Audrey's Birthday

I found the camera cable this morning. The third time I looked for it. In the computer bag. Where it belongs. Sheesh.

So, I know several people who have recently thrown beautiful, creative first birthday parties for their kids. This wasn't that. Signing a year lease 4 days after Audrey's birth timed our move perfectly. But, to make myself feel better, I told myself multiple times, "She will not know the difference, unless I get all upset about it. Then she will know something is up." We did what we could, and we had fun, and I didn't kill myself over it. I suppose the cute party will have to come next year.

With that disclaimer, here are some pictures. Like everybody always says, I can't believe my baby is one already...

Nick's Birthday

Nick opening his cards and gift - I got him The Reagan Diaries. We'll see how many years it takes to get through that one.












Hannah and I building sandcastles at the Pueblo Reservoir swim beach. Please see this post and remember that I am a California girl before making any bathing suit judgments. And yes, my back is fried. Thankfully, Hannah's is not. :)












I love this picture.










We had a great day.

Happy birthday to me

I am 27 years old. I used to think that people, once they reached 27, knew something about life and about themselves. I suppose I know SOMETHING, but not nearly as much as I would have expected by now. I keep saying and thinking, "I'm a real grownup now - I'm 27 and I have two kids. Weird."

The day started out low-key, which is always my favorite. Nick did end up staying home from work, so he made me some breakfast, and then I lazed around reading some while the girls played and Nick worked a little at the dining room table. After that I went and finished my dining room table painting project. It looks pretty good, I must say. Now I just need to find some cheap chairs. The green folding ones we've been using since we got married aren't working so well for me.

We then headed up to my parents' house to say hi and for Nick to work for 30 minutes or so on something that couldn't wait. Audrey started out the day feeling better, but as the day went on, she looked worse and worse. She wouldn't smile, her coloring was terrible, her eyes looked awful...and then she started fussing nonstop. My mom was concerned, which only furthered the concern I already had. My mom is not the interfering type, and she has rarely said anything like, "if that was my kid, I would have had them to the doctor by now." So, off to the doctor we went.

This was momentous for us. Audrey has never been to the doctor for a sick visit. Hannah has been once. Neither of my kids has ever been on antibiotics except for Hannah because I had a uterine infection at her birth. With the natural health stuff I love, there has been no need. However, this thing, whatever it was, was nasty. The doc checked Audrey out and found huge wax buildup in her ears, and once it was removed, found slight ear infections and a sinus infection. I'm fairly sure that the reason for the ear infection was the wax buildup, which runs in Nick's family - it just doesn't come out for some reason, but we are doing...dun, dun, duhhhh...antibiotics for the first time. And, it is a relief to me.

The longer I am a mom, the more I realize that I don't have all the answers, and there is no one right way to do things. I love doing things the natural way, but when it comes to a 9 month old who has been sick for more or less a week, there's a time and place for balance I believe. If I was really hardcore about this, the colloidal silver that I wrote about a couple weeks ago does knock out ear infections. And the sinus thing would be connected to her ears being blocked. And when her sinuses cleared, her pink eye would finally go away. But it was time to quit.

I guess it might sound like I'm making excuses here for something I don't need to excuse. It's possible, I suppose. Mostly I'm once again working through "there is no formula." I want there to be a formula to MAKE my kids be strong and healthy. In reality though, kids will get sick no matter what and God is the one who heals, not penicillin or colloidal silver. The natural medicine stuff is only wisdom, not magic.

At any rate, this was not the birthday I expected - two hours in the after hours clinic because the kids' ped was overbooked today. But, Hannah singing "hallelujah" along with the worship music in the car, dancing with Audrey while looking in the mirror, kisses from my husband, the obnoxiously huge happy birthday balloon and roses from my mom and sister...these things made me smile. I am blessed.

Today is my mom's birthday

So, all 11 of us (two parents, all five kids, two grandkids, and two sons in law), went to Cracker Barrel (her favorite) for dinner, and then to Mr. Biggs for bowling. It was really fun. I haven't been bowling in probably 10 years. My friends always wanted to go, and I always refused because bowling alleys are always such smokey, nasty places. I have a hard time having fun in that environment. Yes, I am a nerd. Anyway, with so many adults to pass babies to, it was easy and fun to have the girls there. And my brother Ryan, newly operated-upon knee and all, walked with Hannah all over the whole place. She had a blast.

My family has always made a huge deal out of birthdays, and I'm not even entirely sure what we did that made them so fun. The birthday person always got to choose a restaurant for lunch or dinner, and usually an activity. When we were young, we'd have massive parties with 10 or 12 little kids sometimes. I don't know how my mom did it. Yet. I'll be figuring it out shortly!

What do you do to make birthdays special?