35 reasons to love 35

Hudson can clearly say nose at 3 a.m., but before we get to that… Thirty-five reasons why yesterday was the best birthday ever: I enjoyed all day with my two favorite boys and an evening with three of my very favorite girls. Josh and Hudson and I took on the crowds (doesn’t anyone work on December 21st?) and hit some home improvement stores to hash over kitchen remodeling options and had a fun little lunch at Steak ‘n Shake. Then Hudson took a huge nap allowing Josh to get the plumbing ran for the kitchen and I was able to do three loads of laundry. I did not get sick once all day which was a huge improvement over how I horribly I felt the day before.
I appreciate the wonderful treat it was to take a shower without little man trying to join in. And I was able to get ready without him running in fear from the hair dryer. Josh took me out to a fabulous sushi restaurant downtown leaving Hudson with an awesome babysitter. Hudson was very upset when we left, which as most parents know is a double edged sword. No, you don’t want your kid upset, but yes, you are secretly happy they like you enough to throw a fit. The sitter was so sweet to text us several times during the night of what he was doing.
Dinner was fantastic and it was so much fun catching up with my girls Meghan, Carmen, and Heather Anne. Josh was a first-class companion to his table filled with women(minus one story about a certain foreign gameshow).
It was wonderful to get home at ten-something and not feel that we couldn’t just go ahead and go to sleep. However, I was not able to sleep very well, so when Hudson woke up at 2:45 a.m. I was happy to go and calm him down.
He said, “Mama!” as soon as I went into his room assuring that I would rock him and soothe him until he was fast asleep again ... or so I thought. When I picked Hudson up I realized he was wet. Jammies were soaked. So, I went to change him and I could NOT get the diaper off. Hmmmm…the nighttime diaper had been put on backwards. Oh heck. No wonder he was so wet! So, we started back with new pjs and I attempted to rock him for awhile. However, his bed was soaked from his milk cup that he had been allowed to take to bed with him. So, I needed to change the sheets before he could use his bed again. No mind because it became clear that Hudson was not going to go to sleep for fear that I might leave him again. So, I brought him to our bed where he did a couple of pestering antics to his dada like trying to put paci in daddy’s ear and smack his back to wake him up.
So, we went back to his room. I pulled out a blanket and pillow and curled up and let him play by the nightlight’s illumination. He “read” some books, dumped out his canister of blocks, pushed his cars around every so often coming over to me and lying his head back on my body on the floor. After about 30 minutes he crawled over to my face and squeezed my nose shut. I tried not to react, but he just kept squeezing and saying, “Nose. Nose. Nose.” I laughed. Then all the random things I do to entertain him on a rainy day came back to haunt me. He decided to play “Mama is horsey” and “let us make a tent with Mama’s blanket” even as I attempted to remain motionless.
Close to 4:30 a.m. I went and poured some milk and did his bedtime routine again. He fell asleep in my arms and knew that was just about all I needed to have the best birthday ever.