Today was an all day birthday celebration for Miss Zoë's 5th birthday. We started the day off right with some birthday doughnuts (complete with candle and singing of course) and the day just got better from there. Presents, a little bit of shopping, swimming lessons, dinner at Ruby's Diner. It was a good day. Here are a few photos from dinner tonight.
And the day would not have been complete without us singing Happy Birthday to Zoë at every meal. Silly girl. Here we have the lunch time version. Who knew you could stick a candle in a chicken nugget?
Let me be clear. I am most definitely not talking about myself. Don't get me wrong. I can cook, and I do cook. But given the choice I don't. Honestly, if there was some sort of pill I could take instead of having to eat I would do it in a heartbeat. The entire process annoys me: the planning, the purchasing, the preparing, the cleaning...
Kelly is the complete opposite. He works so much that he doesn't often get the chance to cook, but when he does he loves it. Take breakfast for example. Sunday morning he made us pancakes from scratch. Before last weekend I was the pancake queen at our house (that is until I started sneaking in whole wheat flour and wheat germ which I have been told "ruins" them). Kelly brought Zoë out an enormous pancake. It was the size of a dinner plate. She immediately dubbed it "The Great Pancake." Not only was it huge, it was delicious. Kelly tweaked the recipe (of course) and added honey. That is one key difference between he and I. I follow recipes to the letter, he is constantly experimenting. I knew a family tradition was born the moment I saw "The Great Pancake" so I whipped up this quick recipe using Heather Ann's fantastic recipe templates.
I think that Kelly may just be in charge of weekend breakfast from now on. A few weeks ago he also tweaked the french toast recipe. We were out of vanilla and instead of just bagging the whole idea and serving cereal (like I would have done) he decided to use vanilla ice cream instead. Yummy!
If you check the daily photo blog then you know that our cat, Archie, had surgery a few weeks ago to remove a vaccine induced sarcoma on his leg. Unfortunately, the surgeon was unable to remove the entire mass without inhibiting the use of Archie's knee (essentially making the leg useless). The biopsy results came back last week and confirmed the original diagnosis, leaving us with two options: wait and see if the mass returns (almost guaranteed) and let the cancer spread through his body, or amputate Archie's leg. Sadly, our poor little buddy had his back leg amputated yesterday. The doctor said that the surgery went well and Archie will hopefully be able to come home some time tomorrow. Amazingly, he should be up and around by the end of the week! (So he says, I'm still pretty traumatized by the whole situation.)
As I was sitting on the couch tonight I realized that I haven't made a single page about that little furball since Zoë was born. So, five years. I know priorities change after you have children, but Archie is such an important part of our family and he has been sorely neglected in our family albums. I had to remedy that situation and I have been meaning to make a layout for Eden's baby book about her and Archie. (She and Archie?) I really could have titled the layout, "Itty and HER Kitty" because those two are absolutely inseparable. Even during the last week and a half when Archie has had a cone on his head. She would grab him by the cone and kiss his head, and he never moved away. In fact, he was sitting near her whenever possible.
Last month we did some backyard renovations to make room for an awesome new play structure. We moved a retaining wall, added a chain link fence, brought in a ton of gravel and rubber playground mulch. It was quite the project. I will post some before and after photos soon. In the meantime, here is a video I took yesterday of the girls enjoying their new swings.
I also wanted to point out a new category link on the sidebar: Video Clips. Now, if you *cough* grandparents *cough* want to see videos of the girls, you can click there and view all of the recent posts that include them.
I have been meaning to post Eden's eight month update for the past month (obviously) but I keep getting distracted. However, since she is going to be nine months old tomorrow I need to get a move on! Most of this information is completely outdated now, but at the beginning of her eighth month, this is what she was up to:
Routine: Eden has been going to bed around 6pm these days. We try to keep her up later, but the poor little thing is just exhausted. One evening she actually (from a sitting position) folded in half to lay her head on the living room floor to try and go to sleep. She must be growing. She generally wakes up once around 2pm for a bottle and some Motrin, then wakes up around 8am. Her teeth have been bugging her. Her naps fluctuate from one-two naps depending on how long they last.
Eating: What can I say? The girl hasn't met a food she doesn't like. Eden is up for just about anything. She has been having scrambled eggs and pancakes for breakfast with Zoë in the mornings. LOL! She also really likes pieces of banana and black beans. Now that she is eating more and more solid foods I have started mixing her bottles 1/2 milk and 1/2 water. She doesn't mind a bit. She also drinks water from her sippy cup during meal time.
Clothing: Eden is weighing in at 17lbs. 4oz. this month, and is still fitting nicely into her 6-9 month clothes. She is quite the petite little lady, which is shocking to me because the girl eats more than Zoë does. LOL!
Other Tidbits: Eden is *this close* to crawling. She is going to be scooting around the house any day now. In fact, I think she practices in her crib. I find her all over her all over in there! Even though she isn't mobile yet, her days of hanging out on the bed with Zoë and watching cartoon (without parents) are over. The other day she tried to climb over her pillow wall and dive off the bed. I can practically feel the gray hairs sprouting...
Her favorite cartoon is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. She squeals and even does "The Hotdog Dance" with Zoë. She kind of bounces around while she is sitting. Or if we are dancing together she will kick her little legs like crazy. LOL!
She is now wearing pigtails most days since she started pulling the bows out of her hair and trying to eat them. Nice.
She is a pro at pulling herself up in her crib. I had to drop her mattress to the lowest setting already! I also had to remove her mobile because she was standing, holding on to the crib railing with one hand, and reaching for the mobile and pulling it down. I had to take her aquarium out too. She somehow managed to unhook it! Silly baby. Her crib is a pretty boring place now. No wonder she spins in circles.
