Ten

Baby Austin, 2001


Grown-up Austin, 2011

Dear Austin,

Happy TENTH Birthday! It's been a good year for you so far, I mean besides this and the other time where you almost bled to death from a toenail (claw) cutting session gone awry (your father's fault). The 765,408 bloody pawprint stains on our carpet are a nice complement to the vomit stains, however. Adds character.

This year you're going to be a big brother. In fact you were the first person soul I told that little secret to. Should be quite an adjustment for you, as ANYTHING new or different is an adjustment for you. If I move your food bowl 3 inches to the left, your whole world is thrown off its axis. Having a baby around your house 24/7 will surely confuse you to no end, but I'm confident you'll do ok eventually. You always do.

Tonight, we celebrate you. I'll even let you drink out of the toilet as much as you please.

Love,

Mama

These are days

Dear Baby Stewzie,

Today is May 3rd, your mama's birthday. I mention this only because it was around this time last year that I heard the words to this song and wondered if I would ever get the chance to experience them.

These are days you'll remember.
Never before and never since,
I promise, will the whole world be warm as this.
And as you feel it, you'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

Would I ever feel lucky? Would there ever be a you to grow and bloom inside me?

These are days you'll remember.
When May is rushing over you with desire to be part of the miracles you see in every hour. You'll know it's true that you are blessed and lucky.
It's true that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you.

Would my desire for a miracle be enough? Would another May come and go without the blessing of you?

These are the days you might fill with laughter until you break.
These days you might feel a shaft of light make its way across your face.
And when you do you'll know how it was meant to be.
See the signs and know their meaning.
It's true, you'll know how it was meant to be.
Hear the signs and know they're speaking to you, to you.

This May 3rd, a year later, I know it's true. Meant to be. So many signs. I see them. I hear them. I see you. I hear you. I am blessed and lucky.

Today I feel the light and laughter you are already bringing into my life. These are truly days I will remember.

I can't wait to meet you on your birthday.

Love,

Mama

Three One

Dear Stew,

Today is your 31st birthday.

Thirty-one years. You've done quite a lot in those eleven thousand, three hundred and fifteen days. Some days have been incredible. Others, not so much. Point is, you've made it through them all. And you've become you. I really, really like you.

I hope today turns out to be one of the incredible ones. I hope this year is your best one yet.



Love,

Me

Happy Birthday Austin Puppy!

Dear Austin,

You were born exactly 9 years ago today.

This is what you looked like at 6 weeks old, the day we brought you home.

You've been through an absurd amount of your fair share of ups and downs during your life.

You got big really fast. Here's you at only 2 1/2 months.

Then you broke your tibia. That was fun not fun. One day I will devote an entire chronicle to telling that story.

Then you moved across the country with us. This too, one day, will be chronicled.

Then this happened. In fact, many things happened that I have yet to chronicle. But I will. Ohhhh, I will.

Then you got really big and thought nothing of regularly crushing me under your 108 lbs.

Then you became a vegetarian. Not really. But you love to eat watermelon. And pumpkins. In fact, we let you carve your own every Halloween.

Then you went through some odd phases. Here's your redneck phase.

And your cowboy phase.

And your topless phase.

You are such a good boy. You haven't always been. But you are now. Not only do I love you, but I genuinely LIKE you.

Love,

Mama

Suzie de Mayo

Turning THIRTY comes with perks. Especially if you happen to be me.

It started out on Saturday with a mani-pedi at Serenity Day Spa with Lisa. Lisa had a bit of trouble controlling her bubbles. I had a bit of trouble controlling my laughter...

Then Stew brought me to our surprise dinner destination at Domenica @ The Roosevelt Hotel. I have no pictures of us from that night because I only had my iPhone camera on me and honestly I didn't want to risk handing it over to a stranger to take our picture...

After dinner we strolled down Canal Street and stumbled on this brass band playing a little impromptu concert on the corner. One of those "only in New Orleans" moments...

On Sunday it rained. All day. And I stayed home and pouted. All day. Gimme a break...

On Monday, my actual birthday, my mom stopped by my office to take me out for Thai food and bring me these lovely purple tulips...

I particularly appreciated the message on the card. Apparently, when she turned 30, her older brother sent her flowers with the same thing written on the card - so she was just carrying on the tradition...

I love that my mom found these and thought of me. What can I say, the woman nose me...

I even got my very own copy of the classic...

Special thanks to the City of New Orleans for this thoughtful gift...

That night, Stew and I hung out at the house and had dinner (grilled shrimp & veggies and charbroiled oysters) with Jonathan and Lisa. Tim, Gabby, Linda, Charles, and Katie stopped by also. (Hi Jonathan, Lisa, Tim, Gabby, Linda, Charles and Katie!) They surprised my with this rad cake-like concoction...

More specifically, brownies in a heart-shaped pan topped with 2 tie-dye balloons that say 3-0 and a citrus basil tealight candle. PERFECT! I'm soooo not the regular cake type.

On Tuesday, I was told (vaguely) that we were meeting at Amelia and Jeff's house after work to "do something" for my birthday. I showed up to find a (surprise) birthday fiesta for me...

The best part of the evening was this...

Linda had put together 5 little glass bowls. They were labeled "Thirty things I love about Suzie" & "Thirty things Suzie is grateful for over the past 30 years" & "Thirty things to look forward to in the next 30 years" & "Thirty inventions Suzie will be grateful for in the next 30 years" & my personal fave "Thirty things Suzie will never have to do again (THANK GOD)". Each bowl contained 30 little slips of paper that fit into each category. Periodically (in between bites of chips & homemade salsa), I'd go over, grab a little slip of paper, and read those little gems of wisdom.

I spent the rest of the night crying, cracking up, and everything in between. An example of why:

Suzie takes action. She found a weave in her shower in South Graham (dorm at LSU) and moved clear across campus!

Suzie can out-write Chris Rose any day of the week!

Suzie is married (so it doesn't matter if my boyfriends drool over her)!

The ladies: Linda, Betsey, Katie, Amelia, Me...

The gentlemen: Jeff (Amelia's), Stew (Suzie's), Jack (Betsey's), and Jeff (Katie's). Not pictured are Charles (Linda's) and Jonathan & Lisa (who left early cause Lisa's about to give birth any day)...

Lisa got in some last minute baby feeding practice with Baby June (Jeff & Katie's)...

Then showed off her new profile...

Let me just say this. I cannot imagine my life without all of these people. My first 30 years with them were *ahem* memorable to say the least. I can't wait to see what the next 30 have in store for us!

My 2nd Annual 29th Birthday

Today. May 3rd. Marks the date of my birth. Thirty years ago. THIRTY. Three whole decades.

I was asked this weekend if I was dreading the big 3-0. To tell you the truth, I haven't been. And I'm not freaking out now that I am. Officially. THAT age.

Honestly, 25 was the age that really hit me. In the face. Hard. I was at the grocery store buying candles for my own birthday cake (which is depressing in and of itself). Not sure if you've ever noticed, but birthday candles come in packs of 24. I was 25. Which meant I needed 2 packs of candles. FORTY EIGHT candles. I had graduated to the same candle bracket as a 48-year-old. Gone were the carefree days of simply one pack of candles! Also gone were the days of someone else taking care of the birthday candle buying, but that's a whole different issue.

Later on that year, I saw a billboard advertising the 25th Anniversary of Popeye's. Great, now I'm the same age as fried chicken.

It probably didn't help that at age 25, I was a few steps behind where I thought I'd be at that age. Sure, I had scored an awesome husband, but I still hadn't completed college or bought a house. I thought I'd surely have done both by then. After a whole quarter century! Then Katrina came and well, nothing really throws your life plans off track like a natural disaster.

Here's the good news. I made it to 30. And I'm happy about what I've accomplished thus far. Here's a recap of the past decade of me:

2000 - dropped out of LSU, planned my wedding, married the one and only Stewart Alexis

2001 - moved to Washington, lived on a military base, bought AUSTIN, bought AUSTIN a new $3,000 leg, cried when AUSTIN ate the whole roll of film that documented Stewzie's first year as a married couple

2002 - bought Black Betty, was voted Employee of the Year, moved back to Louisiana, readjusted to heat and humidity

2003 to 2004 - worked, saved, had my purse stolen by crackheads, missed Stew a lot (he worked offshore)

2005 - went back to college, paid for it myself, continued working full time, turned 25 along with a 2 piece, white meat, spicy, with a side of dirty rice, a biscuit and a red drink, got Katrina'd, lived in Arkansas for a month with 9 dogs and a whole mess of people, came back home and removed my neighbors' carport from our backyard, got a new job

2006 - went back to college (again), got a 4.0, kept working, paid off Black Betty, became an Aunt

2007 - kept my 4.0 streak alive, started househunting, kept working full time

2008 - bought a house, renovated it every night for 9 months, kept my job, my husband and my GPA but lost my sanity, EARNED my degree and finally graduated

2009 - learned to relax, thanked my husband, went public with my snoball love affair, started Stewzie

2010 - had a crazy dream that the Saints won the Super Bowl, realized it wasn't just a dream, dressed like a toothless hillbilly not once but twice, then turned THIRTY

Whew.

This is just a tiny percentage of the ups, downs, and in betweens of the past 10 years. If you are the one who created the above, good or bad, THANK YOU, I am truly blessed. If you have been a part of any of the above, good or bad, THANK YOU. If you weren't a part of any of the above, THANK YOU, because you're reading this now and that means you're a part of today. My 2nd Annual 29th Birthday. The first day of the rest of my life.


"Time and Tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty." - Robert Frost

Happy Stew Year !

Dear Stew,

Today is your 30th Birthday. Don't think of yourself as another year OLDER. Think of yourself as another year BETTER.



I can't say anything more than the words to this song:

You just get better all the time
Darlin' don't you change a thing
Lately you're the only song I wanna sing
And you're my reason to try
You just get sweeter every day
The little things you do and say
If only you could see you through my eyes
You just get better all the time

Oh, and I get the feelin' we can make it baby
As long as you are by my side
You're the music in my ears
The laughter when the tears
Are fallin' down in my life

You just get better all the time
Why just today I heard you read my mind
That kinda magic is so hard to find
You just get better all the time

Always,

Suzie