The Real Birthday

So, Amanda's real birthday ended up kind of disappointing.  Amanda opened her final gift from me this morning, but then it was off to work like any other day.  Then later on we got the news that our nephew is in the hospital with pneumonia.  That put a damper on the day fairly quickly.  He's doing okay now, though he'll be in the hospital a few days longer.

So instead of a birthday party or being taken out for supper, Amanda and I stopped briefly at Arby's on the way home from the hospital.  We like Arby's, but it wasn't much of a birthday celebration.  It made me very glad we celebrated early on Monday!

Amanda and I took this photo together outside of RBC this afternoon.  We had just finished doing some other running around after having breakfast with my new nephew and his family at McDonald's.

It was a good day!  We stopped by the bookstore in the mall and picked up a number of books that'll come in handy in the future:

Be the Man

• all about weddings from a guy's perspective

Fodor's Essential Italy

• We don't know for sure if we'll be able to do it, but we've discussed honeymooning in Italy.  Even though we're focusing on planning for the wedding itself right now, it's never to early to start planing for the wedding's aftermath :-)

The Newlywed's Instruction Manual

• The books made by this company are useful and funny, and we really enjoyed reading parts of it together already.  The washroom door-style drawings and accompanying captions are hilarious and cut things down to their essentials.

Wedding Planning for Dummies

• We saw a copy of it for sale, and it's the same edition as the one we borrowed from the Library. Amanda knew we'll want to use the book long past the three week loan period, so we bought it as well.

So from a literary standpoint, we're all set for our wedding, honeymoon, and life as newlyweds!  We've got some reading to do, and much of it will be done together, or at least sitting side-by-side on the couch like we are now.

My Nephew

Amanda's sister gave birth this morning to a healthy baby boy.  Amanda and I drove over to the hospital after work to see how Amanda's sister and the baby were doing.  Everyone is healthy, and the baby is strong.  Shortly after we arrived, Amanda held the baby, and then I sat with him in my arms for quite a while.

He will be the first person in the world to know me as Uncle Jake for his entire life.  He'll never know me as Jake, or even "Auntie Amanda's friend Jake."  Amanda and I aren't married yet, and we won't be for nearly a year.  Nevertheless, my nephew was born today.