The Perfect Surprise.

Sadly, every year (since Conrad's been born) Dustin has gotten jipped on any kind of real birthday celebration. His birthday is a week away from Conrad's birthday, so yeah, it's hard to plan two birthday bashes for each of my boys. This year though, I started planning ahead. Dustin had been wanting a bike for a long while, but would never come out and ask for one (When it comes to my birthday, you bet your butt He's getting a good sized birthday wish list.....) That's where we're different and complement one another.

Anyway. So I went to the bike store and took a look at the bikes. I finally made my choice, but before I could seal the deal, I called up Dustin's good buddy CJ who knows lots about bikes and he met me at REI to give the final OK on what I had chosen. We found an XL bike frame suitable for my very large husband, CJ took the bike on a test drive and gave it an OK.

We're at the check out register, CJ is holding the buttery one while Conrad and I admire the bike that we picked out for Daddy. I tell Conrad that this bike is Daddy's birthday present and we're not going to tell him about it. IT'S A SECRET. So tonight, when Daddy asks what we did today, just don't mention the bike, OK? Just forget that the bike exists. Just tell Dad that we chased birds at the District and DON'T TELL HIM CJ was there either (that would totally give it away). Whatever you do, just don't mention the bike, K? He says Ok and as we stand there at the check out stand and I'm handing the guy the money, I'm imagining the look of sheer shock and awe on Dustin's face when he sees me riding the bike with the kids trailing behind in the bike trailer at the joint birthday party that I was already planing for Conrad & Dustin..... I imagine our kids smiling so big their cheeks hurt as they scream, "Surprise!" to their Dad in front of all of our family and friends as they ride with their cute tiny helmets in the bike trailer....... It's like the most adorable thing you ever did see. Every one's got tears in their eyes at the party. People are just basically beside themselves and don't even know what to do at the sight of how cute our kids look in the bike trailer. Dustin is so choked up, he can't even speak. He's a mess. It's pretty adorable slash kind of embarrassing. Under my breath to Dustin I'm all, "Honey, haha (nervously laughing), pull yourself together..... " His sobbing gets pretty dramatic. "Really though, pull yourself together now." I hug him, mostly to console him and shield him from our family seeing the tears streaming down his cheeks.....

I was high-fiving myself for being such an amazing wife. I was all, "You are so good Chelsea. You know that? You're like, so good.... He's going to be so shocked. He's going to give you so many back tickles and watch so many episodes of Vampire Diaries for this....." More self high fives ensue as I pack the kids into the car. Smile stays firmly on my face. I'm brilliant. Just brilliant.

Cj puts the bike in his car and bids us farewell. He was going to store it in his garage until the big surprise. I'm so pumped on our ride to Whole Foods. I've got the music going-the kids aren't crying or asking me to hand dropped sippy cups to them or yelling for me to stop and get a Jamba Juice over and over..... the windows were down, the wind was blowing wildly through my gorgeous flowing hair. I checked myself in the rear view mirror. Yep, America's next petite model status right there staring back at me. SO hot. I was feeling like wife of the year. Hot ass wife of the year. It had been a long time since I had really gotten to surprise Dustin like this and it felt good.

We decided to meet up for lunch that day at Whole Foods near Dustin's work. We get there, get out of the car and start to walk towards Dustin and then right as Conrad sees his Dad he shouts as loud as his tiny voice could allow, "WE GOT YOU A BIKE DADDY!"

Oh, God Conrad! Really!? We JUST talked about this like ten minutes ago?!!???!!!

Surely God hasn't given you the brain of a goldfish....

AND CJ WAS THERE TOO DAD!

yep, my son is a goldfish.

I tried to play it off and ignore the ruined surprise by hiding the smile on my face as I stopped the stroller to "make sure Elle's stroller straps were secured." I quickly kissed Dust trying not to skip a beat-acting as if the beans that were spilled simply were not spilled......................... ugh.

We eat our lunch and as we finish up, Dustin can hardly contain himself any longer and reaches across the table to kiss me and say thank you with a big smile on his face. I keep a straight face and tell him that I have no idea what he's talking about..... I'm hoping I can play it off for a little longer.

The fact that Conrad got the be the one to give him his bike was what made the gift so special, he explained.

My heart is full. Somehow, this seemed more prefect than the whole imaginary surprise I had envisioned in my head. Whatever, I don't even care. I'm still America's next petite top model, in my husbands eyes.

Tonight after he got off of work, he loaded his two kids into the trailer and took them on a 2 mile bike ride to the park. I ran behind and enjoyed every minute watching the three of them ride along.

We'll never forget how Conrad "ruined" the surprise. It was perfect.

So perfect.