For your birthday, I thought I'd pull together my favorite pictures of you and memories from your 33rd year. Enjoy.

Switching Matilda to her new bedtime/bath routine to prepare for Evelyn's arrival. She still LOVES evenings with Daddy, and I love how you can tell that even with all the toys and big tub, she's most interested in Daddy.


I remember back when Matilda was teething, you'd come home for lunch and be the only one who could make her smile.


I look forward to getting back to our long walks and nice lunches when the weather warms up.


Our trip to Florida with your family was so much fun, even with the morning sickness.




You taking Matilda swimming for the first time. She loved it and didn't want to get out!


Spending time together as a family.


Your big catch, lol


And this is just cool.


Taking a family vacation to Williamsburg where we finally got to lock up the Terror of Tiny Town.


Introducing Matilda to a president.


Going to South Dakota to visit your grandma--we even had fun on the drive and I'll always be glad we took that trip.


Celebrating your first daughter's first birthday in Wisconsin swimming in Lake Michigan.


Attending Eric's defense and celebrating his PhD completion


Matilda's first trip to the zoo, seeing the "Bruhs"


Cape Cod babymoon










Evelyn's birth. It was such an amazing night, and you were a great coach. It made me melt to see how proud and happy you were every day when you came to visit.








Our fun and quiet Thanksgiving


All the fun moments playing with the girls







A wonderful Christmas as a family of 4



And all the quiet moments too.


I know that I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful, devoted and loving husband, and that the girls couldn't find a better father anywhere. I look forward to all the new memories we'll make this year.

Happy birthday, we love you.

You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby

It's someone's birthday today...

Evelyn being lovely

Sliders

On January 3, Matilda had her very first White Castle Cheeseburger.

Snowbunnies

Updates

Evelyn is 2 months old now. She is a big baby! She is in the 95th percentile for height and weight. She weighed in at a surprising 13 pounds, 1 ounce and is 24 inches long. She also took her shots really well--cried for less than 2 minutes afterwards. She is still a calm and patient baby. She likes her swing, enjoys having her feet rubbed, and loves her big sister. She is smiling more and more in response to us, getting better head control, and still sleeping well. She's also starting to track objects with her eyes and turns her head to watch where things go or to identify a sound she hears. Of course, she's a great eater, too, but refuses to take a bottle. She is also beginning to make social noises.




Matilda is 18 months old and continuing her verbal explosion. In the past 2 weeks she has learned the words reindeer, snowman, rocket, red, green, purple, yellow, pink, blue, goat, puppy, kitty, monkey, bear, bird, tiger, honey, fruit, milk, circle, heart, triangle, pig, oh no, ok, sorry, mmmhmm, star, moon, apple, eggs, and tummy. (I'm sure there are more, but she learns them so fast I'm having trouble keeping up now!) The pediatrician says she is verbally advanced.
She can count to 10 by herself and often does while she's dancing in the family room. She's learning to identify most colors (can tell me what color I'm pointing to, and when I ask her to find me something in a certain color can do that too), knows lots and lots of animals (doesn't say them all properly though, for instance, Zebra is Bruh), knows that cows moo and tigers roar, bears growl, knows the names of lots of body parts and clothes and is starting to try out her potty. She is also practicing using a plate, fork, spoon, and regular cup and trying to say "thank you." She runs, climbs, hides, sneaks, is silly, plays simple games, loves to rough-house, dance, shake, and is trying to jump. She hates to have her nails clipped, hair brushed or in any way be "fussed" on, but loves to brush her teeth, take baths and give kisses. She's starting to get a little pickier about what she eats (especially fruits and vegetables) but still has a pretty diverse palate for a kid her age. She especially enjoys dried fruits, salmon, and kidney beans. She does not like sandwiches, but loves pasta, and won't even try eggs. And she LOVES to read. I can't even count how many times a day she comes running at me waving a book yelling "READ! READ! READ!"
She is in the 90th percentile for height and weight at 34 inches and 27.6 pounds. She is strong, smart, healthy and happy.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I know it's the 4th, not the 1st, but it's the first Monday of 2010, and as such, I'm marking it as the beginning of the year. What better way to celebrate than with an inappropriate picture?!




While the family was in town for the holidays, we opened this special bottle we'd been saving since our wedding to toast Evelyn and her safe arrival. It was a spectacular bottle of Champagne, and after, we let little E pose with the bottle.

I hope that your year is off to a great start. Good luck with those resolutions, and I hope everyone's year is happy, healthy, and better than the one before!