Birthday Celebration & Dealing with the Public

     Today is my birthday. I am officially closer to 30 than 20; I can't even try to say I'm half way between anymore either! I don't mind birthdays nor am I one of those women who lie about their age (intentionally anyway, there have been days I have legitimately forgotten how old I am). I also don't typically do much for my birthday.

     I woke up to Froggie smiles and got myself ready. My voice decided to make an appearance after being pretty much absent for the last four days. The day started off great, aside from the rain.

     It rained all morning but we packed up and headed to work/school. Like I said I work in a day care/Preschool and the kids come with me. A few hours after I got to work my friend text me and asked when I was done. She showed up about 15 minutes later with a Carmel Macchiato for me (my son would say "carmel mack-e-o-toe is coffee mommy!") at the perfect time to watch all of the kids at work and my co-workers sing me happy birthday. Check out the delicious cake my boss baked!

My boss made me cake!

Being sung to at work (with Froggie and Big Brother)

     Hubby, Big Brother, Froggie and I went to Cracker Barrel for dinner and it was lovely. The food was good and Big Brother was well behaved despite deciding "I want chicken nuggets instead" after getting his macaroni and cheese. We don't go out often and it was nice to spend dinner time as a family at a restaurant while it wasn't super busy.

Froggie blowing spit bubbles at dinner.

     This is where the harness comes in... 

     When you have a child who is different going out in public means you get certain looks. Whether you have a child in a harness, cast, helmet, etc. or you have a child who looks differently than other children or behaves differently from other children you get a look. If you've been there you know what it is. It says "what's wrong with your baby" or "you poor woman" it casts judgement that your child looks or does what they do because of you or that they have to wear a harness/cast/helmet/etc. because of something you did. I don't know if the look is given on purpose or on impulse.
     Occasionally you will come into contact with the brave person who will say "What's on her legs?" or "What's wrong with baby?" sometimes while giving you that look. I've taken to saying "She has hop dysplasia" which typically just gets me a blank stare and "oh ok". I take this as my invitation to explain Froggie's specific case and sometimes people will change the subject but they usually ask more questions. I'm ok with this because "how long does she have to wear it?" and "she must have had a rough entry into this world." give me more to talk about. I can tell them after 3 months she'll be re-evaluated and may need more invasive treatment if there is no improvement. I can tell them the factors for hip dysplasia are 1.) being a first born child, 2.) being female, 3.) being breech, 4.) being delivered via c-section.
     Long story short, I don't mind the looks and the questions because I can spread the information I've gathered about a cause that is now very dear to me. Something that, until a month ago, I didn't know much about either.
     After we got home from dinner we sat and watched the weather man interrupt normal broadcasting in order to alert us that there was a tornado warning. I opened my cards and thanks to my family and co-workers I will be well caffeinated for  the foreseeable future. After being sucked in to the broadcast on TV and watching the storm pass east of us we sliced up my ice cream cake and dug in. 

My cake.