She Speaks!

Sorry for the blogging hiatus...I could explain myself, but the reasons for my absence really aren't that interesting ...so I'll cut to the chase (and for those who've told me you miss us, were about to send out search parties, threatened me if I didn't update soon, thank you for caring enough to notice I was gone).

We had a wonderful Christmas, in-town with our families. I definitely think this was the most fun year with our kids so far, and I only anticipate it getting better the older they get. (Norah especially loved her and Eli's sock monkey pajamas. In fact, any time she wore hers, she requested that Eli could wear his, too. And if we happened to dress him in his and she was already wearing something else, she would change hers to match him!)


On Christmas Eve 2008, our little boy turned one. He broke his birthday fast with 3-tier blueberry pancakes (sans syrup..after all, there was cake coming later). Total time elapsed from plate to consumption: 2 minutes 28 seconds.

That night, he had his very own birthday cake. No, I didn't make it. If you have a Christmas Eve baby and bake their cake every year, feel free to cast the first stone. Norah and Eli will have a joint party for both of their birthdays in a couple of weeks, and I do plan to make both of those cakes, so I figured I could cheat a little on this one. As you can see from the photos, Eli doesn't seem to show any signs of deprivation.

After the sugar rush kicked in he was all smiles. So funny. A little wrong? Maybe. But funny.
















Jason decided to commemorate Eli's first birthday by giving him a Braveheart warpaint-esque #1 in icing on his forehead. Thankfully, it eventually washed off. (Those who have had much experience with blue dye will know what I mean by "eventually")

For the record, we did not let him eat the whole thing. He mostly went for the icing (you know, the nutritious part). And the front 1/8 of the cake was eaten by Norah...she called dibs on his cake about 5 seconds after he laid into it. Poor second child has to share everything.

I leave you with a final photo of the four of us on Christmas Eve (post-bath and minus the blue icing). Here's to hoping I'll break the trend and be back with an update in less than a month!