Birth Days

As a child these were all about fun, and parties, and gifts, and being another year older. It wasn't until I had my own children that I considered the other side of the celebration: the culminating moment after months of growing and waiting, hours of toil and joyful pain, when our hopes and dreams are realized. As a mother, these days are spent in reflection, remembering every moment of the most exciting, awe-inspiring, and surreal events of my life.

And they are spent in celebration, showering my children with their favorite things and honoring the individuals they have become. In August, we celebrated Bella's birthday with a pirate party, per her request. We surprised her with a cruise aboard a local pirate ship, complete with water cannon fight and treasure hunt.

On her actual birthday, we surprised her yet again and spent the day at a water park by the ocean. Our little dare-devil loved even the most thrilling rides.

At two years old, Will is thrilled by, well, just about everything. A room full of balloons was all it took to induce squeals of glee on his birthday.

This little guy sure has come a long way. This time last year, food allergies prevented him from being able to eat just about anything. Now he enjoys all foods and can out-eat his sister! So, it was only fitting to have a "Very Hungry Caterpillar" themed dinner with family to celebrate.

We ate one of Will's favorite meals and watched while he was schooled on proper present opening by big sister, who ended up opening most of the presents for him. He showed a particular liking for Bella's card, although all of the toys were a big hit.

We topped off Will's birthday festivities with a visit to a nearby model train display, pure joy for a little boy who loves anything with wheels.

While these celebrations fulfill childhood dreams, they warm the hearts of parents just as much. We revel in the smiles, the laughter, the cake-induced crazies. And as we sink into bed, exhausted from orchestrating the big day's events, we think fondly of the moment these little people joined us earthside, and look forward to the many adventures to come.

9,999

We recently surpassed our camera's capacity for counting photos, having taken over 10,000 since we got it a year and a half ago. In honor of that, I thought I'd fill in some of the blogging blanks and catch you up on the milestones and daily joys we've been capturing around here.

We've found that someone likes to draw, just like his big sister...

He also like to eat yogurt...

And he enjoys the coffee table stage for musical performances...

We have also decided that Will is a cat person. His first word last fall was cat after all, so we should've seen this coming...

He loves playgrounds, and long walks, and hanging with the big kids...

But most of all, he adores his big sister, who grows more and more beautiful each day, inside and out. She amazes us with her heart of gold and positive attitude, and the tender nurturing she gives her baby brother...

Fall Fun

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch


Halloween Festivities

The Aftermath

This next series warrants some explaining. Let me just begin by mentioning that trick-or-treating in our neighborhood is no joke. We are visited by hundreds, literally hundreds, of children. When the evening began, Will wasn't so sure what all of the fuss was about. He stood there on the sidewalk in his dragon costume, dazed by the groups of strangers coming and going. Eventually, he decided the thing to do was to follow the crowd, even though he had no idea why and ended up removing each treat from his bucket and ditching it on the street as we went from house to house. He had an empty bucket and he liked it that way. Back at home, he enjoyed playing in the massive bowl of candy as Adam and Bella passed out handfuls (With the help of Nana, who was driven by we-might-run-out-of-candy-and-disappoint-some-small-child-phobia, we had 9 large bags to work through.) Somewhere along the line, he discovered that this was food, or rather was introduced to this concept (corrupted) by his sister and daddy. This was just about the time trick-or-treating was officially over, so we plopped the giant candy bowl down on the dining room table and headed off to bed.

The next morning I was in the bathroom when I noted that it was suspiciously quiet throughout the rest of the house. When I emerged I found that little man had indeed retained the lesson from the previous night...

The next few hours were spent chasing down Will who was persistent in climbing to the candy bowl despite my efforts to relocate it... and watching him run in circles through the house while he shouted with chocolate-induced glee.