rest of you serious adults manage to enjoy your day of birth these days?

2 summers ago, Steve and I were living in NYC and to celebrate my birthday after we got off work/slave labor internships, we took the subway down to Little Italy and had some of the most delicious pasta ever.

We headed down 2 blocks to my favorite bakery in the WORLD and got some delicious creamy, chocolaty goodness. Then we went to the Prairie Home Companion movie and took the hot and humid subway home exhausted, in love, and joyous.
Eliza wasn't on her way yet, but we were very eager for her to come join our family at this time. It was still one of my happiest birthdays ever. I think that NYC is a great place to be young and in love.

So I've been trying to figure out how to recreate that kind of joyful moment while incorporating our little one. We have plenty of joyful moments with her that are very different. Fantastic and unsurpassable, but different.

Anyone have any tips, ideas, or favorite birthday stories?