Dexter's birthday week was quite the rollercoaster with many ups and downs.
It started on Mother's Day when Dex had a low fever all day. He laid around when his temp crept up but would be running around like a madman an hour after taking medicine.
He woke without a fever on Monday but I kept him home because I wanted to keep an eye on him to make sure he was okay. He was sluggish but okay throughout the day. I worked from home and at 4:30 I heard screaming and ran back to the bedroom where he was napping to find him in a puke puddle, crying.
I moved his mattress to the living room and covered all surfaces in preparation for the next round. Good thing. Poor buddy puked 10 times between Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning. Not a very happy way to turn 3. Dexter got another sick day to stay home with mommy on his special day.
Trying to play but not really feelin' it.
By mid-morning the pukefest had come to an end. He took a very long nap and by the time Theo and Ryan came home, he was acting a little more like himself. It wasn't long before Theo saw the small pile of gifts wrapped in Batman paper in our bedroom and started prompting Dexter to ask us to open presents. He cheered up and his energy started to come back.
The turning point: Revelation of the Lego Set.
See that sparkle coming back?
No YOU'RE the best.
Hurrah to feeling better!
Took one bite.
The rest of the work/school/daycare week went okay. Dex still was having some tummy troubles and didn't eat well all week but no more throwing up. Some really FANTASTIC news that came from Dexter's birthday week is that we ditched diapers!! He woke up on his 3rd birthday in a diaper but hasn't had one on since. Not at home anyway. I'm not sure his sitter is quite as ready to move on as the rest of us are. I'm giving him a good, solid week or two before I tell her that we are officially potty-trained, day and night. We are taking him to the bathroom every night before we go to bed (around midnight) and he's doing GREAT!! He's very proud of himself and so are we!! Gooooo Dex!
Friday I worked a short day and went to Sam's Club when I was done to buy party food. I was excited to go there and take my time strolling around without the kids before I picked them up from the sitter. Got up to the register only to discover that I didn't have my Mastercard debit card. The only place I use it is in the ATM machine and at Sam's because they don't accept Visa. So on one hand, I was not too worried knowing that I must have just left it in the bank's ATM the last time I got cash. On the other hand, I was devastated that I just wasted an hour or more of my precious, limited time and now I was going to have to grocery shop with crabby kids in tow. And embarrassed to boot.
I did end up getting everything I needed and Ryan and I stayed up until 1am getting everything prepared that we could do the night before.
Party favor gifts.
The day of the party was stressful, as they always are. The weather was iffy. It kept getting super cloudy then would sprinkle. It looked like a tsunami could let loose any second but it never did. It stayed nice enough that we could have the party outside, which was the main thing I was worried about. However, I set up the food in the garage. I don't know what your garage looks like in pictures, but there's just no way to make ours look cute, regardless of how many decorations we put up. I barely took any pictures because I was busy prepping all day. By the time the party rolled around, I took a couple pictures of the ugly garage and more or less tossed my camera aside and sat down to enjoy some time with friends.
For food, we had the following
- fresh sliced strawberries
- GoGo Squeeze applesauce
- pretzels, cheese puff balls, and chips & salsa
- lemonade & sweet tea
- cupcakes that Ryan's mom made (Dexter asked for strawberry - they were amazing!)
- homemade chocolate chip cookies
Stickers from Zazzle.com
Grown ups and big kids played things like corn hole and ladder ball outside while the little kids played on the small slide and on the riding toys in the driveway. We ate and then Dexter passed out thank-you gifts to his friends before opening his presents.
Don't ask me why, but we made Theo and Dexter mini-versions of the gift bags we gave all the other kids. Ryan and I panicked at the last minute, thinking it wouldn't be a very fun birthday party for the birthday boy if he was disappointed and confused about why everyone else got the same thing and he didn't. The full-blown version contained:
- foil pinwheels
- bubbles
- Batman cup
- mini flashlight
- mini M&Ms
- pop rocks (only for the big kids)
- Batman punch ball balloons
Without a doubt, you can bet Theo was right beside Dexter the whole time, checking out the new inventory.
Not a bad day, all in all.
I hope Dexter enjoyed his third birthday festivities, even if his entire week wasn't as great as it could and should have been. I can't believe my baby is 3!
xo,
~C~
