Happy First Birthday, Bug!

Oh, those eyes. Those beautiful baby blues. They melt my heart.

Yep, it's already been a year. Our little Bug is 365 days old as of 9:30am Pacific time. Where did the year go? Search me. But we are so thrilled to celebrate one year of life with our second little red headed sweetie baby.

This morning we had a little party for her before breakfast. We went to the family room, sat on the floor, sang "Happy Birthday," and helped her open her presents: A super-cute hooded ladybug bath towel from Mommy & Daddy, a wooden name puzzle, and a REALLY girlie pink outfit that Sweet Pea picked out for The Bug. I nearly fainted paying for it, since it's so very pink and frilly and has the word "princess" written on it, but I thought it was so sweet of Sweet Pea to want to give her sister a birthday present (she came up with the idea herself) that I honored her choice. While Sweet Pea is showing girlier tendencies than her mommy has ever had, it must be pointed out that the reason she chose the pink outfit was simply because it has a picture of a kitty cat on it. The Bug instantly spotted, pointed to, and commented on the kitty cat as soon as she opened the box and saw the outfit, so it was worth it. ha ha!

Our friends from Burbank sent The Bug a birthday gift which, in case they were wondering, did arrive before her birthday. We let her open that present along with the family presents this morning. I sort of thought I was joking about you sending her a cell phone, so I had a big laugh when I saw that that's what the present was! Thank you - she really likes it. So does Sweet Pea, but they're not fighting over it so far. Sweet Pea is pretty good about realizing it's The Bug's present, not hers. The Bug seems to think that Daddy might be inside her toy cell phone, even when he's just in the next room. Tee hee!

Slipshod returned from Mexico on Monday night well after the girls were in bed. Tuesday morning when the girls woke up The Bug sat up in bed and chattered to me and Sweet Pea for a while. But when she looked past Sweet Pea and saw Slipshod, she couldn't get to him fast enough. She crawled over yelling, "Ga ga! Ga ga!" which is what she calls him, and when she reached him she put her little head on his shoulder and hugged and hugged him. He was so thrilled and melty to receive such a happy welcome from one of his little girls.

Later in the day, when The Bug awoke from her nap, she saw Slipshod as I brought her down the stairs and she reached for him over the railing. I handed her to him and they sat on the couch, pictured above, and she gave him another long, lovey hug, and then sat on his lap and chatted to him and played with him for a while.

Slipshod and I are so thrilled that The Bug is so into her daddy. Sweet Pea has been without him enough (due to work hours) that she is just used to him being away a lot, and she has never had a super strong bond with him (I still think that's simply due to absence, because when they used to garden together every weekend they were closer). SO, this huggy, snuggy, happy bond that The Bug shares with him is just wonderful - especially for her daddy.

The Bug's new passion: learning to walk. Our neighbors let us borrow a little baby walker and she LOVES it. I've informed her auntie who didn't know what to get The Bug for her birthday. I think her own walker will be the hit (for her) of her party on Sunday.