Happy Birthday to Nick (and Shawn)

Groundhogs' day is a very special day in my family. Not only is it the day that Panxsutawney Phil lets us know how much longer we have to wait until spring, it is the day that 2 out of the 3 men in my house were born. Granted their actual days of birth were 35 years apart, but Shawn and Nicholas do share a birthday. This particular year was a biggie because Shawn hit the big 4-0 and Nicholas turned 5. I cannot believe that my little man is already 5-years-old, never mind that I'm married to a 40-year-old. Neither of them act their age - Shawn acts years younger and, at times, Nicholas seems much more mature to me.

For their actual day we didn't do too much. Nicholas brought Ben 10 cupcakes to school for him and his friends to enjoy. Shawn went off to work like any other day. We let Nick pick what we were to have for dinner - pizza - and had a couple people over for a small celebration. Mom-mom, Pop-pop, Uncle Jim, Aunt Diane, Uncle Jose and Anthony all joined us for pizza and cake. It has become tradition that I get a canoli cake for Shawn every year. Since his birthday has been overshadowed by Nick's, I think it's only fair that he gets his favorite cake. Both boys made out well with their gifts this year. Nicholas got the Tangler, Chopper and Fangor Battle Force 5 vehicles from Mommy, Daddy and Evan; the Zelix vehicle from Mom-mom and Pop-pop; the movie Alpha and Omega from Uncle Jim and a Nerf sword and shield set from Diane, Jose, Olivia and Anthony. It was a nice night - the kids had fun playing and the adults got to chit chat for a while before calling it a night. The actual party was scheduled for the following Sunday (super bowl Sunday).

We had a very busy weekend planned. On Saturday, we were expecting cousins from out of town to drive in, in the morning. Then, those cousins, Nick and I were going to head out to Manhattan for another cousin's first birthday party while Shawn went to a tattoo convention with a good friend of ours. I don't know what was more exciting to Nick, going to NYC, riding the train to get there or being able to go with one of his favorite cousins. Then, Sunday morning was Nick's birthday party at Pump it Up. Before the weekend ever began I was exhausted.

Friday night, the boys and I headed out to go shopping for a birthday gift to take to the city. We were nearly to the front door of the store we were heading to when Nick started acting funny. He told me that he was going to be sick and, before he could even finish what he was saying, he threw up right there in the parking lot. I sent Shawn and Evan into the store to get some water and I stayed with Nick to make sure he was done and OK. A couple minutes later he told me that he was fine and we could go inside. I cleaned him up and went inside to find the other half of my family. We were able to shop without incident and Nick seemed to be feeling perfectly fine. Of course, I was still terrified thinking about the weekend we had planned and what this new development meant for those plans.

We finished at that store, but I still needed to run into the book store really quickly. I told Shawn to wait in the car with the boys while I ran inside. I couldn't have been more than 15 minutes, but Nick was passed out in the car by the time I came back out. Obviously he wasn't feeling well, it was 2 hours before bedtime and he was out cold.

We got home and, aside from being tired, Nick seemed OK. I still contacted the out of town cousins to let them know that it was possible Nick was really sick. In the morning Nick seemed better, but still tired. I was not willing to over do it by going to the city and having him too sick to go to his own birthday party, so I contact the cousins and let them know that we weren't going to the city, but that they were still more than welcome to come to our place for the night if they wanted. If not, we totally understood and wouldn't be upset at all. They decided, partly due to a cold on their side as well, to cancel the trip and stay home. We decided we would plan another weekend trip to the city to make it up to the kids.

Shawn still went to the convention as planned and I stayed home with the boys. Nick has been sick before, but he has never acted the way he did on Saturday. He showed no symptoms of being sick other than being a couch potato all day. Nick literally sat on the couch and watched TV all day. He did not get sick, he had no fever, he claimed he felt fine, but him system apparently needed some rest. I did notice that he was not eating very much at all though.

Thankfully, around mid-afternoon, Nick jumped off the couch and started acting like himself. He and Evan ran around and played the rest of the afternoon. I was so relieved that it looked like he would be fine for his party after all. I was beginning to think I was going to have to go and host his birthday party without him.

Sunday morning I was the first one out of bed in the house. I was downstairs getting our things together for the party when Nick came downstairs. He had a big grin on his face and told me that he felt all better and would be able to go to his party! He seemed so happy that his belly did not betray him. The rest of the family woke up in turn and we were off to Pump it Up for Nick's party. I must admit that the thought of Nick bouncing around on giant inflatables was terrifying to me after how he had been acting, but what were we to do?

Thankfully, Nick was able to play to his heart's content without vomiting on any of his guests! I'm not sure which of my kids had more fun, but they both ran around like lunatics. Now, I'm sure hosting a birthday party with a guest list of 25 children is not how Shawn envisioned his 40th birthday to be, but he was a trooper and even seemed to have some fun of his own. After an hour and a half of bouncing, the kids sat down to eat their pizza and cake.

Back at home we unloaded all Nick's loot. He had so many bags and boxes filled with presents I thought we would need an addition on the house to fit it all. Luckily he's a pretty generous kid and packed up a box full of toys to donate just before his birthday to make room for new toys. I think his favorite toys this year were his Nerf swords, his Ben 10 car (from his girlfriend Brielle!) and his Imaginext Batcave.

Once all the presents were opened, all the garbage thrown away and Nick could finally just play with his new toys we all crashed as if we hadn't slept in years. I s'pose the toys will have to wait until after nap.