LOBSTER WORLD

"The world is my lobster."

-Henry J. Tillman

And this little lobster has become our world...

.

LOVE IS...

Love is...letting you eat the tops off all the broccoli and me eating your leftover stems.  I like broccoli tops and so do you. 

SNACK TIME

Lucy and Quincy have an all new appreciation for you these days.  Something tells me it has nothing to do with how cute you are.

PRECIOUS

PAT THE BUNNY

Your newest word this week is book, or "booo" as you like to call it.  You enjoy grabbing a book, running up to me or your dad and coyly saying "booo," while raising it to us.  At that point, how could we not drop what we're doing and read the book to you?  Unfortunately for us, you realize this too and after the book is read from cover to cover, you pick it up, give us the big puppy-dog eye look, say "booo" and wave it in our face again for another round of story time.  A vicious cycle.  Today I managed to read Pat The Bunny to you 4 times in a row.  4 TIMES IN A ROW.  I now see why parents have so many story books memorized. 

SAY CHEESE

When you started eating solid food, Dr. Purcell said to feed you whatever we eat.  We may have taken her advice to the extreme.  During snack times across America, babies are munching on processed cheese slices or string cheese.  Not you.  You've developed a palate for some of the finer artisan cheeses out there...Rogue Creamery Blue, 2-year old cheddars, Irish Dubliner, and gouda to name a few.  Oh, and don't forget the French style marinated olives to pair with them, that you enjoy so much.

So, it took you a little while to warm up to your birthday cake.  But, seeing as how you don't seem to have a sweet tooth and definitely have a preference for salty things, I shouldn't have been surprised.  Maybe if I'd sprinkled it in salt, instead of chocolate crinkles, you would have been all over it. 

SMASH

Although your birthday cake didn't go as planned, your smash cake turned out well.  So well that I made two of them...

BIRTHDAY CAKE

Attempt 1

Attempt 2

Attempt 3

After attempting multiple birthday cakes, in preparation for your first birthday, this is what you wound up with...

Lovely, isn't it?  A store bought, red velvet, cream cheese frosting coated cake.  You have to give me some credit though.  I'd planned to decorate it in red fondant and coordinate it with your ladybug themed birthday.  But when I realized I didn't have enough red fondant coloring to turn it ladybug red, and was left with a neon pink fondant instead, I had a choice to make.  And thus, this was your first birthday cake.  Better luck for next year's cake.

REVENGE

Coincidence or not that both of your dad's sisters gave you not just one, but MANY musical instruments for your birthday?  A piano, marrakas, harmonica, drums, and more?  Something tells me that your dad earned this, and it wasn't for winning the Brother of the Year award. 

OVERKILL

Seeing as how when it came to decorating for my wedding, I went a little over the top.  I tried very, very hard to not overdue it for your first birthday. 

Not bad, but I'm not going to lie to you...I have a feeling that your birthday parties are going to spiral into decorating mayhem over the years.  Much to your dad's embarrassment.  But if he could put up with a pink wedding, he'll survive all your upcoming birthdays throughout the years. 

BE OUR GUEST

Look who's having a birthday party...

Overkill for a guest list consisting of 3 aunts, 2 uncles, and one set of grandparents?  Probably. 

MATSUTAKE

Matsutake mushrooms are a highly sought after delicacy in Japan.  It's prized for it's distinctly aromatic odor and can go for upwards of $50 or more a pound in the states.  The best ones can go for hundreds of dollars in Japan.  We found 20 pounds one afternoon. With your Grand-Uncle Tom, we went mushroom hunting in your Great-Grandparent's secret hiding spot up on Mt. Hood.  

The way up to the mountain was spent teasing Uncle Tom about having to blindfold him once we were near our secret spot, since nobody ever shares their secret spots.  As if this wasn't enough, we proceeded to tell him stories of how mushroom hunters often got lost or were sometimes robbed at gunpoint some seasons when  the matsutake were worth a lot on the market.  Luckily for him, he was neither lost nor robbed, and we came home with a ton of mushrooms.

     

From the looks of it, you weren't nearly as thrilled about our find as your dad was.  Is it just me, or does it look like he was hunting for some other 'shroom than we were?

UNO

Numero uno.  Thousands of baby bottles and dirty diapers, countless sleepless nights with way too early mornings following, more trips than some people take in a lifetime, plus all those plane rides to accompany those trips, and 2 ER trips later, we've finally made it to your first year.  It's been a year of firsts for both you and us.  Looking forward to what the next year has in store! 

THE FINGER

Julie's been busy teaching you a new trick these past few weeks in daycare...

...the finger.  No, not that finger.  The "How old are you finger."  By the way, this cupcake is the first sweet junk food you've ever eaten.  Yeah, your dad and I were those weird parents who wouldn't let their kid eat sugary junk food for the first year.  I've been dying to give you a sugary treat.  Although I'm pretty sure Julie or the grandparents probably beat me to this.  You were a little too familiar with frosting if you asked me. 

PORTLAND MARATHON

What happens when you seem to live in the middle of  every running event's race course?  You get trapped in your neighborhood on Sunday mornings, as racers run around your house.  One of the only drawbacks of living so close to downtown Portland.  Yet a great excuse to not go to church.  That is if we actually went to church.

Anyways, on this wet morning you and I ran outside to watch all of the runners go around our house for the Portland Marathon.  With cowbells in hand, we searched for friends amongst the 15,000 people going by.  Needless to say, we didn't wake up in time and managed to catch only the slow walkers.  The really slow walkers.  So slow and obviously not worried about their finish time, that some even stopped to take a picture of you ringing your cowbells.

LOVE IS...

Love is...eating the crusted part of a sandwich and letting you eat the middle.  I don't like bread crust and neither do you. 

PUMPKIN PATCH

Now that we have you, your dad and I have a license to do all the kid activities that we might otherwise look a little odd doing without a kid.  The pumpkin  patch is one of these activities.  With not only pumpkins, but a petting zoo, bouncy house, pony rides, and midgets, was it for you, or was it for us?  Of course we'll tell you it was for you.  We have the pictures to prove it...