Happy Birthday, Norah!

We officially have a 1-year old in our midst! Norah's celebrated her first birthday today. Jason even remembered to call and wish her happy birthday at exactly 11:21am. (Way to go, Daddy!) While she'll have to wait until her party tomorrow, to open most of her gifts, she did receive a few special gifts from some of her great grandparents, today.

The first gifts arrived via personal delivery. Gramps and Grandad Shelby (Norah's great grandparents--my mom's folks) dropped by around 3pm for a spot of tea, each with their gift for the birthday girl.

Grandad's gift had been somewhat of an illusive mystery for the past year. When he came to the hospital to see Norah last year, he informed us that he had already purchased her first birthday gift. My brother (who was there when Grandad told me about his purchase) and I have been racking our brains for the past year trying to guess what the secret gift could be. Gramps made things even more interesting by giving us tricky clues now and then. In the end, no one could guess what Grandad up his sleeve. And finally, we have the answer!! Grandad, who is known for showering my Gramps-much to her dismay--with TONS of uniquely shaped candles that he finds all over town, had found a special birthday candle for his first great grandchild. This candle (pictured to the right) is numbered from 1-21 and says, "Happy Birthday" at the bottom. It is meant to be burnt down each year, to reach the birthday girl's new age. (We think it may take a whole day to burn it down one number though, cause we burned it for over 4 hours and it barely put a dent in the top of the candle! We plan to burn it again tomorrow during the party)


Gramps' gift was a hand-sewn sock monkey, complete with flirtatious eyelashes, a flannel night gown, tiny bunny slippers, and a floppy hat (all of which Norah delights in removing from the monkey's body, and attempting to wear, herself!) Norah loves her new monkey buddy. She's carried it all over the house, and even cried until I put it in the car with her when we left the house tonight! (Guess we chose an appropriate theme for her birthday party!) Another special feature: it came with adoption papers! We havent named monkey yet (I think I'd rather let Norah name her), so for now, she'll remain "Monkey".





The third (and final) present that Norah opened today, arrived via UPS. Memaw Gilmore (my dad's mom) had a gift sent from Toys-R-Us, specially gift wrapped for our birthday girl. Norah really enjoyed tearing the paper! (She takes her dear, sweet time...but its pretty fun to watch!)








After some time, all the paper was torn away, to reveal...a See-N- Say! I hadn't even thought about a See-N-Say in years! Jason gave Norah a quick lesson in how to pull the lever, while she watched the dial spin and point to a cow, quickly followed by a loud, "Moo!". She squealed with delight and quickly brushed Daddy away so she could play with her toy, unaided. She loves it...especially when it plays "Old MacDonald", as song, she's quite familiar with.

All-in-all, I'd have to say its been a great birthday. More updates on the party, coming soon!