Happy Birthday!!!

Well, we made it through the first year. And we didn't kill one another. And Julia survived. It was quite a lot of fun actually, although there are some things I would rather forget. But the things that I would like to remember? Her curly hair...which most definetly does not come from my side of the family. How hard she struggled to push upright on her arms and learn to crawl. The look of pride on her face whenever she does something she thinks is really neat. The way that she claps her hands when she is upset in an effort to cheer herself up. The way she smells after a bath. How amazingly fast she has grown; nine inches doesn't seem like a lot of growth until I realize that she no longer fits in my lap while nursing. Those first little smiles and grimaces she gave while asleep. The year has been filled with a lot of good memories.


We spent Julia's birthday mostly at home, continuing to battle the rotavirus. She finally conquered it on Sunday. But since she wasn't that sick, I took her to the conservatory in Volunteer Park here in Seattle. We had fun walking around, looking at the orchids, cacti, ferns, hydrangeas, etc. She throughly charmed the Japanese tourists and they took our picture. We did let her open some of her presents that evening, which she throughly enjoyed.

But I wanna eat the paper, Dad!

Oooh! Aaah! Pretty!

Hmmmm..wonder what's in this one?

Hey! I'm ready for the rain!

On Sunday, Chip, Chris, Clare, and Ed drove up from Olympia and we spent the day with them. We took them to Julia's favourite restaurant, Tutta Bella, and enjoyed several of their pizzas. Julia ate a whole slice by herself. (Since recovering from the virus she seems to have finally discovered her hollow leg. Some nights we cannot get the food in her hands fast enough.) Then we headed on to the zoo and saw lots of animals: gorillas, monkeys, birds, snakes, giraffes, and African dogs (Julia liked these the best). We came home to open more presents and eat cake. Well, everyone else ate cake...Julia just pretended that she was going to. Instead she wanted more Cheerios.

Waiting for the guests to arrive

Look! It's a wild, camera-wielding Mom!

More presents!

A book all about peek-a-boo!

It's a Peep! No, it's a pillow! No! It's a Peep pillow!

Mmmm...cake....

We saw the doc yesterday and Julia got a clean bill of health. She is almost 19lbs now, 30 inches long, and has a head that is 18 and 1/4 inches round. Julia can point, shake her head no, show you her nose, show you your nose, play peek-a-boo, patty-cake, make the motions for "Wheels on the Bus", find her shoes, doll, and pig, stand for several seconds by herself, take small steps forward before falling, and drink out of a cup (with and without a straw). Not bad for a one year old! We have our PEPS Birthday party on Sunday and hopefully will remember to take more pictures there.