1. Can you keep a SECRET?
Keeping secrets from your husband is not an easy mission. For 1 month before his birthday, I kept his lineup of birthday surprises a secret. Every night, I felt like a pressure cooker, scared that the secrets will tumble out of my mouth unknowingly and then the top of my head will finally pop off with the steam.
Since it is his grand 40th birthday, I decided to triple the efforts and make it one he will remember for a looong time to come.
First, I had to secretly contact his friends from childhood days to his sushi-chomping days in Japan and I've never even met some of them!
With countless hours spent on shutterfly.com, I finally accomplished my secret mission. Emmanuel, was really touched by everyone's efforts that he teared when he saw what it was. Thank you, dear friends!2. My BIG Birthday present to Emmanuel
What do you get a man who has everything?
Secret No. 2: My birthday present to Emmanuel is to arrange for his brother to fly in from Paris as a surprise!
I never thought I could pull this off since Jean-Philippe just became a proud father of a month old baby girl and I've heard that his boss is a cross between Terminator and the Incredible Hulk(i.e. work sucks!). Imagine my glee when he said yes to my proposal and will pop into the plane!Emmanuel was happy beyond words - this is the 1st time his brother ever visited him in the US! =) The whole weekend that JP was here, we trampled up and down New York city like tourists with the stroller AND even lugged home a brand new luggage(for all that SHOPPING!!! Go, Euros, GO!). He went crazy shopping at Steve & Barry's and bought his lovely wife 3 handbags(The Planel men make really doting husbands)! It is an early Christmas for his kids cos Daddy is coming home with a suitcase full of PRESENTS(love that Buzz Lightyear outfit! Makes me wish I am a kid all over again!)!!! *envy*
Cramming NYC into 2 whole days is simply "Mission SuperImpossible". Needless to say, we were extremely exhausted by the time JP left us... I had no strength left to even shed tears.3. Our 1st Karaoke in 2years!
And the FINALE? A KARAOKE PARTY!!!
Not knowing that I've rounded up some dear friends in NYC for his birthday, we all had a blast singing Four Non Blondes, The Beatles and Gun's N roses at the top of our lungs with the gusto provided by some Japanese sake and beer.My man loves karaoke and
it is such a joy to be holding the mic in our hands and just letting it gooooooo........ I remember the first time we sang karaoke together, I was shocked that a 38 year old man was singing Sleeping Beauty's song about the 7 Dwarfs and even jiggling to it! Maybe that was when I started to fall in love with this incredible man...4. Just the perfect reason to visit Bobby Flay
And of course, whenever Emmanuel's birthday comes up, we always have our French wedding anniversary 3days after! With my energy totally spent with the birthday planning, Emmanuel gladly took over planning this surprise.
Hearing how much a fan I am of Iron Chef Bobby Flay(adore his "Throwdown" Food Network shows), he brought us(yes, including lucky bebe Theoden) to Bar Americain for some good ol' American cuisine! My, oh, my...the bread basket that comes at the beginning of the meal introduced me to the most flavourful cornbread I have ever, ever, tasted. I must get this recipe. Flay is well known for his grill and I had to order his steak. It was F*cking amazing. Now, I have to watch his other show, "Boy meets grill". And then get a grill. And then get a house with a garden. And then get some friends over for some serious BBQ!!!
5. Monster of the House
I'm usually a very efficient person but now that I have a Baby Monster to care for, everything fell into the slow lane for me.
A couple of times, I panicked when my husband came home cos I was desperately trying to add some photos to the photobook that was supposed to be a "secret" and my baby is demanding milk(eh, eh, ehhhh...) and I haven't SAVED the damn book and he might just walk in and see it and there goes my surprise and the baby's scream is starting to reach a crescendo and.... you get the gist.
My little boy is now a hefty 7.3kg at 3.5months old and he has cheeks everyone loves to pinch. All that Michelin Man folds between his chubby legs and arms came from my breast. My MILK. Turning into quite a squealer as well(born in the year of Pigs), he is starting to learn how to get Mommy's attention by loud squealing antics, sudden bursting into tears complete with that "pitiful eyes" look and the desperate "eh, eh, eh..." sounds that makes you just wanna shove that pacifier into his mouth for good.
Even when he is asleep and you think you might actually have time to finally wash your hair, he often have nightmares(we adults deduced) and suddenly cry out in his sleep in the fashion of you suddenly turning the volume of the radio from soft to LOUD in 1 second. "Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!". Scared the shit out of me when it first happened. Guess the monster bit him in his dream.
This precocious little boy is turning into quite a charmer on the other end of the scale. His social butterfly smiles are gathering fans quickly all over my neighbourhood and his bright, big eyes are always curiously exploring each new sight and sound. 
The funniest thing? He is camera shy! He sees the camera in his face and he freezes. Same for the camera phone. Well, not for very long, I suspect!Well, we both agree that the baby is getting more and more interesting as they get older and the moments of "Oh GOD! You are SOOOOO....cute!!!" is increasing in frequency these days.
It is fun being a parent...except for the poop-on-the-newly-changed-clothes thing. ;)
