The Story of Us: I'm 31! It's gettin' real, people.

It was my birthday, I turned 31. For my birthday I got some cool books from my sister, Sunny, a beautiful hand painted mug from my kids, and from Jared I got an iPad. It was a big surprise since I'd insisted on no big gifts. It's an iPad though, who can complain? It was a great birthday.

I feel old, and not just because of the number 31. I'm growing out my hair, it's getting longer and it's back to it's natural color, which it turns out contains a little grey. I don't really care about that, or the little wrinkles that don't go away anymore. I feel old. I'm tired; I have 3 kids including a school-age kid.

I guess, upon reflection, I don't feel old, just grown-up. I don't have an excuse to do stupid, irresponsible stuff, which is kind of a bigger bummer than being actually old.

What sucks is that as a parent, my kids aging seems like more of a reflection of my age than my own. Lily's getting older. At school there is a boy that sits behind her and plays with her hair. She said "I don't know why he does it." I do, and it's cute, but seems so weird, and it's too soon to be wondering why boys are so weird. Some girl at school called her a really mean name because Lily didn't want to play with her (out of shyness, not rudeness). She didn't know what it meant, and when she asked me about it, I panicked. We talked about it, but it makes me so sad. This is why I was so nervous for Lily to go to school. Not that she'd learn mean words, or feel bad, but because she's so happy and sweet and nice to everyone, it's never occured to her to say something mean to someone else and why would anyone do that?

Jack's been struggling with preschool since he started. Every day he's happy when he leaves, and his teacher says he's happy and participates, but every day he says he doesn't want to go. I can't figure out that kid. I don't know why he doesn't want to go; if it's the other kids, or seperation anxiety, or frustration that he can't write letters. Either way we decided to take a break and start preschool again next year when he's 4. He's very happy about it, and seems relieved, so I am too.

Annie's a gem. She crawls, stands up, claps, waves, and smiles ALL the time. She's the sweetest, little nugget ever. She's almost 10 months already, which is my favorite age, but the rest of it has gone by so quickly, I can barely even remember what she was like at 6 months. What's happening, here? SLOW DOWN, EVERYONE!