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I know that this is Claire Helen's blog, but I am self absorbed and want to talk about my birthday. I promise I will put pictures of her at the end.

I have had the greatest birthday. Thursday went so well- I had a girl's night, and returned to Ms. Claire Helen not only NOT SCREAMING, but ASLEEP!!! In her crib!!! With reports of ZERO crying!!!- anyway Thursday went so well that we decided to take our friends up on an extremely generous offer to babysit Saturday(awww! Baby's first babysitter!), so we could go out for my birthday.

It is a good thing we had fun last night, because we are not going to be allowed to leave the house ever again.

Kate and Jesse came over 45 minutes early, and we very nervous parents sat stiffly on the couch, saying things like "When she cries EEEEnnnn, not AAAooooOO, but EEEEnnnn it means she's hungry. But I'm sure it won't be that hard. I mean, I'm sure it will be fine. I'm sure we're being silly. But she likes it when you tickle her tummy with your NOSE." and generally feeling like goofs because it's not rocket science, and Claire Helen loves them, until it was time to take off for the restaurant.

It was freezing, and I almost slipped on 3 steps getting out of our house, in my new Cool Shoes, and my new Cool Pants. It was fun to get dressed up like the young urbanites we never were. We got to the restaurant a little early, ordered wine and appetizers, and had a great great time. Really smooth. I was worried that we would have to try really hard, and be very earnest about Being On A Date, and Not Just Talking About the Baby- who is, after all, the center of our lives- but it was really easy. We talked and laughed (even over the wine I spilled on Mat- poor Mat! And poor me! It was only 2 sips in. Thank goodness our wonderful waitress Maureen brought us 2 free glasses) over grown up things-political philosophy and homophobia and a possible trip to Alaska, with a laid back rhythm. The food was perfect, the wine went quite well, and the place was thick with atmosphere. We lingered over our food for hours.

We had so much fun that we decided to call home, to check on things, and see if we should order dessert.

No, no we apparently should not order dessert. Our friends were gracious enough to not actually ask us to come home, but I heard the screeching of the baby, and the panicked "heh heh. She's been, um, doing this for, um, you know, a while, I guess. Um." I am surprised I did not hear the screeching all the way in the restaurant earlier.

She had apparently been doing this since about 20 minutes(it's like a baby atomic clock or something, the predictability with which she does this) after I left. With 15 minutes of passing out in the middle, but only to recharge for further screeching. I tried to coo through the phone (Mat got a good laugh out of me, on the phone, in the middle of this fancy, hip restaurant, loudly singing "BAAAAAAAAABBBEEEEEEEEEEEYYYY! CLAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIRRREEEE! IT'S YOUR MOOOOOOMMMMMMMY!" which did absolutely nothing. So we called over Maureen, of infinite wine kindness, who clucked that we couldn't go without dessert, and packed up a piece of gratis coconut cream pie to go for my birthday cake.

We dashed home to the following scene: Katie and Jesse in the living room with the baby, Mozart sonata blaring so loud we were warned the neighbors might have heard, Jesse frantically plunking at notes on the piano as the baby, obviously still angry about the situation, looks on, occasionally not screaming. I picked her up and plopped her on my lap, and she was fine. Anytime she couldn't see me she re-hissified. Mat tried to change her diaper, but had to bring her out to the living room buck naked, because getting a fresh diaper on was just too much to bear.

It's nice to feel loved, I guess. And I do feel loved.

Today has been just as grand. We went to my favorite coffee shop and picked up donuts and coffee to take to my favorite dog park. Betty zoomed everywhere, and we strolled behind sipping our coffee with the baby, occasionally pausing to let her inspect this dog or that. On the way home we stopped off at my favorite art museum, so I could show Mat a cool exhibit they have there, and a book store I always mean to go to, which our ex-chef friend says has the best cake in the entire city. He drives 35 minutes for it every Sunday. I saw a poster for a literary contest I might enter, and we picked up an elephant story for Claire Helen written by some locals. When we got home we had a dance party to the White Album, with Claire Helen bopping in time on the couch. Her head leads, and she balls her hands in little fists and puts them in front of her body, like she's holding onto bicycle handlebars. She napped on me this afternoon, while I surfed the internet, and right now Mat is taking care of her while making dinner, after which we are going to have birthday cake from the bookstore, and watch Napoleon Dynamite.

I am excited. I have a good life.