Spaghetti Night!!!

We had spaghetti for supper tonight...which translated into scrumptious fun for Susannah! We have NEVER seen this child so enthusiastically chomp down a meal...except for when we give her her all-time favorite--plain yogurt. She had bread (Moroccan Olive Bread, mind you!) with her spaghetti and particularly enjoyed dipping the bread into her spaghetti sauce and sucking the sauce off. Bread seems to make a very efficient utensil for Susannah!

Speaking of utensils...

Susannah has a deep fondness for forks and spoons, and is trying desperately to master the fine art of scooping her food and bringing it to her mouth...and then actually getting at least a small morsel onto her tongue! At this stage, most of it goes over the side of her high chair because she torques the utensil just before it enters her mouth. LOTS of clean-up for Mama these days...

She started her spaghetti dinner with her little fork, but then (thankfully???) she abandoned such an impediment and employed raw fingerage. And that's when things went from messy to downright disgusting!

I will get every last bit of noodle and sauce from my bowl...even if I have to shake the contents all over the kitchen!

This delightful girl just giggled her way through dinner, giving excited shivers sporadically, which caused Mama and Dada to respond with giggles of our own! :) When she had had her fill, we pushed her chair in front of a mirror so that she could see her morphed self...and she laughed heartily at the image before her! (Now, when she sees herself in pictures or in the mirror, she signs SUSANNAH immediately while giving an affectionate grin!)





The night ended with a good scrub-down...

Our Strawberry's First Birthday! (June 4)

At last I am posting pictures from our Sweet Strawberry's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!!!! We can hardly believe this precious gift is one. She has changed our lives in such profound ways that we cannot imagine a moment without her. Oh, to think that two years ago we were enduring crushing blow after crushing blow as we journeyed through infertility...and now we celebrate God's gift of Susannah Joy to us on a daily basis. Words fail me...

We adore this abundant source of life's ever-increasing strawberry locks, her astonishingly blue eyes, her creamy complexion, her rosebud mouth, and, within it, her "country teeth" (heehee)! We could devour her tiny fingers, her lithe arms, her squishy hiney, her slightly inturned feet. We marvel over her every giggle, her every act of compassion and selflessness, her growing ability to understand us and express her needs and thoughts, her undying affection for her furry sister "Ry-Ry," her endless delight in windmills and feathers and books and bubbles and other children and anything musical. She simply cannot resist breaking into the "Wiggle Jiggle" every time she hears music or a rhythm of any kind! Taking our fascinated, enamored eyes off of her when she's around is nearly impossible, so usually we just don't fight the compulsion to soak her in! She has become a unifying source in our marriage, lending something magical to it that never existed prior to her arrival. Love simply abounds where she is present, and we know this is perhaps God's greatest intention for giving us children. When we look at Susannah, we are overwhelmed that God would entrust this lamb to us. Oh, how He loves us so much!

At the time of her first birthday, Susannah had become a proficient crawler and was just beginning to "cruise" on furniture. She was also signing about 50 words, and understanding many more in both spoken English and ASL. Her curiosity is ripe, and her attention span continues to be exceedingly long and detail-oriented. Though she continues to be compliant and mellow, the time of her first birthday was truly the advent of her expression of opinions. We began to witness great disappointment whenever boundaries are issued, and know these expressions of angst will only increase as she grows. Harry and I have to exercise great self-control when we set limits on her, as her immediate response is let out a cry of devastation, collapse onto the floor, get on all fours, and ever-so-gently tap her forehead on the floor. She then looks up, puts the palm of her dimpled hand onto her head, and says with quiet emphasis, "Boom!" Then she moves on blissfully while we hide our faces and try not to look at one another for fear that our laughter will burst forth!

Though her actual birthday was June 4, we celebrated with a small backyard party on June 6, a Saturday. Harry's family was able to come from Florida and South Carolina, while mine made their way from Colonial Heights, Richmond, and New Jersey (we are soooooo thrilled you could join us, Great Grammy!). In addition to family, we had a few close friends who have been such an integral part of Susannah's first year of life. These friends included several neighborhood children with whom Susannah "plays." The afternoon was absolute perfection for an outdoor party, with our hammock, a few beach balls, windmills, and bubbles providing endless entertainment for busy little bodies! Scrumptious food, a generous assortment of presents, and sweet fellowship was enjoyed as we celebrated Susannah's first year with, "An Afternoon of Strawberry Delights"!

Beach balls are soooooo fascinating and fun!

The "Afternoon of Strawberry Delights" began with a sandwich and potato chips lunch buffet followed by sugar cookies decorated like strawberries, Strawberry Shortcake, Strawberry Pretzel Dessert, and Strawberry Pie. I had such fun preparing all of these strawberry desserts the day before the party!

Homemade sugar cookies frosted to look like strawberries!

The party hat I made for Susannah...which she of course wouldn't wear!

"Rylie the Entitled" plants herself upon the picnic table in the backyard during the afternoon festivities.

Uncle Peter (Dada's brother), Aunt Tina, and their sweet little Ian David (age 4-and-a-half months in this picture) drove up from their SC home to spend the weekend and celebrate Susannah's birthday!

Modeling her strawberry-clad party hat!

Grammy and Great Grammy (Lacey's mother and grandmother) indulge in strawberry delights!

"It's my party and I'll read if I want to!"

Instead of traditional birthday cake, our Strawberry had her own plate of Strawberry Shortcake as her first birthday treat. Susannah is a cautious, observant little girl who spends a lot of time looking at new things...but not necessarily a lot of time diving into them. She did taste and seemed to enjoy the whipping cream, strawberry puree, and homemade biscuit underneath, though she only ate a little bit.

Our family

Time for presents! Cards were a particular favorite of our little reader! :)

A horsie card! Susannah LOVES all things horsie!

She ignored most of her gifts while enraptured by the curling ribbon atop this Pufferbellies gift card!

Mama, Jenna, Grandpa, Susannah Joy, and Sophie Grace (age 15 months)

Mama, Uncle Seth, Aunt Jenna, Baby Strawberry, and Sophalicious

The babies pose with Grammy and Grandpa

Hanging with Great Grammy on the sunporch! (Do you believe Great Grammy is 86...I mean....errrrr...29!?)

Three generations!

After the party, our family joined Granny (Harry's mom), G (Harry's dad), Uncle Peter, Aunt Tina, and baby Ian at Scotto's Italian Restaurant for a yummy dinner. We were all pretty exhausted, but it was the perfect way to end a perfect day!

Harry's side of the family!

Baby cousins with their grandparents! What fun it is to have babies on BOTH sides of our family!

Aunt Natalie (Lacey's brother Seth's fiancee) played with Susannah and her new "Busy Zoo" cube from Granny and G. What fun it is to maneuver the little beads all over the wire maze, and engage in all of the other great fine motor activities on all sides of this exciting new wooden toy!

Mama and Dada gave Susannah a ride-on ladybug for her first birthday. Upon seeing this ladybug in Pufferbellies Toys and Books a few years ago, I just KNEW I had to have one for my future babies! I saved up gift certificates and money, and shortly after Susannah's birth, put in my informal order. The store only carries them around Christmas, so Erin (the co-owner of Pufferbellies downtown) remembered my request and emailed me immediately upon their arrival, telling me that she was holding a ladybug for our little ladybug! It has lived in our basement since I bought it last October.

Though she's not quite big (or coordinated) enough to ride it this way yet, Susannah pushes it all around the house, propelling herself with her knees! Soon she'll be riding it like a little pro, though, and in the meanwhile her visiting toddler friends enjoy it!

The famous Strawberry "Ooooooooooo" face!





THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED MAKE OUR STRAWBERRY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY SOOOOOOOOO EXCEPTIONALLY DELIGHTFUL!!!!