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The kids make my birthday special--they get so excited about making me pictures and baking cupcakes and having a 'party' that I can't help but look forward to it too.

I ran a half marathon on Sunday at Lake Tahoe and came home totally wiped out and exhausted to find this--three little munchkins painting birthday surprises in the backyard. Dave is great at doing art projects with the kids and making sure to include Louisa. Yes, my baby was covered in paint in the backyard, and yes, I loved it!





Laney was a little disappointed with my presents-she kept asking me--Didn't Daddy buy you a watch, or a ring, or a new bike or something? Adorable!

Emerald Bay Trail Run

I ran a 7 1/2 mile trail run at Lake Tahoe. It was HARD--I'm taking crazy steep hills. But so worth it. The scenery was spectacular; however, I have to admit that after about mile 5 I couldn't have cared less about the scenery and just wanted the race to be OVER. I seriously ran the entire race as fast as I could-I don't think that I could've ran it a second faster. And then felt really good. I get 2nd place in my age group (small field) but I'll take it!

My fans arrived 1 1/2 hours after I finished and were sufficiently unimpressed. Oh well.

Markers

This little girl loves to do whatever her big brother is doing--she already can push little cars around the floor while scooting along. She is Elliot's biggest fan and I can't say that I blame her--he's a whirlwind of motion and fun! She can say 'Elliot' as clearly as anything. She's usually the first one up in the morning and when she hears Elliot call for us, she goes crawling over to his door. Today when Elliot was drawing with markers, she insisted that she get in on the action, and happily sat in her booster seat, putting markers in and out of a plastic bag. I don't think that she cared what she did-she just wanted to be with Elliot.

Three Babes In The Tub

Three little naked bodies in the tub--it's so cute and absolute mayhem. As Dave has said, we need to wear ponchos during bathtime. And they won't spread out--all three of them are always in the same corner of the tub--kind of reminds me of puppies. Louisa LOVES to take a bath with the big kids. I worry some about her getting knocked around too much with all of the 'swimming'--flailing arms and legs, but she seems to be able to hold her own-which is a very, very good thing.

Weezy's First Birthday

To be perfectly honest, I've been dreading this day--my baby turning one. She's the baby of the family and I just love the first year---I love nothing more than snuggling a baby. However, when I woke up this morning, I didn't feel sad at all--I am so excited for Louisa--for who she is now and who she will become in the next year. So many fun changes and experiences in the next year. And I also feel a total sense of accomplishment--I've done it--I've survived Louisa's first year, survived a tough recovery after a c-section, survived all of the sleepless nights and exhausting days, survived Laney's first year of preschool (with all of the colds that came with it!!) and survived raising three very young children (for at least one year!).

Dave and I were watching a nature show about monkeys--apparently baby monkeys maintain skin-to-skin contact with their mothers for the first 6-months of life---Louisa managed skin-to-skin contact for the first 12 months! She loves to be held (by me), so it's a good thing that her mama loves to hold her. She's happiest in my arms.

She didn't start to crawl until 11 1/2 months---which is so late that I totally worked myself into a panic. But it's just who she is---she's happy, mellow, content and communicates so well that her siblings (and mommy) pretty much get anything for her that she wants. For months, if she couldn't reach something that she wanted to play with, she yelled and gestured for the big kids to get it for her or happily started playing with something else. She has her own timetable.

She said her first clear word before she was 11 months and can now say 5 words. She speaks clearly and imitates everything that we do.

She's my shy, sweet girl. She's mild and even tempered. Buries her face in my chest when strangers are around and is as sweet as anything until someone tries to approach her, and then she SCREAMS!

She loves her siblings. Watches everything that they do and tries to keep up with them. She laughs with them and loves to play. She really has her eye on Elliot--he's going to be in trouble!

After a slow start, she's become a good eater and weighs 18 lbs. She only weighed 13 lbs at 9 months, so she is gaining and growing fast! She eats pretty much everything and anything, and we feed her exactly whatever we're eating--she's been done with baby food for awhile.

She's not the best sleeper but that's party my fault-I'm just not persistent enough with her at night. Given the choice, I'll put her in bed with us at 3 AM to nurse instead of listen to her cry. It's so quiet and still at night and I love the alone time with her. And she is not a good napper at all--she can happily get through the day with a 45 minute nap (this is scary to me---I live for nap time!).

Louisa has the most beautiful big dark eyes with long lashes. We love her little dimple and crooked smile. She has a great belly laugh. Happy Birthday Baby Weezy!

First Day Of School

What a difference a year makes! Today was Delaney's first day of preschool (FINALLY!!); she's in the 'big kid' (4 year old) class this year. It was like the happiest day of the year in our house this morning--mommy was REALLY happy that school was starting and Delaney was ridiculously excited to go to school. Laney has great enthusiasm for so much of life--it's so much fun to watch. There were no tears this year--no sad looks and no pouting. She was off.