Day 228: Birthday Girl!

365 days ago, late on a Monday evening, Michal Kalanit came into our world.  It is pretty incredible to look back through the pictures and reminisce.  Words cannot adequately relay my emotions, so I will take you through today, her first birthday.

We started off with pictures!  We headed to one of the last remaining Picture People locations in the Washington DC area, where Michal alternately hammed it up then shut it down, refusing to smile, instead giving the lovely photographer a stony glare.  We did get a few cute pictures to take home with us, but wowza, kid!  Way to make pictures tricky today!

We took a family photo and Michal had a bunch of solo shots.  Then, we broke out the cake I baked yesterday and stripped her down to her diaper.  This was it, the big moment.  Icing all over the place.  Messy baby.  Sugar-high craze.  I was prepared with an army of wipes and travel size baby shampoo.  Don't ask.  I'm not sure I really knew what I would do should that last item truly be necessary.

I will say, Josh totally predicted what would happen.   Michal tends to be a pretty neat eater, so instead of going all smash cake on the red velvet, she poked the icing a little, mostly at the red buttons I piped as decoration around the cake.  Good thing - had I not given her a target, I'm not sure she would have bothered with the cake.  I did help her break a little off to try, but even the delicious taste of cake and vanilla buttercream did not incite a food riot.  Oh well.


Pictures taken, printed, and purchased, we shopped a bit and grabbed some lunch.  Afterwards, we headed to the County Fair.  It has been decades since I last attended one (or so I've been told - I don't recall having been, but I trust my mother's memory more than my own).  We figured Michal would enjoy being up and close with the animals.

 Checking out the llamas with Daddy.

This guy was awesome.  His name is Tank, he's 4 years old, and he weighs 1800 pounds.  1800 pounds! 

 Waving to the ducklings and chicks.

Caught this sweet Daddy/daughter moment. 

This gorgeous calf was born at 8:30 this morning.  So beautiful.  

The mama cow was not quite finished with the birth process.  We got to witness the completion.  Wild stuff.  Josh took a video.  Weirdo. 

She was terrified of the chickens - even the award winning ones.  I did tell her not to get too close, so I guess she really took my warning to heart!

Tuckered out 

After news of random (and disgusting) food offerings at state and county fairs, Josh wanted to check out what was being sold at our fair.  This arrangement of signs made me laugh.  Who wants diabetic funnel cake after being offered fried candy bars and Oreos?  Who would eat that, anyway??? 

This guy.  

I will admit, they were strangely delicious, not that I will order them again.

Once we got home, we took the time to open some of her gifts.  Yeah, we waited until her actual birthday, even though she wouldn't know one way or the other.  It's just the way we do it.  She got some great stuff - wonderful books to read together, fun toys, and even a cute outfit!  Lucky girl.

Checking out the cool puzzle from Rebecca. 

Disclaimer: she did not build this tower.

But she did knock it down.  And proceeded to play with the components.  And get mad when she couldn't figure out how to make them stack again. 

And then it was time for dinner - spaghetti, yum!  After a healthy "dessert" of plums, I brought out a small portion of the cake from this morning.  We figured we'd give it another go and give her a proper birthday dessert.

She went straight for it! 

She seemed to love it, even though she didn't go crazy over it, as I thought she might.  The icing, and its stickiness, seemed to confuse her. 

Yum! 

Such a considerate baby - she always likes to offer us some of her food.  

She even places it into our mouth - hand and all!

Happy birthday to the most brilliant, beautiful, and hilarious baby!

Day 227: Our Little Reader

As an English major and former English teacher, it makes my heart all warm and scrunchy when, during play time, Michal heads over to her basket of books.  She pulls them out, usually a bunch at a time, then crawls around with them, opening them, flipping through the pages, sometimes putting them on her head.  I love that even if we aren't reading a book together, which we try to do often, she still wants to be with them.  It just makes me so happy to see her so excited about books.  I hope it only grows and deepens as she gets older.

Josh took these pictures while hanging with the baby this afternoon (he insisted I indulge in a NECESSARY haircut - I think it's only been cut once or twice in the past year, explaining why it is longer than it has been since 1997!  I have a hard time indulging myself these days - I'd MUCH rather have fun with the Goose).

Love this face - it makes me want to give her kisses and snuggles!

Day 226: Little Noncomformist

Someone doesn't want to play by the rules.  Sit forward in her highchair?  Not this girl!

Day 225: Birthday Season

Somehow it is August, which means it is birthday season, with a number of family and friend birthdays peppering the calendar.  With our online mommy/baby group consisting of babies who were due in August, we've had many baby birthday celebrations, some we get to attend in person and some we share in from afar.  It is nice to have so many happy reasons to get together and celebrate!

Today we went to Michal's friend Liam's first birthday party.  Michal first met Liam at her first celebrity appearance back in February, and we always enjoy seeing him and his parents.  We had a ton of fun at his party!

Michal and Henry playing so nicely together! 

Henry and Liam, such adorable and affectionate buddies. 

Doesn't it look like Henry is trying to give Michal a tutorial on how to work this toy?  It was really just a quick stop by to check in on her before he zoomed off again, making rounds of the room.

As the party wound down and we entered the baby witching hour, we decided to try to take a quick group shot of the babies.  I have never had the opportunity to try it, but I'm pretty sure herding cats couldn't have been more difficult.

On the move.  This might have been 3 or 4 seconds after we so nicely posed them sitting next to each other. Literally.

Note: Michal did not move more than a foot from this position during the photo shoot.  She was so patient!

Off go Henry and Liam.  Liam was nice enough to show us his undershirt - his monster birthday shirt was pretty nifty, too.

Pretty much the best picture I captured.  Sure, Henry's belly is exposed and Liam looks like he is plotting something, but they are all in the same frame, faces clear, and looking to be happy as clams.

Yay for baby friends!

With today being Liam's birthday, it means Michal turns one in three days.  Not possible.  She's still only 8 months or so, right?  Crazy how time flies by.

Day 224: Soul Food

Somebody was excited about her very first potato knish!
It was tasty, too!

Day 223: Straw Sipping

After receiving some disappointing news this afternoon (we are now in the process of looking for new daycare), we decided to forgo making dinner at home.  Instead, we took advantage of a coupon for our favorite local Thai restaurant.  In addition to her favorite pastime of saying hello to every single person in the restaurant, Michal quite enjoyed her dinner of chive dumplings, massaman curry tofu, bean sprouts, some pad-see-ew, and some pad thai noodles.  It was delicious! 

I also tried to get her to drink some water through a straw.  We have a number of different sippy cups, but she has yet to drink from anything aside from her favorite soft-spouted cup.  I figured it was worth a shot to try it out tonight.

The vast majority of the time she just wanted to check out the tip of the straw with her finger.  I am not entirely sure why this was so mesmerizing. 

... and then, suddenly, success!  I bet she knew how to drink from a straw this entire time, and she just liked making me go crazy trying to help her figure it out. 

Day 222: Look Ma...

No hands!

Goober butt baby