I'm Dreaming of a White Birthday

This morning we woke up to a blanket of white over everything. I was soooo excited! So I showed Seville the proper way to play in snow...

Here she is checking out a piece of ice/show. Very curious about it.

Next "we" made a snow(wo)man.

Seville is trying to see what's going on underneath her hat, or how her head is attached, or maybe her inner bully is showing through. In any case...

Oops. Decapitated snow(wo)man.

I felt the need to replace her head. But this time I didn't try eyelashes. Somebody was getting tired.

All done with snow.

Jared's Birthday

...was on Saturday. He's still pipsqueak compared to his older and wiser wife, but he nevertheless continues to try and catch up to me.

He was in the mood for a low-key day, so we tooled around most of the day doing not much at all, and then a few family members came over for cake. Thanks family! And Happy Birthday Jared!

(side-note: I think this is the first time I've posted Jared's new look on the blog. As you can see, after his previous hairlessness he's decided to grow all the hair he can. As of this writing, however, the beard is gone. I'll have to post pictures of his sexy new self later)

My Birthday...

...was eventful, but not necessarily in a good way. I was up with Seville almost the entire night before, with a couple of brief fits of sleep between 4:30am and 10am. The poor thing has so many little problems right now (sore fingers, diaper rash, constipation, runny nose, teething) that it took us till morning to realize that she wasn't using her right arm. Once we figured this out we also realized that if you touched or moved it she would cry. So most of the following day (my birthday) was spent going back and forth to the Dr.'s office and hospital, getting X-rays, etc. The X-rays didn't show anything, and we were unable to determine exactly what was going on, other than that it seemed to be her shoulder or clavicle area that was bothering her the most. The Dr. told us to give her motrin, take her home and watch her closely for a while. If she didn't improve by the next day we were to bring her back.

Lucky for all of us, she is significantly improved by now. Who knows what was going on, but she seems to be getting better (also most of her other maladies are resolved or resolving. phew!).

So after all this we made some quick calls and went to dinner with family. They were great, and turned it into a festive evening.

For my birthday Jared got me a tent (well, half of it. He gets the other half for his birthday). It's a 3-man backpacking tent - an upgrade from our 2-man tents. In conjunction with the gift, we're planning a backpacking trip in the spring in S. Utah, which will be the best gift of all.

Thanks everyone for the emails, phone calls, cards, etc!

(...we'll see if Jared fares any better on his birthday this Saturday. :)

ONE!

Seville's Birthday:


Uncle Bryce came over on his lunch break and brought Seville daffodils. Her first flowers from a man. awwwww.

She got an activity play table for her birthday (which she loves), and a home-made dolly (which she didn't care much about beyond the first 10 minutes, but hopefully she will when she gets into "babies" later). It's my first attempt at makinga doll, and it's got some "character" (lopsided features). I figure if I want to make her a decent doll by the time she knows the difference, I better get started learning now. My next will be infinitely better, based on the learning experiences (read: mistakes) I had this time around.

We invited Seville's 1-year old friends to her birthday party. Between the Candland twins, the Faucette twins, and her cousin Ashlynn, there were 6 1-year olds in attendance. It was soooo cute watching them play together.

Here she is opening presents (which means I was opening presents while trying to keep her in my lap. At the time, she was far more interested in the other babies and existing toys to care what was inside a package. I'm sure all that will change by her next birthday.). (Thanks so much to her friends who brought her gifts. She loves all her new toys!)

Click on the slideshow to see more pictures.

I can't believe I have a one-year-old. The first year has gone by SO FAST! (I know it's cliche' to say. Everyone says that, but, man alive, you don't understand until it happens to you).

Happy Birthday baby girl!

3 days and counting...

So we're throwing a birthday party for Seville on Friday (her actual birthday is Thursday, but some relatives are coming from out of town so I'm bending my hard and fast rule about birthdays being on birthdays. Bad precedent, I know).

(yes, I made the invitation with TyBook graphics. Cute, huh?)

I have really mixed feelings about throwing a one-year-old birthday party. I used to think the whole idea was a bit silly, and I realize she'll have no idea what's going on, but now that I have my own kid I can't resist. Any excuse to watch her be cute is a good excuse to me. The tough part, really, is deciding who to invite without embarrassing myself. I don't want people thinking I seriously expect them to come and make a big deal out of Seville's birthday, but neither do I want anyone to think I didn't consider them a "close enough friend." I guess this is no different than the great who that you experience for baby showers, weddings, Christmas cards, etc. Anyway, I decided to go generally with family and people with babies her age, which I figure is a fairly safe bet. Of course, anyone not fitting that criteria who wants to come would certainly be welcome, but I would hate to presume any interest, and I would hate to elicit any eye-rolling by those who are either childless or more "experienced" parents than I.

So once again, here I am eating my pre-baby words. I kinda wanna start keeping a running tab on how many times I do that, but I've already lost count.

"C" is for cookie, and cookie is for me

We've decided to have "birthday week" instead of just birthday for Seville. Mostly because we made cookies for Family Home Evening tonight and she wanted one and, well, I just couldn't resist that pudgy little hand reaching out and that cute little whimper as she watched me eating mine.

So today, 4 days ahead of schedule (she isn't one until Thursday), she got to have her first exposure to chocolate, and her first grown-up, non-barley, non-sugar-free cookie (mind you, it was all whole-grain with no refined flours or sugars, but still).




Welcome to my world, little one.

Our Christmas Holidays

Happy New Year

There's something I love about a flower bud, and the symbolism it carries. It seems wholly appropriate for the New Year, and all the promise and hope it has to offer. I went out and picked the last of my roses this morning, figuring that one final New Year's arrangement was worthy of them all. I can't believe how many there are that are still in tact. And I can't stop staring at this arrangement on my dining table, and thinking about what this year has in store for us.