We threw Seamus a birthday party yesterday. He had no idea what the heck was going on, but we had fun celebrating this milestone and watching him navigate his first cupcake. Katie and Stephen were on hand for the celebration. I highly recommend turning down the volume for the first 30 seconds - our singing will make your ears bleed.
At some point, I was reminded of the $1.99 party favors I purchased at Target. When the hats came out, things got a little crazy.
Later that evening, we went to Zoo Lights, which was amazing (but difficult to photograph). We picked up some Thai food on the way home. All in all, a pretty perfect day.
What a perfectly lovely Christmas we had! Katie, Barry and Stephen came over for dinner on Christmas Eve. We opened about 10,000 presents from exotic places such as Rockville Centre (NY), Boulder (CO), Towaco (NJ), Billings (MT), among others. Seamus made out like a bandit, although predictably he was far more interested in the packages than he was in actual presents. He made a sparkle poop today - a charming side effect of eating shiny wrapping paper.
As usual, we were taking pictures nonstop. Rather than choose a couple to post we thought we'd make a slideshow (Many thanks to Uncle Stephen for his technical support.) Seamus is now officially a 1-year old! The birthday celebration is later this weekend. More pictures to come. In the meantime, I'm going to drink a Jubelale and thank god that I'm not pushing out a baby tonight. Love to our faraway families and friends - we miss you!
We had originally decided not to get a Christmas tree this year - partly out of fear of Seamus being crushed/electrocuted/impaled, and partly out of sheer exhaustion. Then our daycare provider told me that Seamus is not too interested in her tree, which made me think that maybe our fear was overblown.
So we set aside our exhaustion and got ourselves a tree on Saturday. The good thing about waiting until the last minute is that we got a $90 tree for $25. (Procrastination really does pay!) It is a HUGE tree, bigger than our car. And it's gorgeous.
Eric tying the tree to the Subaru
Seamus was wary at first ... (he's shirtless because just seconds earlier I had found him elbow-deep in the toilet)
It's a work in progress. Lights tonight. Maybe by New Years there will be ornaments.
We've been trying to get a picture of Seamus that is Christmas card worthy. I am really thinking that we should have left it to the professionals. Who are we to think that we could do better than Sears, with our crappy camera, amateur eyes and the kid that never stops moving?
The outfit that Seamus is wearing in these pictures is one of the first gifts I received after finding out I was pregnant. It was a Mother's Day present from my mom, and I remember thinking that there was no way that the baby (at the time the size of a blueberry) would ever fit into this GIANT outfit. Fast forward to yesterday, and Eric uncovered this gem. It's almost too small already! No one was more excited about the outfit than Seamus, as you can see. It's the perfect combination of sophisticated and casual. Some might call it "sophisticasual."
Seamus is exceptional in many ways. Just the other day, he ate an entire pear in one sitting. Another area in which Seamus excels is foot size. His feet are tremendously thick and wide - we think the stability granted by having flesh bricks for feet may have played a role in helping him walk so early. The downside of this is that we have had a really hard time finding shoes that fit him. I admit that part of the problem is our reluctance to spend more than $15 on shoes that will be too small for him within a few months.
As the weather has gotten colder, however, we realized that it is not reasonable for us to carry him around every time we go outside, especially when all he wants to do is walk. (Imagine walking down the street carrying a live tuna - that's what it feels like.) So we finally caved and took Seamus to a specialty kids shoe store. It cost us $40, but we found shoes that met all of our requirements: 1.) They fit his giant feet, 2.) They go on without a fight, and 3.) They stay on.
Seamus was eager to show off his new kicks, so we went for a walk down the street.
We are thankful to be concluding the monthly rocking chair photo series. The tradition has gone from cute and fun to downright dangerous. We spend most of the time trying to prevent Seamus from diving off the chair onto the floor or eating the paper.
Seamus is thankful that we live close to a busy street so he can watch cars. He is completely mesmerized by traffic.
We are thankful for kissable cheeks! Also for fences that prevent Seamus from running into traffic while enjoying his favorite pastime.
We are thankful for tiny hands to hold.
Who isn't thankful for cheese logs?
We had a lovely and mellow Thanksgiving with Stephen, Katie and Katie's boyfriend Barry. Of course I didn't get a picture of us because I was too busy enjoying the delicious dinner. We decided to go vegetarian this Thanksgiving (Shhhhh! Don't tell Montana) and I don't think anyone missed the turkey. Stephen made some kind of egg nog pudding/custard with real whipped cream for desert. YUM.
Eric tying the tree to the Subaru
Seamus was wary at first ... (he's shirtless because just seconds earlier I had found him elbow-deep in the toilet)
It's a work in progress. Lights tonight. Maybe by New Years there will be ornaments.
We are thankful to be concluding the monthly rocking chair photo series. The tradition has gone from cute and fun to downright dangerous. We spend most of the time trying to prevent Seamus from diving off the chair onto the floor or eating the paper.
Seamus is thankful that we live close to a busy street so he can watch cars. He is completely mesmerized by traffic.
We are thankful for kissable cheeks! Also for fences that prevent Seamus from running into traffic while enjoying his favorite pastime.
We are thankful for tiny hands to hold.
Who isn't thankful for cheese logs?
