Chris's birthday!

Happy Birthday daddy!

It's amazing how drastically life can change in one year. Last year Trey and Ashley joined us for dinner to celebrate Chris's birthday and we were disappointed to have to tell them that we weren't pregnant. We were hopeful that September was going to be our month but no such luck. Little did we know that luck would be on our side and I'd be pregnant within weeks of that fun evening.

Chris's birthday September 2011

We didn't really have any specific plans for Chris's birthday this year; however, it was a very special day for all of us. Chris's birthday was on Thursday, September 6th. We got home from Charlotte on Wednesday and Chris was thrilled to finally be back home for awhile after traveling extensively for the past several weeks. He was a little disappointed to learn that the NFL kick-off game was Wednesday evening instead of Thursday because he had grand plans of introducing Carter to his favorite past time! It worked out regardless because the little man was in bed way before the football game started.

On Thursday morning we were very lazy and spent some extra time in bed snuggling up and wishing Chris a very happy birthday. He did have to go into work for a few hours which gave Carter and me some time to sneak out and pick a few things up! I haven't had the time like I'm used to in order to get my birthday shopping done.

When Chris got home from work we spent time opening presents, popped a bottle of Schramsberg and just loved on Carter every second until his bedtime. Carter did pretty well with his shopping this year. He gave Chris new UNC and NC State t-shirts, a bottle of bourbon, a picture frame with multiple pictures of the two of them, and the best gift was a picture book of their first two months together as father and son. Chris's big gift is a new subwoofer for his man cave downstairs; however, that was something that neither Carter or I felt comfortable trying to purchase so Chris is on his own to get it! But rest assured, we'll be blasting the neighbors out of their house before too long.

Carter gave his daddy a Justice League birthday card this year!

Happy Birthday daddy!

Chris's special birthday book from Carter

After we put Carter down for the evening we enjoyed grilled filets and asparagus, and mushroom risotto for dinner and for dessert, mini chocolate chip cheesecakes.

Friday evening Nana and Bo watched Carter for us so we could go out to dinner. Yes, you're catching on to the fact that we celebrated Chris's birthday all weekend long! We decided to go to a restaurant that Bon Appetit has named as one of the top ten best new restaurants in America, Little Serow. It is actually run by the same chef at Komi, chef Johnny Monis and his wife, Anne Marler, which is usually ranked as the number one restaurant in Washington, DC. We went to Komi about three years ago for Chris's birthday and it took quite the undertaking to get a reservation. You can make reservations exactly one month to do the date and their reservation line opens at 11:00a.m. each weekday. There are 12 tables in the entire restaurant so reservations are typically booked within the first 5 to 10 minutes. You basically need a team of people all dialing in at the same time in order to get a reservation; however, I got lucky that year....very lucky. I had been hitting redial for close to 15 minutes and was about to give up, when I decided to call one last time. I started jumping for joy when I got through and actually got a reservation. It is the best dining experience we've ever had so we knew that chef Monis's new restaurant had to be wonderful.

Little Serow is a Thai restaurant and unlike Komi, they do not take reservations. The first seating is at 6:00p.m. and folks start lining up as early as 4:30p.m. We got there at 4:20 and were the first ones in line; however, 30 seconds after we arrived a couple came in right behind us. Yes, sounds crazy but so worth the wait! It's a 7 course, preset menu and you must like spicy food because everything was HOT!

Birthday dessert

Saturday evening we went over to Trey and Ashley's to have a family birthday celebration. Carter enjoyed some time with his cousins, Witt and Walker, Aunt Ashley, Uncle Trey and of course, Nana and Bo.

On Sunday we woke up to cool temperatures so we decided to talk a walk up to the Bradlee Center for a Starbucks pumpkin spice latte and breakfast. This was Carter's first time wearing his Panther's gear! Even though it was a little big on him Chris said he had to sport the colors for the first NFL Sunday of the season. Chris has been waiting for this day and in some ways so have I! Chris told me that he plans on keeping Carter with him all day long down in the man cave to watch football. Sounds good to me! All I have to do is make an appearance when it's time for Carter to eat. They had a great day together, although I don't know how much football Carter actually watched. These days he can go for about an hour in between naps. Tough life, huh?

Game day!

All in all I would say that it was a wonderful birthday for Chris. We look forward to sharing many, many more over the years!