Four.

Dear Elle,

Happy birthday, dear girl! You are four now, and you are so excited about it. The lead-up to this birthday has been especially fun, because you understand the celebration more and have a better understanding of the concept of time, so you were able to anticipate much more than any other year.

The last year has been one of huge growth for you. You've learned so much on a mini-academic level - you can write your name now! - but you also grew in many other noticeable ways. Developmentally, you are no longer a baby. You like to try to dress yourself, get in and out of the bath tub, climb in and out of the car, all by yourself or with minimal, delayed help. Physically, you didn't pack on too many pounds in the last 12 months (you're a good eater but are also a ball of energy), but you definitely shot up a few inches. Shirts that fit you perfectly last summer are now allowing your belly to poke out.

I think the biggest - and hardest, for both of us - change this year has been in your emotional development. You are a pint-sized ticking time bomb, ready to go off in excitement and joy or tantrums and tears at a moment's notice. You know how to articulate your frustration, anger, sadness better than ever, but you also now intimately know the powers of stubbornness, manipulation and theatrics. In short, you are exactly like your mother, and we push each others' buttons in all the worst kinds of ways. You have figured out the differences in boundaries when you're with Mommy, Daddy, your daycare provider or a babysitter, and testing limits is one of your favorite hobbies. There have been some horrific battles and meltdowns, but there are also momentous snuggles and hugs. Even when we have disagreements or clashes, I hope you always know that there is always room for cuddles, Eskimo kisses and conversations.

We've been blessed to see the earliest of sibling interaction between you and Wesley. You are proud of him and want to protect him from others, but you can also be threatened by his presence (usually when he is around something you want to be playing with) and adamant in your dismissal of him. He adores you, though, and you gleefully feed in to his shrieks of excitement or start an exchange of giggles with him in your room when you wake up. Watching you two together makes my heart happy. You're an amazing big sister, and you haven't even gotten a real taste of what your life will be like with a younger brother sidekick. For as independent as you can be, you two are forming a forever partnership, and I don't think you can remember a time before Wesley was in our lives.

For all of the stubborn and strong-willed personality traits that you exhibit, your humor, compassion and sweetness shine through, too. You've had many new opportunities in the last year to interact with all kinds of new friends - ballet, swim class, tumbling, church and daycare have all provided new socialization chances for you. And you eat it up. You love new friends and love to know everything about them and want them to know everything about you. Daddy says that you're like Mommy and tend to be too familiar with strangers. I think it's good that you aren't shy or afraid to strike up a conversation. (Hopefully later in life you're learn that there are social cues that you've been ignoring, but that's not something we expect of you just yet.)

You are extremely creative but also thoughtful about how to play out the scenes in your head as you transfer abstract observations to other parts of your life in hilarious, intelligent ways. You love all things arts and crafts and express your imagination in so many different projects that totally blow my initial ideas or expectations out of the water. This age has been awesome for observing the way your mind works, and I can't wait to see more. I love listening to you talk when you think no one can hear you, and I love watching you create and play.

I have a feeling the next few months will be extremely challenging, rewarding and telling as you enter your first official school setting, attending a voluntary pre-kindergarten program five mornings a week for three hours each day. I think you'll love it and pray you'll thrive in the environment that we carefully researched and selected for you ... your transition in the "real world" has been calculated and slow, as we had babysitters in our home providing childcare for you in your earliest days, then transitioned to in-home daycare settings with just a few other kids for the last two years. You'll be attending a private school, which is the closest thing to a next perfect step in your climb to the real world that we could have imagined. I can't wait to hear about your days and your friends as you enter school, although I also know there will be trials and struggles and it will rip my Mommy heart to shreds whenever you feel lost or hurt as you navigate the world, which can be so beautiful and wonderful but can also, unfortunately, be incredibly unfair and cruel. I wish we could shield you from it or give you a manual on how to navigate it, but I hope that we can figure it out together and you stay the sweet, charismatic girl that we adore.

You are a true beauty, Elle Belle, inside and out, and for as much as it scares and exhausts me to care so much about you and for you, I am eternally grateful for that day four years ago that you were born. I scooped you up in my arms this morning and realized that you are five times heavier than you were when you were born - your legs wrap around my waist now instead of curling up under your body, and your cheek rests on my shoulder instead of under my chin. I am in awe that the sweet little bird-like baby that we welcomed in to the world that Saturday morning is now the solid, tanned lover of all things My Little Pony. You're destined for great things, and while I keep hoping that we're not screwing you up terribly, you keep making me proud and delighting me with all of your greatness.

I have loved the last four years with you, and although I hate how fast time is rushing past, I look forward to the future even more.

Love,
Mommy

One.

Dear Wesley,

Right now, you are sleeping peacefully on your side, your full belly protruding ever-so-slightly from the 24M(?!) pajamas that I dressed in you in hours ago. Your face is serious but peaceful, your body relaxed and long, and your breathing is slow and steady. Your sister sleeps a few feet away, and I know it's just a matter of hours before you two giggle back and forth as you welcome the start of a new day. Today is your birthday, and although you two usually end the day with the same shared giggles that you begin with, you were both so tired that you fell asleep within minutes.

Holding a photo of himself taken
on his first day on his first birthday.

I think back to the relatively tiny bundle of baby that I first met one year ago today and can't believe how fast the last 12 months have passed. I vividly remember holding you in our hospital room, feeling the weight of your exhausted body as we waited for a short-staffed nursing team to come get you for some tests and a bath. As much as I needed some rest, I couldn't stop examining your crinkled ears, readjusting the swaddle of your blanket to cover up those precious toes and watching the expressions you made in your sleep. We had both had a rough day, but in the effort and exertion that was labor (mine) and delivery (yours), there was so, so much joy.

Beach Baby says "Mmmmm, sand."

You have been a blessing from the moment we found out about you, and every day has revealed more of the happiness you bring. You are most certainly your own person, and as I think back to the day you were born I can see so many traits that have carried through your first year, from your laid back attitude to your unstoppable energy to your almost constant pleasant demeanor.

You were in no rush to arrive, but once you did, you became a force to be noticed, starting with your early days of colic to your more recent discovery of your voice and the noises you can make with various objects you find. You can be an observer just as much you are a little man of action, and you're content to just stand and watch the world - as long as you have a marker or plastic hammer to carry in your hand and occasionally shove in your mouth. It's funny to see how your "comfort object" is often a plastic spoon - if it's not in your mouth you're using it to gesture or bang on the floor as you babble something that is obviously very important and not to be ignored.

Joyful lover of birthday cupcakes.

And just as you can be watchful and still, you can be a ball of energy with little time or need for naps because there is too much to do, too much to see, not enough calm and quiet to slow down from it all. You play hard, but when you finally do rest, you rest hard. I fully credit your ability to fall in to a deep, long sleep almost every night to the fact that you barely pause for naps during the day during the week. You'll allow a morning nap at home, but at daycare you find it hard (and probably needless) to nap long, if at all. So at night (and sometimes for long, luxurious weekend naps), you collapse in to the heavy sleep that allows me to see you pause long enough to remember that small newborn that rested on my chest in that hospital room 365 days ago, eyes puffy and swollen from newness and limbs curled up from nine months spent in an increasingly cramped space.

On the go and couldn't be cuter if he tried.

I can not get over how handsome and sweet you are and am sure I will embarrass you for the rest of your life with proclamations of both attributes. You are also truly one of the most pleasant, happy human beings I have ever seen. Sure, when you're not pleasant and happy, you are very much not pleasant and happy, but you're only human, and that's to be expected. You are constantly chattering cheerfully and smiling and laughing - I absolutely adore the noises you make and wish I could bottle them up. You find such simple things to be absolutely hilarious, and I hope that happens forever. The relationship you have with your sister warms my heart and makes me smile - you are enamored with her and find nearly everything she does to be fascinating and entertaining.

It's hard to memorize the features and moments in time that pass so quickly, erasing one another at lightning speed. But today, I let myself slow down and recall certain moments of the day you were born. It's hard to believe it was a year ago and not just yesterday. Your birth day was a day that certainly changed my life - and the lives of others - in so many wonderful ways, and I will be forever grateful for the memories and little person that day produced. I am so very glad you're ours, and I look forever to celebrating more days, memories and milestones with you as well as revisit that special day you arrived in our arms.

I love you, sweet boy, always and forever.

Mommy

Celebrating Elle's 3rd birthday

Elle's birthday was on a Wednesday this year, and even though I was off of work, on maternity leave, Tim had to work. So we celebrated mostly on the Monday before her birthday (Tim's normal day off) and then spread the fun over the next few days.

Elle is big in to sea creatures right now and loves aquariums (just like me, muah hahahaha). We decided to go to the Florida Aquarium - we had been there on Memorial Day and she'd really liked it, so we knew it would go over well again. She loved it!

We also let Elle decide where she wanted to eat her birthday dinner - no idea why, but she chose Red Lobster, just as she had last year. This year's trip was made "fun" but her insistence to look at the lobster tank a dozen times, her frequent requests to go potty (thus ruining my meal) and the fun that orange slices can provide:

The day before her birthday, we went to a local bike shop to get her fitted for a helmet ... which went along well with the "big gift" we gave her on the morning of her birthday. She'd been asking for a pink scooter for weeks, so she got a pink scooter. (We got the Mini Kick/Mini Micro scooter, largely on the recommendation of two moms who have kids Elle's age - thanks, Claire and Kate!)

We rounded out the safety/scooter ensemble by using a birthday gift card to purchase elbow and knee pads (Elle calls them elbow, knee or lily pads depending on how excited she is at that given moment). She likes the scooter and helmet, but to be honest, July in Florida is kind of a rough time to ask a kid to suit up and scooter around in the heat and humidity. She's tried it out a few times (and scootered every where in the condo for the first three days, until she scootered over my toes and I declared the scooter an outside-only toy) and is scared to go too fast, haha. I'm sure that will change soon and we'll be begging her to slow down.

She also chose her birthday cake - she wanted a pink cake with sprinkles, so I used this recipe for a strawberry cake, and she was in love. She helped me bake it and was super excited when she saw the finished, decorated product.

All in all, a fun, intimate celebration of our favorite little girl - I still can't believe she's three!

Three.

Dear Elle,

Sweet baby girl, you are now three. I've been begging you for days to stay two years old and be little forever, and you gleefully tell me you're going to "get big forever!" And you are. And as much as it breaks my heart to see each little bit of "baby" slip away, it makes my heart so full to see how you are growing in to such a big girl, full of compassion, humor, intelligence and creativity.

You and I share a love of aquaria and sea life.

 I honestly don't know where the last three years have gone. I feel like it was just yesterday that we found out we were pregnant with you, set up your nursery, brought you home from the hospital and celebrated so many very special milestones with you. I look at photos of you and wonder when you went from the big-headed newborn with sharp, dark eyes to the tiny person with strong, sturdy legs, long, soft eyelashes and wavy blond hair. I hear your voice and wonder at exactly what moment you stopped calling "cupcakes" by the slightly incorrect but oh-so-adorable "cupcapes." I'm realizing more and more every day that it is things like this that I've been taking for granted - your cute little mispronunciations and grammatical quirks are fading little by little. You've always had a command on your language skills, and I never want to forget things like you saying "Don't annoy me. I'm trying to read."

Modeling the cape Grams made for you, Super Elle Belle.

I know part of the emotion I feel for your birthday is because of the juxtaposition of your newborn brother. (The postpartum hormones aren't helping, either.) I see how small he is and know how fast time is going, how fast time will go. You were once that small. And you've grown - dazzled, amazed, amused and challenged us every day. I look at something as simple as your fingernails and wonder when they got so big. Daddy and I lift you and wonder when you got so big. I prepare for your first haircut and wonder where the time has gone.

You've certainly had your share of toddler tantrum moments this past year, but for each meltdown, argument or stubborn standoff, there has been a sweet kiss, hilarious comment or gentle hug. You've overcome fears this year (as well as developed new ones). You've had new experiences, from a new daycare to a new brother, and have been a total champ with every challenge thrown your way.

Out for your birthday dinner - celebrating with your Daddy.

You make your daddy and I so happy and so proud - I don't think you'll ever know just how much we love you and how thankful we are for you. Even when you're driving me nuts, I wouldn't trade you for any thing or anyone else in the world. You will always be my special girl, my first baby and my best buddy.

How were you ever this small?! Two weeks old, little one.
Photo by Christine DeLessio Photography.

The morning you were born brought us the greatest responsibility we'll ever know - but it also brought me far more joy than I ever could have imagined was possible. I think back to it often - I can picture so many vivid moments from my pregnancy and your birth that I think it will always feel like it was just yesterday. I don't know how we went from milestones like you rolling over, sitting up and trying your first solid food to having full conversations and achieving potty training success. I am having a hard time with it, actually - for as much as I know how much fun the last three years have been and therefore how much fun the future will be, I also know just how fast it has gone and how fleeting each moment has been. I wish I could stop time and freeze you in these moments, as you are still small enough to carry (barely) and hold on my lap, but I also know, deep down, that there is more joy to look forward to.

A little bit of "baby" lingering in our big, big girl.

I am positive the next 12 months will go just as fast as the last 12, if not faster, but I know that they'll be filled to the brim with memories and special moments. And I know that you will be just as charming and stubborn at age four as you were at age two.

I knew better than to try to read one of my all-time favorite children's books to you last night, because I knew I wouldn't make it through without bawling. As I cuddled with you, though, I told you how special you are to me and how you'll always be my baby girl, and I thought of the words from the book that always - ALWAYS - make me tear up:

"I'll love you forever,
I'll love you for always.
As long as I'm living,

my baby you'll be."

Happy birthday, sweet pea! I only hope that your big day is as special as you are.

Love,
Mommy

32.

A month ago, I turned 32 (apparently my blogging is slowing down with age). It was a pretty quiet birthday, although I managed to string together three days of celebrating with my family :)

On the Saturday before my birthday, Tim and I went on a rare weekend date night. I had been mentioning that I'd wanted to go to the symphony for months, and there was a concert series right before my birthday that featured many of my favorite composers. It was really the only thing I'd asked for, and because of Tim's work schedule, needing a sitter and the popularity of the concert series, it almost didn't work out. Thankfully, we ended up getting two of the last four tickets for the entire series and went on their closing night.

A rainbow behind us as we entered the concert hall.

After the concert, we went out for a late dinner and some people watching. I pretended I wasn't exhausted and that I didn't have massive heartburn from everything I was eating.

On the day before my birthday, we relaxed and went out for dinner. I was grateful for the food, company and the fact that someone else prepared the meal and cleaned the kitchen :)

And on Monday (my actual birthday), I came home from work to a dark condo and was serenaded by my husband and a tiny person who was practically jumping out of her skin in excitement for me to blow the candles out on the cake they'd gotten me.

We then went to a minor league baseball game and ate more heartburn-inducing ballpark food, and Elle cracked us up with her enthusiasm and chattering about the mascots.

Mascot love. I'm a proud Mommy.

Overall, a nice, laid back and fun few days with two of my favorite people, sprinkled with calls, texts and cards from lots of loved ones.

Elle, after eating birthday cake.

To tell the truth, I wasn't impressed with year 31. It was a year of raised hopes, frustrations and disappointments. The highlight? Finding out we were pregnant with Wesley. And don't get me wrong - that's pretty huge, and I feel incredibly blessed that I've gotten to spend the last few months carrying the little guy in my womb.

But overall, the year didn't pan out like I'd hoped, and I'm not doing so well accepting that. I got a card from a friend the other day that said "Sometimes, when life hands you lemons, you don't feel like making lemonade." And that's kind of where I've been for a while - I don't want the freaking lemonade. I'm tired of making lemonade, or thinking about making lemonade.

I'm trying to hope that year 32 will hold the key to many things falling in to place for us, because the general theme of "bad news and tough breaks" is old, old, old. Over the course of the month of April, I had several opportunities to blow out a candle and make a wish - from work observances to multiple cakes and celebrations with Tim and Elle, the birthday sweets were definitely covered. Each time, I wished for the same thing, and each time, I wondered if this might be the year my wish comes true.

Fingers crossed that some time in the next 12 months I'll be able to share with you what the wish was and year 32 is declared a rousing success. If nothing else, this year will be full of challenges and surprises, as we welcome another member in to our family (in less than two short months!).

Wordless Wednesday: Princess time

Elle got a complete princess outfit from "Aunt" Traci as part of her Christmas gift. Elle typically asks to be put in the wings and skirt approximately 2.5 times a day and sometimes dons one of the princess headpieces as well. And always - ALWAYS - carries her wand. Today she asked me to put the ensemble on her as I was fixing dinner, and she pranced around shouting "I'm Princess Elle Belle!" (and singing "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in a high-pitched voice). Highly entertaining, this one. She also allowed me to capture some cheesy smiles.

This was a pretty entertaining 10 minutes of the evening, but she also followed it up by speaking whale (like Dory does in "Finding Nemo") to my belly and "kissing the baby," which entailed chasing me around the kitchen and lifting up my shirt to blow air kisses near my belt.

But back to her royal highness ...

Pretending to be a pirate princess.

Um, why does she look like she's five?!

And happy FIFTEENTH birthday to my little brother, Doug - can't believe a) he's 15, b) I'm so old and c) I wrote this two years ago. Love you, Doug! Save some ice cream cake for us!

Celebrating two.

Soooooo, Elle's two now. We celebrated the big day over several days in various ways.

First, Elle got to celebrate with Tim's side of the family in Ohio. Elle's aunt (the mother of four boys) was thrilled to throw a princess party :)

Then we spent the Sunday before Elle's birthday as the "main celebration day." We started by heading to the beach - she had been talking nonstop about the beach for DAYS. On Saturday, we went to Target, and she asked if we were at the beach. We left Target, and she asked if we were going to the beach. But on Sunday, when I woke her up, I asked her if she wanted to go play in the sand, and she looked panic-stricken and said "No, Mommy. Go to the beach!" I tried to explain that she could go play in the water, and again, she insisted: "Go to the beach with Mommy Daddy!"

She was happy once she realized that sand and water WERE the beach. It was a gorgeous day, and we had a blast. My friend Traci joined us for a few hours, and Elle loved having the undivided attention of Mommy, Daddy AND Aunt Traci. Elle liked throwing shells, sitting in shallow water, playing in the sand and not leaving the sun for a second. She kept calling all of the seaweed "jellyfish" and could be heard saying "Jellyfish, go away" at various points throughout the morning.

We stopped for lunch on the way home, and then, not surprisingly, Elle fell asleep in the car. I transferred her to the crib when we got home, and she continued her nap. We actually had to wake her up, but she didn't mind because we gave her the birthday presents we'd gotten for her.

We got her a play golf set and a Thomas the Train track set (she loves playing with the one my parents have from when my little brother was big in to Thomas). She was excited about those, but the big winner has been a guitar that I scored on Craigslist. Elle had been playing with a guitar at one of her sitter's and I decided I'd try to find one for her. I really wasn't excited to comb garage sales and Goodwills, so on a whim I turned to Craigslist ... and in about 10 minutes I had found a kid's guitar for $10, AND the seller volunteered to drop it off at my work the next day. The guitar is "real" - just kid-sized - and came with two large picks (for little hands) and an instruction book. Elle isn't a musical prodigy (yet), but she L-O-V-E-S "playing" the guitar.

After she'd opened our presents, we went out to dinner, where Elle was doted on, sang to and ate more food than I think I've ever seen her eat. I was actually worried that she might get sick because she just kept eating ... and eating ... and eating. She even tried shrimp for the first time and kept asking for more.

On Tuesday, her actual birthday, she woke up to a floor-full of balloons in her room. She was super excited about it and kept walking around giving different ones to me.

She had a waffle with sprinkles and got to open some presents throughout the day. We had tacos, one of her favorite foods, for dinner, and then we sang to her and she got to eat a "cupcape." We opened cards and some more presents, and she enjoyed playing with everything, flitting from this to that back to this in a matter of minutes. 

Presents and cards and well wishes have continued to trickle in over the last few days, and Elle has lived it up. Extended birthdays have always been one of my favorite things, and Elle seems to enjoy them, too :) She got an awesome play table with chairs a few weeks before her birthday from my older younger brother and his family a few weeks before her birthday, and one of her favorite toys is a shopping cart that my sister and brother-in-law sent. She wheels around and actually cheered "Shopping is good!" and followed it with an ecstatic "Wheeeee!" a few moments later. She got upset when I told her we were going to the grocery store but she couldn't bring her cart.

Elle is loving all of her cards and presents, loved the extra attention and birthday "cupcapes" and seems to have had a pretty stellar second birthday :)

Two.

Dear Elle,

Today is your second birthday. I know it shouldn't have hit me so hard, but I found myself thinking back to that day two years ago a lot today. Two years ago this morning, I was in labor but had not yet met you. By the afternoon, it had been two years since I officially became a mother - had held you in my arms, nursed you and memorized your puffy little features. By the evening, it had been two years since we had called everyone with the news that we were now a family of three. I remember so many details of that day - it feels like it was just yesterday, yet so much has happened that it is hard to believe it has only been two years.

Your first birthday was bittersweet, because it was the FIRST. You had changed so much in those first twelve months, and then you were one. Your second birthday is emotional because the past year has gone so incredibly fast. I fear time will not slow down and it will feel like tomorrow and you will be 10. Once you started walking and talking, time sped up and keeps snowballing as the days and milestones blur together.

As your personality has emerged, there are definitely days where I feel overwhelmed by this responsibility of motherhood. I often feel that I am not enough - not patient enough, not creative enough, not fun enough, not good enough. But there are twice as many moments - moments that are much easier and happier to remember - that leave me in absolute awe that I get to be your mother and leave me thinking that I must be do something halfway right to have a daughter as remarkable as you.

It amazes me to see how you make connections and pick up on the smallest details. I often think there is nothing you could do to be any more entertaining. There are days where I am in an absolutely awful mood and I think of something you said or did weeks ago and I can't help but smile.

And while you are smart and funny and adorable, you are also very determined, charming, compassionate and emotional. You have wiped away my tears and comforted me with a reassuring "It's OK, Mommy. Don't be sad." You get upset when you don't understand why you can't have or do something, and you'll melt in to your blankie and furiously suck your thumb like your life depends on it. You have endless energy and such a passion for so many things, whether it be fruit snacks or singing or cooking in your play kitchen. You don't do anything halfway, which is both exhausting and inspiring to watch :)

One of your favorite books is "On The Night You Were Born." I always make sure you know that you weren't born at night - it was a bright, sunny morning that I vividly remember - but much of the book still rings true, and as I read it to you last night my voice broke and I got choked up. Baby Girl, the book is so true:

On the night you were born,
the moon smiled with such wonder
that the stars peeked in to see you
and the night wind whispered
“Life will never be the same.”
Because there had never been anyone like you . . . ever in the world.

Life will never be the same, but I couldn't ask for anything more. Happy second birthday, Boo Bear - can't wait to see how you grow and develop in the next twelve months!

Love,

Mommy

31.

Today is my birthday (I've got less than half an hour to go). For weeks, I have told Tim that I wanted to go to the zoo on my birthday, to which he replied "But we ALWAYS go to the zoo on your birthday!" I like to think he's referring to my 25th birthday, when we actually did go to the zoo, and not a year like last year, when we flew to Colorado and spent a weekend with my family.

His comment (and my nostalgic view on aging) got me thinking, though, about how different and sometimes memorable my birthdays have been. In elementary school, my mom had several of my closest friends over for parties, and we would do crafts, be silly and open presents.

I think this was my 7th birthday party.
And true story: I've kept in touch with all of the girls in this photo.

Birthdays through the end of elementary school and middle school don't really stick out much in my mind (probably mostly cuz I'm old now). But in high school, I remember group birthday parties - most notably with my friend Jen, who was born five days before me, and our friend Megan, who was born five days after me. Our circle of friends would come out and celebrate with us - we'd usually go out for dinner and a movie. We were a tight bunch, so we didn't need to do anything exciting - it was just fun to all be out together celebrating, joking about our Honors English class or the latest project in our German class, or even planning details for prom, which was only a few weeks away.

College brought to my attention the unfortunate timing of my birthday: Finals week. We still managed to celebrate, though, often taking a study break to go out for a few hours. My nearest and dearest cleared their study schedules for my 21st birthday, when I realized the plus to the timing of my birthday meant that the bars were almost empty, as people were holed up studying for finals. Score!

After graduation from college, I moved around a bit, from job to job and state to state. Tim and I have been dating since I was 23, but we dated long-distance for about three years before both moving to Florida, so he wasn't always able to be there on my actual birthday. On my 24th birthday, I bought my first car. I don't recommend doing that, as I was stressed out beyond belief on my birthday and felt bad for my friend Sarah, who was visiting me for the weekend and got sucked in to the car drama.

At the Pittsburgh Zoo with my birthday
celebration buddies, Jen and Megan.

My quarter-century celebration was quite memorable, as I was living in Pittsburgh - my favoritest city EVER. I had a work schedule that allowed for a social life, so I actually had friends in the city. And Pittsburgh was close enough to where I had grown up that many of my high school and college besties were able to attend the festivities, too. I planned a day to remember - we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo, then went to the river front for dinner and drinks at the Hard Rock Cafe, and then we rode a ferry over to PNC Park to catch a Pirates game. It was awesome.

Oh, Magic Kingdom.

On my 28th birthday, Tim and I took advantage of a promotional offer at Disney - Florida residents got in to the park of their choice on their birthday. Since Disney is within comfortable driving distance and we only had to buy Tim's admission, we hopped over to Orlando for the day.

My 29th birthday was spent working two jobs and being 26.5 weeks pregnant. My 30th birthday, as previously mentioned, was spent in Colorado with my family. The traveling part kinda stunk, as I was motion sick and altitude sick on my actual birthday, but the weekend was fun. We were pretty much snowed in, but the place we stayed in was awesome and it was very cool to hang out with my family, which included my 10-month old niece and Elle, who was nine months old.

We're not in Florida anymore.

And then this year, we went to the zoo. I've been to the Lowry Park Zoo two other times, I think, but I read Zoo Story earlier this year and have been wanting to go back ever since. It was hot, but not as hot as it will be in a month or two, and Elle is at an age where she really got in to it. We've been talking about the animals she'd see, she's been demonstrating the animals noises and she was super excited. It was a blast, but exhausting :) And in the end, she enjoyed the animals, especially the monkeys, fish and tigers, but she loved the water areas the most.

Checking out the tigers.

This was quite an adventure.

After our day at the zoo, we went out to dinner, where I enjoyed a glass of wine, some yummy pizza and free birthday baklava :) Because my eating was less than stellar today, I then headed to the gym to squeeze in a quick treadmill workout before coming home and basically being a vegetable.

Basically, my birthday weekend was pretty sweet. Tim let me sleep in yesterday, and today I opened cards and presents, was relieved from chores, was showered in Facebook notifications, texts and calls, and know that Elle will sleep extremely well tonight.

I loved my day - it was nearly perfect. And it brought to my attention that a) maybe I SHOULD go to the zoo every year, b) my life is quite different from that last zoo trip, from where I live to where I work to the fact that I'm now a wife and mother, c) I like dedicating the day (or, in the case of last year, the long weekend) to spending the day with family and friends and d) I'm very lucky to have such amazing friends and family who have spent so many of my birthdays with me, either in actual attendance or in spirit and cheer. Here's to my 31st year - I'm hoping it's a great one!

Our Christmas weekend

Tim's birthday is Christmas Eve. Elle and I gave him the gift of sleeping in - we went out to breakfast so he could have quiet (I think I'm going to make breakfast-on-Daddy's-birthday a tradition). When he woke up, I made him breakfast and he settled in to watch the Bengals game. After the game, we attempted a video chat with his family (more on that later!) and then headed to dinner (at Moe's, Tim's birthday restaurant of choice).

After dinner, we took a walk along the river and looked at all of the lights on the boats and the light displays. This one was my favorite:

Tim spent the last part of his birthday putting together Elle's play kitchen and watching a movie with his favorite wife :)

On Christmas morning, Elle woke up unusually early. Like 5:50 a.m. I got her back to sleep at 6:30 ... until she woke up 20 minutes later. At that point, we decided we were all up for the day, and we brought Elle out to see what Santa had brought.

She was so cute - she didn't even realize anything was different at first, and then she got super serious about exploring the kitchen.

Elle wasn't really in to the actual opening of the presents, but she was very interested in playing with them. She loved everything, and she received a lot of really cool toys, books and clothes.

The laptop from Mommy and Daddy has been a hit. You can customize it, too, so Elle gets e-mails (a new word she's picked up) from Mommy and Daddy. She's learning letters and animals from it already, too, and Tim and I are quoting it to each other (if you have the Scout or Violet toy, you'll understand the catch phrases that are easy to pick up from these toys). 

She started reading the "Llama llama" books right away, too.

The bright side of Elle waking up so early is that we were able to get ready for church without rushing. Elle wore a cute dress and (shockingly) sat quietly throughout the service - I think it was part Cheerios, part lots of singing that kept her distracted.

And just for the sake of humoring my addiction to Elle nostalgia, I offer you Christmas past and Christmas present:

2010: Totally overwhelmed by the jumperoo.

2011: Can't be bothered because we're busy with our new kitchen.