Natalie & Ryan: Quarter-life Crisis

I often forget how old I am, until that special day comes each year. This year, when I realized I was turning 25, I had a bit of a freak-out. I'm closer to 30 than 20, and I'm about to have 3 kids. Luckily, Ryan and Lilly were here to pull me out of the panic, and helped me enjoy my birthday.

It started with breakfast (which, sadly, I couldn't keep down. Sorry, Ryan!), then presents, then mingling with family who came over to help hang Christmas lights and have pizza, then we dropped Lilly off with Ryan's parents so we could go out for the real partying. When Ryan asked me what I wanted to do, the only thing that sounded "different" was going to see the Body Works exhibit at the Leonardo Museum. After about an hour of that, we went home for a quick birthday nap, and then headed out for dinner. One of my presents from Ryan was a cook book for the Melting Pot. When I opened it up, it had a gift card for dinner. I think he was secretly indulging his cravings, too.

What I love about the Melting Pot is how easy it is to take our time, and just eat and enjoy each other. We spent nearly 3 hours there, and loved every second of it....that is until the end. Right as they brought out dessert, I started to have contractions. There was a full moon that night, and we kind of joked that it would happen. I was bummed, because I was so uncomfortable, I couldn't eat the amazing peanut butter chocolate fondue. We hurried home to see what would come of the contractions, but when I went to sleep, so did they.

We waited to have birthday cake until the next day, when Lilly was home, so that she could help me blow out my candles. She did a great job, and even jumped face first into the icing for a few bites.