Birthday Vlog, Version 2.0

Less embarrassing than last year?  You be the judge.

So here we go, folks: a second look at Lucy, more birthday questions - some sillier than others - and still no editing (nope, not even a little bit).  Enjoy!

The 25th Birthday Vlog from hallie on Vimeo.

Four(teen)

June has stopped asking me if it's okay with me if she gets any bigger.  Come to think of it, I don't think she's ever asked me.  Girlfriend turned four this weekend.

No more lisp.  No more shy smiles.  I walk in to the party, and my once-upon-a-baby stands up on her chair, face lighting up like the sun, and proclaims, "Caitlin's here!  And I love Caitlin.  And she loves me."

"What if cake was a vegetable?" she asked me.  "And vegetables were cake?  Then we could say no to vegetables, because you can always say no thank you to dessert."  Pause to shovel spoonful of cake into mouth.  A contented sigh.  "But I would never say no to cake."

I love them.  Pure and simple.  I'll still be squeezing them onto my lap when they're twenty-five and twenty-one.

Happy birthday, Junebug.

24 Years in the Making

Okay, so prepare yourselves for the embarrassment of....drumroll please...A VLOG!!!!!

The Nanny, who we all know is my best friend, decided to do a birthday interview, film it, and post it on both of our blogs.  Guess who thought she was going to edit out most of the boring/embarrassing/useless bits?  ME.  Guess who didn't?  HER.  Soo...sorry about that.  But please enjoy.

Three Going on Seventeen

Getting an invitation to a birthday party is always exciting.  Getting an invitation to a toddler's third birthday party - from the soon-to-be three-year-old herself - is even better.  Apparently, the soundtrack of the last few weeks in my former nannygirls' house was a constant repeat of this conversation:

June: Mommy, how many days until we see Caitlin?
June's mother: Well, one less day than yesterday, so __ more days!


When I walked into the ice cream parlor where June's third birthday party was being held, this is the face I was greeted with:

Talk about a self-esteem boost!  Nothing beats rocking a little one's world, purely by showing up.

Only after a truly astounding amount of ice cream was eaten did the party begin to wind down.  I wasn't quite ready to leave the girls, so I headed back to their house for an idyllic afternoon in the September sunshine.  Big sister Sage used to be so scared of the monkey bars that I had to hold onto her waist the entire time.  Not any more, that's for sure.

Girlfriend is almost eight, which, as we all know, might as well be twenty-five.  Good thing she'll never be too old for me to tickle these puppies.

Not to be outdone, Junebug wasted no time pulling out her best trick.

Did I mention she's three?

A lot changed in the transition from two to three for this one...

Sage: Mommy says that Juney is on the South Beach diet.
Me: Huh??
Sage: Because she doesn't like bread!
Me: Juney, you don't like bread?
June: Yes I do!  When I was two, I didn't like bread.  (Pause.)  But now I'm three.

 

She may have just turned three, but I know only too well that the next time I turn around, she'll be graduating high school.

So blessed to know them.  So happy to love them.  I don't care how many birthdays go by, they will always be my baby girls.

Twenty-three!

Does 23 feel different from 22? Not so much. But a co-worker at the bakery asked me nonchalantly what I had learned in my 22nd year and even though he was half-kidding, it made me think. So much has happened in the past year: I graduated college, I moved to NYC, I moved in with Alix, we got a dog, I got two jobs, we moved apartments, we got engaged...I think that's about it. But as for things I've learned? Much harder to pin down. If I had to pick three things:

1. I learned how to let things go. There are people and situations that you will never be able to change and your energy is much better spent changing yourself and your own situation than worrying about someone else's mistakes.

2. I learned that no matter what Alix and I face, we face it together. After an incredibly scary and difficult summer, we came through it together and only grew stronger and closer in the process.

3. I learned that dog parks have weird hierarchical structures, that couches come apart to fit through small doorways, that an old milk jug makes an awesome vase, that there will never be too many cookbooks, that it's possible to love a child who's not yours so much you'd dive in front of a bus for them, and that gratitude is never overrated.








Birthday pictures? Here ya go!















New oven mitts!





















New food processor!

















New Kindle! (Best used with oven mitts on, for protection)

Hint: I also got a new camera. Hence all the pictures. Especially the two up top of our two favorite boys.