Brittany is 25!

My first born turned 25 on Thurdsay!

Brittany Nicole

was born on November 6, 1989

at 5:04 PM.

It was a Monday.

She was due on November 11.

Her dad worked in Raleigh, where we live now, while we lived in another town.  He commuted an hour and a half each way to and from work Monday through Friday. He used to leave our house at 6:00 AM every morning and get home after 7:00 PM every night. 

He took his job in Raleigh while I was pregnant and we knew we were going to move there, but we did not want to move until she was born.  

I was working as a kindergarten teacher and November 3rd was my last day at work.

Sunday, November 5th, something got a hold of me and I did nothing but clean.

I was cleaning, organizing and throwing away things like a mad woman - an oblivious mad woman. 

Art and I were young and stupid and did not realize this was a sign that something great was getting ready to happen.  

That night/early morning,  I woke him up about an hour before he was supposed to leave for his commute to work and told him that I thought something was wrong 

(my water had broken during the night).

It took us awhile to realize what was going on. 

This was before the internet, "What to Expect When You Are Expecting" and texting.  

After calling my doctor and coming to terms with things, we left for the hospital.......still very confused about dates and the timing. 

About eight hours later our seven pound six ounce baby girl was born.  

Here are a few pictures of her celebrating her birthday through the years:

Funny thing is now she is living on the other side of Raleigh and she is the one doing the commuting. She commutes and works in the same hospital she was born in and is working in the NICU.

She works the night shift and unfortunately had to work on her birthday.

So how many people actually get the opportunity to be in the place they were born on their birthday - and actually on the same floor - taking care of babies? 

I thought that was a pretty neat thing for her.  

On Friday we celebrated at home! 

She came home (not to her apartment) after her night shift and dozed on the couch instead of going to bed. 

(night shift is brutal on a routine)

We went to Stanbury to eat.

There is a great article that pretty much sums the place up here.

The place is quirky and eclectic, and the food is very good. 

BF1 was there of course! 

Some things on the menu are a little out of my comfort zone at Stanbury, but my family, especially my Brittany, is more adventurous than I am.

(I am not a picky eater except when it comes to meat.)

We got four appetizers for the center of the table. 

 grilled caesar salad

pig's head

(this is actually like a crab cake, but is made with "crispy pig jowls", served with lentils and a duck egg)

The lentils were delicious!  

We also got the braised spare ribs with  brussel sprouts and the fried oysters. 

 For our entrees:

Barrett ordered the quail

Art got the massive pork chop with apple slaw.

(It was delicious!)

Brittany and Brandon both got the rib eye.

I got the scallops. 

The check was delivered to the table inside a vintage church cookbook.  

We headed home to let Brittany open her gifts. 

BF1 came home with us. 

Brittany was so tired, but she hung in there. 

Brooke wasn't able to come home from DC, but she and BFE sent Brittany this wine, cheese and snack basket. 

You would have to know Brittany to understand just how exciting it was to get her very own gift basket. 

When Art brings home baskets like these from work she makes the biggest deal out of them. 

She was excited! 

Brittany has always been so animated!

She was so excited to get movies/DVDs.

Barrett had her college interview at Wake Forest University Friday morning and when she and I got home Friday afternoon she whipped up Britt's cake from scratch.

It was a dark chocolate cake with a sour cherry whiskey filling with some heavenly vanilla frosting. 

It was awesome. 

(Barrett is a keeper and some guy out there is going to be very very lucky one day!)

Happy Birthday Sweet Brittany!