Eion's 1st Birthday

Last Saturday was Eion's 1st birthday. As you can see, he enjoyed his cake immensely! He ate two full pieces (not counting the frosting in his hair.) We had a few people over who have kids who will one day be in Eion's class. They had a great time together. He and Will Hoff share similar interests: emptying out drawers, harassment of sisters etc. The girls were disappointed there was no pinata. When I told Morrigan that Eion was too little to hit it, she graciously offered to do it for him.

Eion also made it through his 1 year check up. He has moved up from 50th to 90th percentile in height and from 15th to 25th in weight. No wonder the kid has been eating non-stop. Lately, he has been sleeping more but if he is awake, he's eating!

Tim and I went to a tennis lesson last week. Surprising everyone, I have some potential here. After 34 years, I may have found my sport. Tim said after that he expected me to cringe and miss the ball but was pleasantly surprised that I was doing well for a beginner. Now for those that think his initial assessment was harsh, I do have to admit that I have completely sucked at any number of sports over the years. You name the sport, and I have done it poorly. On the track team in high school, I failed to make a qualifying time all season. But as for tennis, I think I can be completely average player.

Updates on me

Most of my posts are about the kids so I thought I'd do one last quick post tonight about what I've been up to. The picture is with some friends at the President's Ball (a local medical fundraiser) last weekend. So far this year, I am making good on my New Year's resolution to become a better poker player. Last weekend we played with two other couples and I didn't lose all my chips! (By the way, this is a first.) If not for the last two hands, I would have even come in third. We're playing again next month so hopefully I can improve more!

I also have designs to learn to play tennis. Step one was today. I bought a tennis outfit. That was easy. Now I just have to learn to play!

Eion's First Steps

On Tuesday, Eion took his first steps! In the picture, he is being assisted by his sisters but he took a few on his own too. The little guy had been a champ lately. He's been sleeping 12+ hours a night and throwing down 3-4 hour naps in the afternoon.

Today none of the kids got up until 7:20am. (A damned miracle.) I woke up just before that and heard no stirrings. I thought, "they must be dead." In the end, I decided not to check on them. If they were dead, it was already too late. (FYI, they aren't dead!)

Maggie's Art

This is Maggie's snowman she made at school. Everyone else's were all in a row like, well, a proper snowman. I find Maggie's a bit Picasso. I love it!

They had parent teacher conferences for Maggie's class. Her teacher had nothing but good things to say about her development and meeting milestones. While I was talking to her teacher, Maggie and another teacher made a bird feeder out of a hard pretzel, peanut butter and birdseed. We left & I felt great about the meeting. On the way home Maggie ate the bird feeder. Hmmm....

MLK Weekend

It's only the first day of a three day weekend and I can see it is going to be long! Martin Luther King was all about ending people's suffering. I have to think he would have wanted to take pity on those of us stuck at home for an extra day with the runny nose gang!

Maggie has already made several "calls" on her toy phone to her teacher, Miss Jennifer. Or as Maggie likes to call her, Bennifer. I tried to tell her teacher that I thought that was funny seeing as that name is used in the entertainment press all the time. She looked at me like I was from another planet. I'm pretty sure she crunches full time so she may not be up on her celebrity gossip! But Bennifer is one of my favorite people right now as Maggie uses the potty "Because Bennifer does."

Of course, using the potty has a whole new crop of issues. Not the least of which is Eion's complete fascination with the bathroom in general. Unrolling all the tp, playing with the toilet brush, and my personal favorite, playing in the toilet. The other day Maggie was screaming that Eion was in the potty. I assumed he was just annoying her. But no, she was sitting on the potty & he was standing behind her splashing in it! I have to sanitize the child daily.

I hear that Baby Mozart is losing it's charm. Must go....

Happy New Year!

The holidays are over and I am finally getting back to my poor, neglected blog. To the left is a picture of Tim & me on New Years. It is tough these days. It doesn't matter how much you drink. If you go to bed at 2am and the little batard wakes you up at 5am, the day is going to be rough! I have to say, I am a little blue about the end of the holiday season. The house looks a little plain without the tree and stockings. But we're looking forward to Eion's first birthday. Can't decide what to do yet. I found myself feeling sorry for all the third children as I thought, "Do we really need to get a cake? He won't remember." But I refuse to give him more fodder for his therapist, so there will be at least a cake!