It's My Party...but I'm not much of a crier

About last January, when JKR was just 6 months old, I started thinking about her 1st birthday. What? When? What would she wear? Would there be a theme? I spent the next 6 months casually searching Etsy for decorations and outfits. Casually stalking Hostess with the Mostess and about 50 creative Mom's blogs for ideas and themes. My ideas started forming, and after making close to 100 changes.....Jenna's first birthday party was set. Turned out that the only real theme I could commit to was "pink".

Somehow, after months of planning, I ended up pulling everything off at the last possible minute. Very Jaime-esque. My in-laws (Mindy and Boogie) were in town with their boys, which was wonderful on many levels. Tyler and Colby kept Landon awesomely entertained and busy. Mindy and Boogie helped me pull the party together AND loved on the birthday baby when she would have otherwise been completely unsupervised for 24 hours before "showtime"!
Aunt Jo and sweet Meredith spent their Friday night making cupcakes on a stick, refilling my wine glass, and all around checking off my 7 page to-do list.

It was such a beautiful day. Jenna had a blast and we were so happy to be surrounded by people who love her so much. Once it all came together, I even had a stress-free, fun time!

A couple of pics and a link to the beautiful slideshow that Allison http://www.phrecklenosephotography/ made for us.

Sweet birthday tags

Sweet guests

Sweet gifts

Sweet face

And something to cherish forever....

http://phrecklenosephotography.com/slideshows/jennasbirthday/

I didn't know they gave out rings at the Holocaust.

It's the day after our daughter turned 1. A day to celebrate making it through this year....a day to begin stressing over a party in 2 days.....a day that missing MomMom lingers heavier than other days....a perfect day for Kevin and I to ask Grandma to come babysit while we sneak out to a movie!

I need to back up and say that Jenna Kate has been taking a lot of steps lately. In fact, what I hear when I first come through the door after work is Landon proudly reporting her step-progress. "She took 4 steps today!!!!" "She took 8 steps this morning!!"
"Jenna took 13 steps!! Did you see that!??" Sheer astonishment that this little creature has decided to move about on 2 feet.

So when Kevin and I came home from The Hangover (an excellent movie that deserves it's own post on this blog) and Mom asked "when did Jenna start walking????", we hmmm'd and haw'd and said she'd been stepping for a week or so. No. We weren't getting it. She was walking.

Jenna decided to completely begin walking while we were at a 2 hour movie. She hasn't looked back. I have not seen her near a crawl in hours...she's even trying to run. I haven't had time to be worried about falls yet, or to be sad that there is now a constant reminder that she is not a baby anymore....I am too busy telling LGR to "STOP COUNTING STEPS!" He hasn't quite grasped that now she is walking. Period. A walker. If I hear, "How many steps was that???? Was that 25????", in that excited voice, again tonight....I may just have to go to bed.

“Love is the condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”

Every year, for the rest of our lives, this week will be filled with so much Love.

Last year,

We were celebrating him.....

We were waiting for her......

We were welcoming her......

And we were crying "goodbye" to her.....

This year,

We celebrate him.....

We celebrate her.....

And we cry "I Miss You" to her....

Happy Birthday, sweet Kevin. Happy Birthday, precious baby.

Thank you for being her angel, Mom.

(kamp) n: To act in a deliberately artificial, vulgar, or banal way.

Sorry - wrong camp.
Landon had a busy last 2 weeks being a camper!


Kamp Bentwater (or "water camp" as L calls it) was even more awesome than last year! He got to join the 7-10 age group this year and they actually got to go out on the lake - tubing - everyday. He had an absolute blast.

Then it was VBS at Fellowship (or "God camp", if you will) where they had about 10 huge, inflatable waterslides to go down all morning. There was a science theme and they did lots of cool experiments! And of course, learned some great Bible lessons!

He's such a lucky kid!

"In my friend, I find a second self."

Isabel Norton

July is such a busy month...my birthday, the 4th, Kev's birthday...and now we add Jenna's birthday and the anniversary of losing MomMom....I always wonder if Landon feels lost. He's never complained (he never complains - sweet, chill boy) but he has to notice, right

I decided we needed a day to ourselves. A date with my wonderful son - - my sweet friend.

I picked him up from camp today - right around noon - and we headed out. He chose Chik-Fil-A for lunch, which is always fabulous by me, and then we went to the Woodland's Children's Museum. We went through every inch of that place! All sorts of dinosaur talk,

although he was most impressed with the "make your own pixie stick" machine that was somehow (?) related to excavation...sand? dirt? Who knows.

Then, this very brave boy climbed a rockwall and bungee-trampolined!

We got big ol' cookies and sat in a photo-booth for some great, silly pics! It was a day that I hope has begun a July tradition with LGR.

You are such an incredible person, my love.

Happy Birthday Jaime! -- I mean, America!

I forget sometimes that this weekend is not all about ME!
The 4th of July was another good one at the lake. Jenna was well on the way to recovered and Cristie and Marcus (and Addie, too) came to visit us! Bless you, sweet friend, for coming to the lake in the middle of summer while 6 months pregnant. Aunt JoJo and Uncle Ant (so confusing) came down as well. And of course, Mom and Dad took care of us all.

We dolled-up in red, white, and/or blue and took the kiddos to the parade. Jenna was NOT impressed and spent a lot of time staring (not smiling) at a small dog about 6 feet away from her stroller. Landon had a blast catching candy, but decided that next year- he HAS to be IN the parade!







We boated, swam, watched fireworks...everything that you NEED to do on the 4th!


Jenna and Aunt Cristie~

Landon and Uncle Marcus~


Aunt Jo and the Kiddos~

three tens and a two....an eventful birthday!

So July 2nd was just another birthday. I woke up already feeling older. I had promised Landon that we would go to the donut shop for a birthday donut and so the three of us rolled straight out of bed and over there for some yummy fried dough. I offered Jenna a donut hole -that she promptly spit out at me. I should have known right then that something was wrong, but instead I pretended that my baby was just a healthy eater and didn't want anything to do with that processed lard ball. I know, I know. But it was my birthday and I wanted to pretend. (Uggg- Note to self: at 32, you can't get away with a public outing sans make-up.)
Her eyes look sad and sick here - looking at it now.

After donuts, Jenna and I scooted to Gymboree, per our usual Thursday morning routine.


She looks surprisingly SHORT here!

Mom had offered to take me to a birthday lunch at PF Changs and as soon as we sat down, she noticed that Jenna looked really tired. Now, she's always a little worn out from her hefty Gymboree work-out...but the baby literally looked like she was going to fall asleep right then and there in the high-chair. We put her in the stroller and she dozed while we shopped. We both realized she was really sick at about 2:00. She had a fever and had those sick "fever-eyes" that kids get. Jenna has been so healthy - I didn't want to completely overreact. Gave her tylenol and called the pedi - who told me to call them if the fever didn't break after a cycle of tylenol and motrin.
Well, it was in the Anthropology dressing room, at about 5 PM, that I realized the fever wasn't going anywhere and she had started that awful, labored "fever-breathing". Called the pediatrician back and SURPRISE!-they are closed for the rest of the week for the holiday!
SO, my 32nd birthday ended with Grandma, Mom and Baby Girl in the emergency room. Jenna was dx'd with a virus that gave her little sores all over the back of her mouth/throat. We just had to go home and tough out the next AWFUL 24 hours. She had a constant fever and couldn't even swallow her drool, much less eat. So she just cried. and cried. and cried. Breaking all of our hearts.
She finally enjoyed some popsicles Friday (while I enjoyed some delicious Black Russian birthday cake) and woke up Saturday morning, happy and hungry and ready to celebrate the 4th!







So I switched some things around. It's MY birthday!

Testing, testing....

So no one even has to know I'm trying this. I'll give it a whirl for a week or two before I share.