One year old!

So, it’s been three fast-moving months since I last blogged and I can’t believe I’ve allowed myself this long to actually get to it! I’ve told myself at least a dozen times “oh, I’m going to blog about this” or “I’ll have to remember to include that in my blog about Gigi turning one”. By now, I’ve probably forgotten many things that I was supposedly making a mental note of, but at least I can finally get out the few things I actually have kept note of and make room for more mental notes in my ever-crowding brain!
Doesn’t it sometimes feel like you really do have an amazing collection of information in your head but it’s just so hard to figure out where you’re storing it all or how you sorted it to begin with? Was it alphabetical or categorical? Perhaps even chronological? And that is why we have computers; to have someplace to sort it out. Or was it the computers that caused my brain to get so rusty and out of shape in the first place? I feel like this blog entry is turning into a fine submission for Eric’s newsletter, “Ravings of Mad Man,” lots of rambling with a few good philosophical questions.
So let’s go back in time to February 2010. It started out to be a delightful spring this year with several very warm, sunny days. I thought surely the groundhog must not have seen his shadow thus leading us into an early spring. Boy was I wrong. Apparently, the six weeks of winter that are normally experienced in February and early March were just delayed… until May! But we didn’t let that stop us from having a rip-roaring springtime. I made a few digiscrapbook pages to commemorate our February fun. Gwyneth had her first real “playdate” with Jack Harris. We’ve already worked out the arrangements of their marriage and have started to build up Gwyneth’s dowry.
In March, we welcomed a new nephew/cousin, baby Dax, to the family. Dax is a handsome little fella but from the looks of him, I’m pretty sure Mahina was a surrogate for Andria’s egg, which does make the whole situation a little weird! J/K He does look like one of Andi’s kids, so it’s a good thing Andi’s kids are so darn cute! It’ll be fun to see him and Eme grow up and watch if they end up looking more or less alike.
I also caught the baking bug and made lucky green velvet baby cakes for St. Patty’s Day (which for some reason I find absolutely enchanting...the holiday, that is). Then, my friend Meg and I decided it would be fun to try these cinnamon roll sugar cookies we found on picky-palate. It was a semi-disaster with lots of fun memories and a few really great cookies to show for it in the end.

This is me during Meg's and my baking disaster. I'm trying to get the dough out of the inside of the mixer. I need a better mixer apparently.

Meg and I showing off the finished product. Some frosted, some fresh out of the oven.

The finished product, frosting and all. They really do look like cinnamon rolls but in a flatter cookie form. Next time, I think I'll just make snickerdoodles with cream cheese frosting though!

These are me lucky green velvet baby cakes. Ummm... so good! Mini cupcakes are perfect because they are bite size and contain a great frosting to cake ratio.

Our first visit to see baby Dax. At least next to him Gwyneth looks somewhat big, at least, big-ger.

In April, we celebrated Gwyneth’s 1st birthday! I think this verse from a popular country song about says it all, “So glad we made it, look how far we’ve come my baby.” – Shania Twain. Classic.
There were times I thought I might die from exhaustion by only getting 4 hours of sleep at night, night after night after night. There was a month or so where about 10 times a days, I experienced a sharp shooting pain through my entire nervous system for a few minutes as Gigi would start feeding. I’m talking curl-your-toes, electric-shock-therapy pain! There were times Gigi must have thought that if she just screamed longer or louder her parents would love her more, so she screamed as loud and long as her little body could. There were times I spent entire days doing absolutely nothing more than feeding, changing, comforting and putting Gigi to sleep only to have the whole cycle begin again the next day… Oh, and cleaning out several dozen poop blowouts (it really is gross, even when it’s your own kid.) There were times when I really resented Eric for being able to go to school and work while I stayed at home. There were times when Gwyneth got into things she wasn’t supposed to, and before you knew it, a whole roll of toilet paper was strung throughout the house or a whole bowl of dog food was floating in the dog water, minus the few pieces she was hiding in her mouth. There were times I thought I was the worst parent in the world when finding her holding a sharp kitchen knife… in her mouth, or trying to operate a pair of scissors… on her finger. There were times when she was just plain a little stinker! And then there were times, so many times, when she was perfect and I couldn’t have been happier with anything or anyone else in the whole wide world. I guess its true what they say, no pain, no gain. I guarantee it was a mother who originally coined that phrase.
What’s Gigi been doing for the past couple of months? Well, she’s been walking like little Frankenstein’s monster since about February. She eats such an immense variety of foods very well. She has an appetite like you would not believe, especially given her tiny stature. Her favorite foods are definitely sweet fruits like grapes and berries. She also loves chocolate milk, yogurt and cheese. She sleeps so well and truly loves her crib. For the most part, she lays down and immediately shuts her eyes when we put her in it and wakes up happy, babbling and playful. She is quite the babbler, in fact, and has “uh-oh”, “mama”, “dada”, “hi”, “hello”, and “what’s that?” down pat, along with a variety of whines, shrieks, and wails. She drinks out of straws and sippy cups but still hasn’t given up the pacifier. She loves to play games and, in fact, started hiding herself from us with her blanket spontaneously one day, spawning a love for “peek-a-boo”. She is very active, curious, social, playful, coy, flirtatious, and controlling. She was steering the shopping cart the other day at the store (I was holding her at the level of the handle because I couldn’t keep her seated in the cart no matter how tight I made that worthless belt) but every time I would place my hand on the handle to help steer she would immediately swat my hand away and start yelling baby swears at it. It was kind of cute, but unbelievable, that she’s already doing the “I-can-do-it-by-myself” thing. She’s definitely going to be Miss Independent, so I need to enjoy all the hugs and snuggles while they’re still coming pretty easily. Oh, and one last thing, she’s recently entered the stage where no one can touch mom but her. Just tonight as she was eating dinner, I hugged and kissed Eric goodbye and she broke up in tears just like that. We stopped hugging, and the tears stopped. So he hugged me again and just like that, instant cries! We went back and forth like that teasing her a few times before I really did have to leave. It’s quite nice though, belonging to someone like I belong to Gigi. I’ll belong, as long as she’ll have me.

These are shots from her 1-yr-old photo shoot. Grandpa Noisy takes great pictures. Thanks!

The Birthday Party!!

Gigi's barn cake with animal cupcakes. Homebaked the night before the party. I was very pleased with how it turned out and happy to have Meg's help baking the night before. She claims she just watched and didn't do anything but her tips were invaluable.

I love the lips as she's sizing up the cupcake.

The first cautious touch... this is too good to be true.

Gigi's party was farm-themed, complete with red wagon rides through the kitchen. James is hugging Gigi, Lily is hiding. She did not want her picture taken. We women obviously come by that naturally!