Not quite as expected

I had the evening all planned out perfectly. To celebrate our anniversary last night, I was going to prepare a nice Italian dinner (lasagna and salad), serve some of my brother-in-law's homemade blackberry wine, and then present my first ever homemade chocolate pie to Michael for dessert. We had been to see the Cirque Du Soliel show a couple weeks ago as our anniversary "date" and gift to each other (tickets ain't cheap!). So it was going to be a nice, relaxed evening together at home.

Since PJ always goes to bed around 7:30pm, I put the lasagna in the oven so that it would be ready at 8:00pm right after completing our usual bedtime routine: play with Daddy, bathe, read a book, nurse, and then rock until asleep. As soon as she was asleep, I put the last minute touches on the dinner, and started to serve it up!

Then Payton started to cry. I assessed the situation and soothed her as usual, rocked her back to sleep, and went back into the kitchen. Five minutes later, she woke again. I repeated the process only this time it took 45 minutes for her to fall back asleep! At 9:00pm, I reheated the food since it had been sitting out during that whole time, poured a large glass of wine, and sat down to begin our "romantic" dinner. Then...

She woke up again!!! For a minute, I thought she was playing a joke on us. I mean, are you serious? SHE NEVER DOES THIS! Of all the nights for her to go through something weird, it would be THIS NIGHT?? Dear God, make her stay asleep!!!! Ah but no...my prayers were unanswered.

I tried two more times to soothe her back asleep to no avail. Michael finished his meal and then swapped with me so I could finish mine. By 9:45pm, Michael decided to just let her get up. Oh, of COURSE, Daddy gets to be the FUN GUY!?!? Little PJ was wide-eyed and smiley and absolutely changed my mood from COMPLETE frustration to smooshy love and adoration within a matter of minutes!

So the three of us laid on our bed for about an hour and just played and talked. Michael said, "Payton just wants to celebrate with us!" She played and cooed and giggled and stole our hearts that much more. By 11:00pm, she nursed and easily fell asleep for the night.

So my well defined plan went completely out the window the minute it was to begin. But this night made us realize that our life together, our marriage (which was the whole focus of the celebration night), isn't just about us anymore. It now includes our precious little PJ and is, in fact, what WE are all about! So here's to another three years and beyond of the Ghaffari Family!

A BIRTHDAY POEM

The day after my Momma went to heaven, my Dad greeted me when I woke up saying, "G'morning, Chip...chip off the ol' block!"...and today, he sent me this endearing, precious poem:

To the "Chip"

Christy, from day one we all seemed to know
You were a special gift from Heaven God did bestow.

You were then and still are now sooo very sweet
To wish you "Happy Birthday" is my special treat

All of our memories we know have proven you to be
the "Apple" that fell the closest to your mother, Marty's tree.

Marty and I were always of our little girl so very, very proud
to be the parents of one who always was a standout in a crowd.

"Chip" you were and "Chip" you will always be
So beautiful, and smart it is plain for us all to see.

Happy Birthday "Chip"

Your,
Dad

Here's me and PJ after dinner tonight at our favorite Mexican joint!

Easter & Payton's Dedication

We had a great day today celebrating Easter with our church family at McKendree Church. Not only that, we had Payton Joy's dedication during our church service today! Uncle Jess, Aunt Elaine, Michael's mom, Linda, and two of our best friends, Eric & Leah, and their six year old, Bella, came to support us and celebrate with us. It was so wonderful having all of them there with us!

After the service, Jess & Elaine came to our house for brunch. I had the whole menu planned but things didn't go quite as well as I had hoped. Let me preface: Michael and I went to see the Cirque Du Soliel show, Saltimbanco, yesterday for our third anniversary. When we got home, it was close to 8:00pm (Granny Linda babysat!). Around 9:30pm, I started preparing the recipes for the sour cream coffee cake and crockpot breakfast casserole for brunch. Here's the breakdown:

1) About an hour after I put the coffee cake in the oven, I discovered that the oven was NOT HOT!?!? It had preheated just fine but then just stopped heating. I was SO frustrated! I tried to bake it in our toaster oven, but it just didn't work out. I ended up with a brownie-like or a pecan pie consistency. It was still good but not CAKE!

2) The casserole recipe said to cook it on low for 8-12 hours. That's quite a differential!! I opted for about 11 hours...so when we got home, it was stuck to the sides of the crockpot. It was still edible but it sure looked funny.

3) I stayed up so late (12:30am) dealing with the coffee cake that I forgot to defrost the frozen fruit that I wanted to serve. So I ran water over it for a few minutes before serving it, which made it kinda soggy...and still half frozen.

It's a good thing Uncle Jess, Aunt Elaine, and Michael love me for who I am and not for my culinary skills!!! The entire brunch was a disaster! We had underbaked coffee cake, overdone casserole that looked strange, and soggy fruit. At least the coffee was good!!

My favorite part of the experience, however, was Uncle Jess' comment as we sat down to eat, "This reminds me of a Marty recipe/experiment!" We laughed SO HARD, and I grinned from ear to ear because I consider that a compliment. At least most of mom's food experiments were decent. And, I'm glad to have a husband (and aunt and uncle) who will eat my food in spite of its imperfections!

All in all, it was a fabulous day and a wonderful way to celebrate Easter and PJ's dedication: WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS!!

Here's PJ's Easter/Dedication Dress!