Child of mine, I took your mommy to the fanciest restaurants...

While yesterday was really the day that we celebrated Alise's birthday, today is the actual anniversary of her birth.

Yesterday, despite the rains, we had a lovely day. Today was always going to be a little bit of a letdown in comparison; and so it really proved. We were both up early (again) because Coco (again) thought that we should be awake and serving breakfast at 6am, and after both showering and dressing we realized that we had a couple of hours to kill before we were to meet friends for breakfast, at noon. We picked up a pretty bad scone, a not so good breakfast sandwich, and the worst cup of coffee that I've ever tasted from the local Starbucks, and went to Target to see what their maternity selection was like.

Now, please... help us out here. Where have all of the maternity clothes in stores gone?? It really seemed that before Alise became preggers we'd always see maternity clothes. Alise would see something, and say 'that looks cute'. I'd look up from my meticulous inspection of a bra to nod agreement, then she'd notice that it was a maternity item. 'Ah well', we'd think. 'At least we know where to go when we're expecting'.

No longer. Where do pregnant women buy their clothes nowadays?

Anyway. We shopped for a little while, met the above mentioned friends for breakfast, decided that we'd try the outlet stores for maternity clothes, recoiled in horror at the lines to get in and amount of people there, then came home in time to serve Coco once more before deciding that we should probably nourish ourselves as well.

Don't ask us how we ended up where we ended up, just don't judge us until you've tried it yourself.

We ate, on Alise's birthday please remember, at the 'Old Country Buffet'. The first time for both of us. For just $12 each we ate all that we wanted (which wasn't too much, as it turned out) and 'enjoyed' a wide variety of meats, vegetables, sides, breads and desserts. It was a surreal experience, but to be honest wasn't actually all that bad. I doubt that we'll become regulars, but it is possible that we'll be back.

We're now home again, both in bed. Alise is on the phone with her mom (hi mom) while I write this. While tomorrow will signal the beginning of the work week, it will also signal the beginning of the second trimester for this little alien of ours. Quite a scary, but beautiful thought.