Monday, October 25, 2010

one


Perfect.  First, thanks to all who sent wishes for a happy birth-day!  We adore you.

::That morning, I noted 7:55 am and ran through one more this time last year in my head while feeding Juniper some yogurt and pear and rushing out the door for swimming lessons.  J bug received her first round of "Happy Birthday" in the water.

Afterwards, while June bugs continued to nap in the car (er...extension cord running from house to car with monitor attached), I set to work in the kitchen: pumpkin soup, cornbread, Grandma L's famous salad and, of course, the cake.  If felt weird to be giving J bug sugar when she hasn't even eaten walnuts yet, so I compromised with carrot cake and cream cheese frosting.  My man made the #1 from carrot slices--Juniper's first veggie and long-time favorite.

:: In the meantime, we had a lazy day visiting with relatives and near-relatives:

Getting tight hugs:

And assembling J bug's birthday wagon--a gift from her grands:
^Uncle T's specialty and cousin Owen's fascination--well, anything with wheels.^    

^Check out that bump!  Dude, and she still has over three months to go!^


^Teethers.^  


:: And just before Uncle M grilled up some lake trout with the best marinade known to man, Juniper received her second round of "Happy Birthday" and wondered why in the hell we were putting a flame right in front of her face when we're normally all, No touch, Juniper.  That's HOT.    

She wasn't sure what to do with her slice of cake at first,

but after a taste of frosting looked up at me like, Are you serious?  Oh. My. God.

And proceeded to hoover the remainder.

And the willing, non-preggo adult folk dabbled in what is undoubtedly our best batch of dandelion wine to date.  Less sugar, more bubbly fermented goodness.  Pure liquid sunshine.

And speaking of which, here I am, almost five months pregnant with June bugs, clipping the dandelion flowers for said vino.
We had a plethora of unsprayed dandelions in Montana (as in, our entire back yard), but still need to find a safe patch near our Wyoming home.  So for now, our liquid sunshine is a limited commodity.    


::  We--or rather, Owen--opened Juniper's birthday booty the next day.  Books and blocks and clothes and a train, handmade hair clips, and a vest, pj's, clothes, snacks, a doll all the way from Jordan, an oak toy chest...the girl made like a bandit.

Not that she noticed.  She was too preoccupied with chowing down one of her great-grandfather's Shenandoah apples.
  
And wagon rides galore.  
 ^Cleopatra on her chariot.^

And just before we said our until-next-time's, we made a little family photo:

And seconds before the second shot, Juniper dove head-first for the ground, was caught by the ankle thanks to her grandfather's lightening-fast reflexes, and emerged with two fistfuls of cottonwood leaves.  The whole bungee-jump experience left her a little shell shocked:



::And so, just like that, we have a one-year-old. 

To Juniper:  
"Happy Birthday Juniper.....we love having you on the planet!!!"  ~Great Aunt M
Well said.  


To me and all my one year ago todays:  
"Happy birthday to you for Juniper. I've always thought a child's birthday is more important to the mother as it's the day our bodies were touched by birth." ~from our midwife.
Well said.

To Juniper from me:  Oh, my.  That will have to wait for another post.    

 







4 comments:

  1. Love the first taste of frosting photo. Life will never be the same.
    Happy birthday to you Mama, it is after all *your* day (at least until she's 3).

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  2. I love this post and your writing! I'm from Anacortes and your dad knows my mom, Janet. She passed your blog on to me and I've been reading for a while.

    I have a 6 month old daughter, Maggie, and I so understand much of what you write!

    We have a blog: www.hbadventure.com , feel free to check it out!

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  3. Happy Birthday! And, love the knitted candy corn hat. Did you make it?

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  4. Rachel: Thank you!
    Hanna: I checked out your blog and added it to my reading list; thanks!
    Baby by the Sea: I *wish*. It's actually a free-trade Peruvian hat. I LOVE them (we have two); they have fit since she was ~5 months and will probably fit through toddlerhood. Smart design. I have started a vest that mimicks the whole stripe & bobble thing, but am still trying to figure out the bobbles. With the hat, it appears as though they were added afterwards, not knitted within. Anyway, thanks!

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