Marilla's 1st Birthday!

Today was Marilla Jane's 1st birthday. The preparations were extensive. They are pictured above.

We didn't go all out! We're waiting for Daddy to come home for a real cake and some presents. Since Cheyenne and Elliott are firm believers in birthdays, though, we couldn't let today go completely unremarked. I had made banana cupcakes the other day, so I stuck a candle in one and we sang "Happy Birthday!"

Marilla is impressed. (I had positioned her so she wasn't in the direct sun, but Cheyenne must have repositioned her while I was lighting the candle in the kitchen. Ergo, her face is wickedly washed out.)

Fire Safety Warden jumps in to save the day.

Fire blown out (so fast Mommy couldn't photograph it) and disaster averted.


First tentative taste of the frosting.

I am not Miss Manners here, making my child eat her birthday cake with a spoon. That spoon just happened to be the teething implement at the moment, and I couldn't get it out of her grasp.


Elliott, appreciating the humor in a baby eating cake.

Just missed the kiss, here's the return from the dip down to kiss a sister's head.

Good big brother.

Sweet big sister. (She had just got up from her nap-- cheeks still flushed and hair crazy.)

Hmmm...

Investigating all angles.

Good for sucking on.

End result, by the time she got bored. No cake was consumed, but frosting was poked and prodded!

Aftermath-- tired baby that's wiped frosting through her hair.

The new pink shoe is still perky, though! Note the grippy bottoms for ease of navigating treacherous wood floors.

And navigate she does, Little People in hand.

For a little girl who has just started walking everywhere, she sure does it well. She changes direction, pivoting around, stoops down to get toys without holding onto anything, and generally excels! I realized today how much she understands, even if she isn't talking yet. Elliott had fallen or something, so I was hugging him and kissing the injured head. Marilla, who was in my arms, started stroking the top of his head and trying to lean down. I let her down to Elliott, and she put her lips on his cheek. A definite kiss, even if no puckering was evident! She'll kiss me when I ask her now, a real perk of motherhood-- sloppy baby kisses!

We've successfully survived Day #3 without Daddy. Last night was a bit of a terror, with both Elliott and Marilla coughing so much they woke up every 20 minutes or so. Marilla completely rebelled against her crib by midnight, and when Elliott crawled into bed with us not long after, I couldn't leave Marilla to plunk Elliott back in bed. Not the most restful night! Today was another day of appointments and errands. After dropping Cheyenne off at school, Elliott, Marilla and I went to the dump, a WIC appointment, Kinney Drugs (Elliott is on medicine for his cough-- there's "junk" in his chest), the library and the post office. Two and a half hours later, we were back to pick up Cheyenne from school, run home and eat lunch before Elliott's speech therapy. Whew! We didn't make it to meeting tonight, though, since the kids' coughs are pretty drastic. I'm anticipating a rough night, but I'm hoping I'm wrong!

I'd like to nominate my father-in-law for the Dad-in-Law of the Year Award. Around 5:20 this evening, the doorbell rang, and there was a pizza delivery man. As I opened the door, the delicious aroma of pizza wafted in, and I regretfully told him, "Sorry, wrong house-- wish it was me!" After he verified the address, and I insisted I hadn't ordered a pizza, he started to walk away. All the sudden, a lightbulb went on-- "Wait, did my father-in-law order that?" He had! It was such a treat in our little lonely week! One of the most thoughtful men, ever!