Firsts

What a great week it has been so far! This week was Eden's first birthday and besides turning one, she has done quite a few "firsts" in the past few days. I've gotten videos of them all, except one: her first step. She has taken her first step, but she'll only do it once and then refuses to do it again. She does seem to be motivated to take more steps if there's an interesting toy she wants to get her hands on, but apparently if Mommy is present, it doesn't work. So anyway, here is the past week in photos:

First birthday complete with first cupcake (carrot cake with cream cheese frosting)




First outfit I sewed for her (it's reversible with matching bloomers and reversible hat):


First mylar balloon (man, did she enjoy this):

12 months-enjoying a balloon from Cameron Lawracy on Vimeo.

First time in a pool (watching while Mommy blows bubbles):

11 months-first time in pool from Cameron Lawracy on Vimeo.

First time climbing up her playpen (her monkey genes must have recently kicked in):

12 months-climbing playpen from Cameron Lawracy on Vimeo.

And finally, the first time feeding herself with a spoon (technically it's a fork, but whatever):

12 months-feeding self with spoon from Cameron Lawracy on Vimeo.

There you go! By now you've probably burned up a good 30 minutes staring at the amazing feats of Eden. I wanted to make sure you had your fill of her because for the next 3 weeks starting tomorrow I'll be at the beach with Kevin and her and eventually my mom, so no blog postings till the middle of June. Here's to family vacation! Woo-hoo!

P.S. As always, I feel the need to apologize for the excessive squealing and laughing from me on the videos. Apparently once you become a mom, things like watching your kid eat with a utensil and play with a balloon become the most exciting things you see. So please pardon my excessive noise.

P.P.S. The password for the swimming pool video is the same as always. However, apparently I have created 2 passwords by mistake. Try both. One should work. Hint: it's 13 characters long (letters and numbers).

Confessions of a Suburban Housewife

It's been a while since I've written a confession from my humble suburban housewife perspective so I thought I'd offer some random thoughts today, instead of the typical family update. After some reflection, I've realized lately that there are quite a few things that I actually enjoy and love that pre-baby, I NEVER thought I would.

Just like any job, there are definitely things that I do not enjoy about being a housewife. Dishes and laundry are officially on my hit list (they get together at night and figure out ways to thwart my attempts at reducing them). Sometimes there is no motivation to change out of my pajamas. Having to vacuum and mop constantly lest my little girl choke on a random tidbit of what-have-you left on the floor isn't always fun. But on the flip side, there are things that I love. Absolutely love. That I never thought I'd ever love, but I do. Such as...

...seeing a mess of baby toys covering a floor with my baby plopped happily in the middle of it


...spying hair bows and elastics on every surface in every room


...cleaning up a little baby pee-pee on the carpet


...washing cloth diapers (the only exception to my laundry aversion)
...making baby food (but not cleaning up the dishes associated with it)
...taking the dogs and my baby for a walk every day


...getting splashed and soaking wet while my baby's in the bath


...cuddling with her in the middle of the night when she wakes up


...cleaning up the trail of Cheerios that meanders through our house (and yard and car and...)


...rescuing her from panicking due to getting tangled in her clothes


And there are more things. Many more things. So despite never thinking I'd ever love being a housewife and stay-at-home-mom, there is absolutely nothing more wonderful and rewarding than this job. I am so lucky to be able to do it.

A thank-you and a video

Greetings everyone! I have two specific purposes for this post.

1. A video of Eden: I made her some mashed turnips (thank you, Grammy, for introducing turnips to me!) and was going to feed them to her with a spoon, but instead she decided to stick her whole hand in the bowl and shove them in her mouth. And of course, I laughed. So this video is of her smushing turnips in her mouth and of me laughing.

Untitled from Cameron Lawracy on Vimeo.

2. Eden's first birthday is quickly approaching (insert the obligatory "where did the time go?!?!" comments here) and somebody out there sent her a wonderful birthday book. Only I have no clue who sent it because there's no note attached or "from" message. So please help me figure out who to thank for her really neat first birthday present!

Have a great weekend! Love, Cam