Happy Birthday to you, Cha-Cha-Cha

Cha-Cha-Cha!  Eloise is 4 today.  What a sweet little lady you are becoming, our little Miss Elo-Squeeze.

Tonight during dinner, while Eloise was messing around on the bench not eating, I turned on some music.  On the first chord, Eloise shoots up from says "Can I be excused?"  And she went to dance.

She danced and danced and danced until we carried her upstairs (she made it clear she preferred dancing to sleeping) for bed.  The girl moves to the music.  She's got it buried deep in her soul.  And it's really no surprise to us.  During our (very many) ultrasounds with her, our doctor would say "she's break-dancing in there.  I've never seen a baby move so much."  That's no lie.  That's what happened and she hasn't stopped since.

So to help her celebrate, we threw a dance party with John Henry on the guitar and Eloise leading the congo line.  And we all had fun.

It was old school simple and it was fun.  And then we took a family photo to document us all on this special day.

Happy Birthday, sweet Eloise!  I can't imagine my life without you here!

Party Pics

We had a happy birthday Cordelia day.  We combined our monthly church young adult lunch with her party and had a great time all around.

We peaked a little early though.  Day light savings had us up at the brisk hour of 5.  So we were exhausted before we even headed to church.  Eloise wanted to know if this party could start already.

It finally started.  And we all had fun.

I am now in recovery mode.  All this cooking and baking and cleaning and 5am business is wearing me out.  She may be one now, but I have a feeling this next year will be even busier than last.  Welcome Toddlerhood!

You've come a long way, Baby.

You've come a long way, Baby.

1 whole year!  1 year from today you flew out of me and quietly looked at the world.  The doctor said 2 things that I remember very clearly.  She said, You hardly let me put my gloves on!  I had two thoughts in response.  I thought, Where the heck have you been!?! and Thank God that didn't last any longer!


Then the doctor said, Your baby stood up right after she came out.  I've never seen that before.  She is so strong!  I was shaking and in a bit of shock from all the pain and thought, Yeah, whatever, whatever, whatever, get me some blankets because I'm freezing!  I didn't have the warm fuzzy feelings of love at that point.  Instead I had survival feelings.  Help me!  Help me!  Help me!  The warm fuzzies came later.

Then, little Baby, you snuggled up in my arms and fell asleep.  And you never let out a peep.  You were so quiet that after a few hours one nurse start hitting you really hard on your back just to make you cry.  You took the beating like a champ.  You let out a sweet little cry then just looked at her with your perfectly round eyes.

You snuggled back in my arms and fell asleep.  It was a dream come true.

You have since found your voice.  You say Mama and Dada and Deh.  You shrill when your Sister takes away your toys.  And you laugh when we give you high fives.

You have also kept those strong legs.  Baby, you are strong!  You started rolling around at a ridiculously early age.  I haven't been able to change your diaper with you laying down for months.  You've been walking and climbing and propelling yourself off the couch for weeks.  You are our little mini-mite.

You've come a long way.

We love you so, so, so very much.

Happy Birthday sweet Cordelia.

Want to walk down memory lane with me?  Want ro relive that labor and delivery?  (No, me neither!) But if you do, check out the first few posts of Cordelia's life here, here and here.

And the party must go on

After postponing Eloise's birthday party and almost having to cancel it today, we pulled it off! Thanks to our wonderful friends who dug out their cars and braved the treachery. The kiddos had a great time stomping around in their pjs, decorating pillow cases, and eating lots of cake. Alex and I can't believe what a beautiful and talented young girl we have.