has anyone seen my baby?

Sometime when I wasn't looking, my baby disappeared. And in his place is a darling little 17-month old toddler who I will gladly keep. But I miss my little baby.

Tony has a hard time understanding why I want Ryan to stay a baby because Ryan just gets funner and funner each day (isn't that like a man??). When I tried to explain that if Ryan keeps growing at this rate, he'll be leaving for college before we know it. And then what would we do with the rest of our lives?

I can hardly bear the thought.

But neither can Tony. Whenever I talk about Ryan growing up or graduating from high school or college or getting married or anything about him growing into an adult, Tony just about loses it. Really. I can honestly talk about Ryan going on a mission and Tony will get teary eyed. My big, strong husband is reduced to tears so easily sometimes. It's quite tender.

Anyway, back to my little baby. I do miss having a little newborn something terrible, but Tony's right. He is a pretty hilarious kid (and one who gives me little time to rest). Every time I turn my back he is climbing onto something. And that little reindeer he's holding? It used to have twig antlers and a bell and a tail. And that little red nose? Gone.

And even if all our holiday decorations are now broken, eyeless, noseless and antlerless. I'd trade all the holiday decor in the world for time with this little boy of ours.

Because our little boy, Ryan, the terror of all reindeer, is the best gift of all.

I've been crying a lot lately

It's true. And it's not because I've been watching cheesy Hallmark holiday movies. There are a lot of reasons lately and I'm not sure how to tie this together in a cohesive blog posting. So I'll just start typing and see where this takes us. hang on...there might be some sad moments...

On November 30th, my little brother Trent called with some sad news. A good friend of his, Jared Johansen, passed away in his sleep. Jared is young. I'd guess around 27 or so. He has a young, beautiful wife named Tiffany, a daughter who is a little older than Ryan and they are expecting another baby girl in January.

They are a beautiful family. Jared's parents are friends with my parents and are the salt of the earth type of people. And even though I only knew Jared as Trent's friend, my heart has been breaking for them.

Take a look at this and you'll see what I mean. http://www.jaredjohansenlegacy.com/

I don't mean to turn everything and make it about me, but I think the reason I've been so emotional is because this is my biggest fear. Being older parents, my biggest fear is leaving Ryan behind without any parents. Now you may think that is an irrational fear, but that is what happened to my dear husband. His mother passed away when he was 17 and his father when he was 22. And it breaks my heart when I hear him talk about what a desperately sad and lonely time it was for him.

And while he had older brothers and sisters, they didn't have a strong community around them - whether it was church or extended family or friends and it was a difficult time for Tony.

So back to my biggest fear of leaving Ryan alone in the world...it appears that a biological second child isn't going to be in the picture, so we're in the process of exploring other "options" to bring another child (or children??) into our family.

And believe me, that isn't easy. I'm still in the exploration phase and quite frankly, it's overwhelming.

Sure, we'd love to adopt a healthy, newborn baby, but really, a 53 and 45 year old couple probably isn't the first choice for a birth mom. Besides, there are so many babies and children in the world who are living in orphanages who need a home.

That led me to look at international adoptions. But again, the age thing. We're too old to adopt from most countries. Except for Special Needs adoptions in China, which quite honestly, is what I've been drawn to from the very beginning.

So I've been reading stories about children who need a home. I've been watching videos of children who have found their "forever family". And that is another reason why I've been crying a lot lately. I've also been researching foster adoptions again.

All these children in the world who need love and care. It truly is heartbreaking. I wish we could take them all into our home and love them and care for them.

So if you happen to see me with red-rimmed eyes or a stuffy nose, it's probably because I've just watched a video about a little baby in China who needs a cleft palate surgery...and a loving home.

happy birthday auntie melissa!

I gave up trying to be the favorite auntie several years ago. When it comes to my sister Melissa, there's just no competition. Even though I lived just a few minutes away from Janelle's kids and saw them several times a month, even though I lavished them with toys and clothes whenever I could, even though I bribed them with candy and treats if they would say I was their favorite, I just couldn't compete with Melissa.

One time I came over to Janelle's house and I announced that their favorite auntie was here, Brixen (who is the most honest kid I've ever met) just said, "no you're not." There it was, game over. But I was happy to concede defeat to Melissa. Auntie Melissa, who lives all the way over in Hawaii will always be the favorite.

I'm just grateful that I now have a child of my own to be blessed to have an Auntie Melissa.

Auntie Melissa just has a way about her. She loves kids and kids LOVE her. She's a high school math teacher in Hawaii and her students love her. They hang out in her classroom at lunch, after school, they even come on Saturdays. Now, I'm not sure what kind of teachers you had in high school, but I don't remember a single one who I'd CHOOSE to hang out with.

Can I just brag about a few things that she does? In addition to teaching about the regular math stuff, she teaches the practical things that kids will need in life. One of the students' favorite classes is where the kids actually think of and run a business. A REAL business. They might sell t-shirts or food, or anything like that. They have to present their business plan to the banker (Melissa) to apply for a loan. Their presentation determines the interest rate on their loan. And then the kids receive money, ACTUAL money, to start and run their business. And guess where the money comes from? NOT the school. From my sister, Melissa. Now teachers in Hawaii, like most teachers, are not paid well. But she does it because she believes in teaching the kids something important.

I don't know how many years she's been doing this now, but it's been a long time. And she's only had one group who hasn't paid back their loan. The rest of the groups have paid back the loan and made a bit of money. And guess what they do with that profit? Does it go in my sister's bank account for the next semester? Nope. It goes to a charity.

Pretty amazing huh?

Can I share one more thing? She chaperone's a group of students on an international trip every year. It's no surprise that she's usually the favorite chaperone in the group. The thing that is surprising is that she manages to take a student with her that would normally NEVER be able to afford or experience a trip like that. She works really hard to raise money and contributes quite a bit herself each year to take a deserving student. She's in the process of creating a non-profit organization so she can continue to raise money to take a teenager to Italy or Greece or France.

When I asked her why someone would want to donate money for a teenager to go to Italy when there are lots of starving kids in the world, she told me a story. It was a story (true of course) of a student who was so amazed by the opportunity and so touched that it literally changed her life. She had no idea what was out there in the world. Previously, she didn't really have any goals other than day-to-day survival. And now she did.

So happy birthday Auntie Melissa. And thank you for not only filling our lives with happiness and laughter, but also making this a better world.

We love you and love you.

Tony, Natalie and (your favorite) nephew, Ryan

does our tree look funny to you?

I love putting up our Christmas tree in our new house. I love the backdrop of the mountains and the valley behind the tree. But this year, something seems a bit off. Here's a photo of our tree. Does anything look funny to you? Take a good look.

How about now?

Yep, with the exception of lights (and if you look closely, you'll probably see pulled wires hanging loosely from the branches), our tree is pretty much naked from the waist down. I tried crocheting some simple ornaments to put on the lower half of the tree so Ryan could take them off the tree, play with them, do whatever he wanted, without any danger of broken glass and cut little fingers. But do you see any on the tree? They are somewhere in the house, but have seen a lot more action as balls to throw than they have as Christmas ornaments.

And I'm pretty sure there won't be any presents under the tree this year until Santa brings them Christmas morning. Ryan has learned to say "tree" but not on cue. I'm trying to coax him into saying "tree" and then turning on the lights as soon as he says it so it seems like magic. But so far, we have a very un-magical tree.

So we have a bit of a modified Christmas this year. But with all the joy this little mischevious boy brings, it's a small price to pay!

I'm freakishly good...

Several years ago my family had this weird conversation about what we're freakishly good at. I suppose it all started with jigsaw puzzles.

For as long as I can remember, Santa gave me a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas. I LOVED puzzles! And for several days between Christmas and New Years, we would work on puzzle after puzzle. In fact, the holidays just don't seem complete unless I do at least one.

And if I do say so myself, I am freakishly good at doing puzzles. Ask anyone in my family. I know what they'll say.

But here's the thing. If you could be freakishly good at something, let's say anything at all, would you choose to be freakishly good at doing puzzles?

I think not.

This led to us asking each other what we would be freakishly good at. If you could choose anything in the whole, wide world, what would you want to be freakishly good at?

I would love to be able to sing. Freakishly. As a second runner up, I would love to be able to play any and every musical instrument. Just be able to pick up a guitar and jam. Play the violin until it made my mom cry. I think you get the picture.

My sister Melissa said she'd love to be able to do spontaneous back flips. She wants to be able to walk down the street and just jump and do a back flip. I have to agree, that would be pretty amazing.
My husband thinks he's freakishly good at dancing. But really, it's just freakish.

So, as the puzzle season approaches, I ask you two questions....what are you freakishly good at and if you could be freakishly good at ANYTHING, what would it be?

I bet it's not puzzles.

a somewhat long-winded story about a simple stocking for Ryan

Two winters ago was the winter of our partial discontent. I was pregnant and sick every day. We were remodeling our home. While our home was being remodeled, we were living in the unrented rental home of my ex-boyfriend (which is another post altogether, but one I probably won't be writing anytime soon. Let's just say it was a mistake and leave it at that).

In spite of the sickness and craziness, we were happy. Really happy. Good things were on the horizon....a new house....a new baby....a new life.

I needed to decorate for Christmas, but our decorations were stored in some unknown location amongst our furniture and furnishings. So I decided to make some Christmas stockings (which would also be our sole decoration that year). I searched and searched for the perfect Christmas stocking to make for our family. There were so many to choose from! In the end, I passed up the lace, the embroidery, the quilted, and the adorned and chose a simple, felt stocking with a single initial appliqued on the front.

In the midst of all the chaos, I not only needed to, but wanted to simplify my life. I made three stockings - one with a "t" for Tony, one with an "n" for Natalie and one with an "a" for Abby.

Last year, I exhibited my tremendous mothering skills and figured my five-month old Ryan wouldn't know whether he had a stocking or not, so we still had our three simple, felt stockings.

THIS year, I was determined to include Ryan in our Christmas Stocking Festivities, even though I'm pretty sure he still won't remember whether or not he had one this year. I thought about making new stockings. Maybe velvet with our names embroidered along the cuff? But when I pulled out our simple, felt stockings, I still loved the simplicity.

So, out came the felt and before long, Ryan had his own Christmas stocking with his appliqued "r" on the front (don't look too closely, I'm no seamstress!).

One of the fun things about these stockings, is making words with the letters. Last year, I arranged them in the words ANT, TAN and my favorite: NAT. This year, I was adding the letter "r" to the game.

I thought and thought about all the words I could create and in the end, decided that I would go the boring route and hang them in order of our age....which seems to fit our family culture just fine.

be good to yourself

A couple of months ago my sister Janelle emailed me and asked if I wanted to buy a groupon thing for a personal trainer - $50 for 16 sessions! We wondered how good the trainer would be at that price, but we decided to go for it.

We started at the beginning of November when my traveling slowed down and can I just say, I can now do 100 sit-ups and 100 push-ups (yes, girl push-ups, if you must know). But if you happen to see me on a Tuesday or a Friday and wonder why I'm moving so slowly, well, it's because I just did 100 sit-ups and 100 push-ups.

Our trainer is actually one of the better trainers I've worked with (and I've worked with quite a few). It's group training which is something new, but Janelle and I are able to go together. It's always good to have someone to make fun of when you're working out.

One of the things our trainer always tells us is "be good to yourself."

At first, I wondered how and when. I thought of cookies and ice cream and warm bubble baths. But after several weeks, I've come to the conclusion that simply taking a few minutes for myself is all I need (and, honestly, about all I can manage these days).

I tried to take a couple of days off work this week and while I was pretty unsuccessful, I did have a few hours to work on a project that I've been putting off for a very long time. It felt good. I still have long list of incomplete projects, but one is done. If I get really ambitious, I'm going to finish the baby blanket I was going to make before Ryan was born.

So, my message to myself and to anyone who happens to read this is, "be good to yourself."

Personally, I plan to take as much time off as possible this month - which probably won't be much, but it will be something. And I plan on continuing to work out with Angie Idle (isn't that a great name for a trainer...idle!). Who knows, maybe in a month I'll be doing 200 sit-ups and push-ups. And yes, they'll probably still be girl push-ups. It's what I do.

Happy Belated Birthday Mr Brown

Last October marked the first birthday of our new company, Mr Brown. It's been quite a ride, starting with the company launch just a few months after Ryan's pre-mature birth. THAT was fun. Working 100 hour weeks with a newborn is something I wouldn't mind not repeating.

It's a fun collection. This is one of my favorite chairs (I would change the upholstery on it), but don't you LOVE that wrap-around arm?!

Looking at the pictures is a bit overwhelming with stuff (yes, stuff!) everywhere you look. Thee line has also done amazingly well. We have customers telling us all the time that it's inspiring. See, in the high(ish) side of the furniture world, there was a "look" that was taking over the industry. That look was introduced by a company called Bobo's Intriguing Objects and was soon seen just about every where you turned in a furniture tradeshow. Which, as you know, makes something not as special. That look can now be seen at Restoration Hardware.

Enter Mr Brown. And if I do say so myself, it looks marvelous!

High Point Furniture Market

To keep with my tradition of blogging about a month or so after events take place, here are some photos from our Julian Chichester showroom at the October Furniture Market in High Point. My favorite new piece of the show is below - the Jane Churchill Curved Desk in Black Vellum. LOVED this!

This was a long trip - I was there for about 10 days - a very long time to be away from Ryan! This time though, Tony came out for the weekend. I loved having him there. Between the two companies, I was often busy, but I didn't have to worry about entertaining Tony at all. In fact, I would often walk into the showroom and find him talking to a customer! Tony was also able to meet Mr. Julian himself which is always delightful.

The show ended up being a big success. We had a great response from the press and customers alike. It was a LOT of work - I often put in 15-20 hours days. Not much sleep either. It's a good thing I LOVE my job!

Halloween before Thanksgiving

Just after Halloween, I saw hundreds (or so it seemed) of Halloween photos of all my friends' kids on Facebook. It was fun seeing all the cute and clever costumes. And the kids...so adorable! I wanted to squeeze everyone of them!

And as I looked at picture after picture, I mentally made a goal (I thought facetiously) to post Ryan's Halloween pictures SOMETIME before Thanksgiving.

Well, here we are. Thanksgiving Eve.

So to reach my lofty goal....may I present Ryan: our little panda bear:

Last Halloween, I waited until a week before to go buy his costume and found out that that was entirely too late. We ended up being a banana. But he was a cute banana!

This time, I was determined to buy a costume early. I shopped online and found a great deal on a cute little panda costume back in September. September! That has to be some kind of record for me.

But when it arrived, it didn't look anything like the cute little panda I saw on-line. You can't see the eyes (which, believe me, is a very good thing), but they are scary. I thought about returning it, but knew I wouldn't find the time so I decided to make a note for Ryan to wear that said "my mom thought this was cute on the internet".

When Halloween finally came around, I abondoned the note idea. By that time I was used to the idea that my little boy would be a darling little panda with buggy eyes.

So with that, Happy Thanksgiving from our buggy-eyed, cute little panda bear!

trouble

This month is a bit of a tough one. Our big fall Furniture Market in High Point, North Carolina is fast approaching which means a few things:

1. Very little sleep.

2. Lots of travel - I'll be gone for 15 days in October. yuck.

3. Some amazing new products for both of my companies...I'll post some pictures later.

4. I'll miss my little guy....so much it hurts to think about it.

5. I probably won't be blogging too much.

What do these pictures have to do with this posting? Nothing really except to remind you of that cute Smart baby. He's pretty much walking everywhere these days. And he's into just about everything.

I pulled out his old carseat to give to my cousin Valynne and he had to climb in to have a "moment" before his parting farewell.

So, I'll try to keep you posted, but as my blog suggests, I wouldn't expect too much.

Flashback Friday

This post was supposed to be for last Friday, but obviously time got away from me...

A couple of weeks ago we were able to attend Southern Cross Humanitarian/Eagle Condor Humanitarian's annual fundraising banquet. Southern Cross is the organization I've been involved with for the past several years - although I've taken a sabbatical this past year.

Because I haven't been involved and frankly, because it's been so long since I've been to Peru (three years!), it's been out of mind.

But the Banquet, brought it all back. And it felt good. Plus, last night I had a dream about the kids.

It's all been a good reminder to me to keep my priorities straight and mostly to be grateful for what I have been blessed with and to use what I have to bless others. It also reminded me of how these precious little Peruvian children have blessed my life. And that is what I miss most of all.

we're really moving now!

da da

There's a reason why "da da" was Ryan's first word. It's because he's completely and totally fascinated with his daddy.

When Tony walks into the room, Ryan's face literally lights up.
When I'm feeding Ryan, he waves to daddy at least 5 or 6 times.
When Tony sings to Ryan, he squeals with delight.

Tony says Ryan does the same to me, but I know better. There is something special about their bond. I think it's because Tony's a single dad about once a month and they have their male bonding time without mommy around.

And knowing daddy will sneak a treat for him doesn't hurt either...

sick baby...sad mommy

warning...lots of references to poop (but no pictures)...read at your own risk...

Ryan's been sick. Not horribly sick. In fact, if you didn't know, you wouldn't be able to tell from just watching him. He's his usual happy, funny, little boy. But he's got the runs and a horrible diaper rash.

On Sunday we went for a little hike up the canyon. Ryan loves watching Abby run all over like a mad dog and he loves watching the leaves and the trees. And this time, Ryan especially loved hearing the water in the creeks. We had such a nice time.

But when we got home, Ryan was sitting in a pool of poop. And it wasn't pretty.

On Monday afternoon he started pooping every hour on the hour and it was painful both for Ryan and for us to watch him suffer. He'd poop and then cry. Now this little boy doesn't cry very much and when he does, he doesn't cry for long. But if he's got a reason to cry, boy, it is heartbreaking to hear. It's genuinely so SAD sounding.

So Tony and I would take him into the bathroom where we had a makeshift changing station by the sink. Ryan was crying in pain the whole time. We'd wash his little red bum by squirting warm water and then pat it dry and slather it with diaper rash cream. And as soon as he was diapered and clean, he would start smiling again.

But an hour later, we'd start all over.

Those of you mothers out there know what I'm talking about. And I know you're going to tell me you never stop worrying. And you never stop hurting when your child hurts.

The thing is, I always knew my parents loved me. I knew they hurt when I hurt.

But now, I get it. I really get it.

So for all the times when that hurt wasn't from natural causes like a skinned knee or from uncontrollable forces such as the dumb boy I was dating...for all the times when that hurt was because I chose to hurt you or others, I'm sorry.

Because if that hurt is anything like watching Ryan cry as I washed his little red bum, well, I'm just sorry. So so sorry. But I'm also grateful for you. So so grateful.

And I love you. So so love you.

mother of the year

Becoming a first-time mother a little later in life brought a few fears. I feared the natural mothering instinct might have faded over my single years. So I'm strangely comforted when I hear Ryan crying and I instinctively understand that he is in trouble. But I'm also disturbed that when I run and find my child has crawled over one side of the barstool and is stuck, I run to find my camera before extracting him and comforting him in his distress.

But I AM proud that I can identify potentially harmful objects that might poke an eye out or skewer a soft tummy. Especially when my little one is perched on lofty benches that are 3/4 as high as his little body.

And of course, I'm happy to report that we've created challenges and obstacles for Ryan to overcome. Because after all, that which does not seriously harm or maim must make you stronger right?

So I hereby nominate myself for mother of the year.

Ryan and Cousin Mia

On Sunday, the family all came over for dinner at mom and dad's. Uncle Paul (we missed Auntie Gerry who was in Maryland celebrating Ethan's birthday), Jeni, Erin, Dave and Joshua, Lauren and Aaron, Matt and Kim, Gary and Racquel, Melissa, David and Angie and little cousin Mia! This was our first time meeting cousin Mia and she's as cute in person as she is in pictures. We tried and tried taking a cute picture of the two of them, but SOMEONE wouldn't quite cooperate. As you can see, Ryan was more fascinated with the bow in Mia's hair than with Mia.

Thanks mom for a yummy dinner!

life's a beach

My favorite things to do at the beach:

1. Watch the waves, surfers, people. The waves were huge that day - bigger than I've ever seen them at Santa Cruz. And the people...there wasn't any shortage of people watching that day.

2. Sleep on the beach....aahhh....there's nothing better than sleeping with the sun on your face, the wind in your hair and the sound of the waves in the background. Mom, Miss and I all got a bit of a beach snooze in. Lovely.

3. Play with Ryan. He wasn't too sure of the sand at first and he definitely didn't like the freezing cold northern california ocean. But after a while, he was shoveling with the best of them.

4. Ride the carousel.

Ryan wasn't too sure about the ride. I'm not sure if it was the horse moving up and down and around and around or the funny grandpa in the horse ahead of us taking pictures like the paparazzi.

The main reason we go to Santa Cruz is to ride the carousel at the Boardwalk. It's an old classic carousel with beautifully painted horses. And the trick on this carousel is to choose a horse on the outside so you can grab a ring and throw it at the clown.

In the above picture, Melissa is just about to grab a ring out of the arm that sticks out from the wall. There's orange, yellow and black painted at the end. See it? Once you grab the ring, you have about 1 second to get ready and throw it in the clown's mouth below...

I think Melissa might have gotten a bulls-eye here. When you throw it in his mouth, his eyes light up. And they definitely look lit up.

We love coming to the beach....so much so that we found a little beach house that we might try to stay at next year!

there's no place like home

We just returned from visiting my parents in California. We flew to CA last Thursday night. Friday morning, my parents went to the gym early (I was tried to go but was uninvited) and while they were gone, my sister Melissa (who lives in Hawaii) called on their home phone. Our conversation went something like this:

Miss: I thought I called mom and dad...did I call your phone by accident?

Me: Nope...I'm at mom and dad's.

Miss: I didn't know you were going home - when did you get there?

Me: We got here last night.

Miss: What are you doing today?

Me: We're headed to the beach.

And then my sister - did I mention she lives in Hawaii? - walks into my mom and dad's kitchen!

I was totally shocked and frankly, a bit confused. We were still talking on the phone so I can hear her on the phone and then I see her in the kitchen. I jumped up and hugged her and started crying.

So Day 1? pretty darn fun. We headed to Santa Cruz for Ryan's first real beach experience. It was a tad bit on the cold side, but so, so fun.

Thanks for the fun surprise Auntie Melissa!

three years and counting

Tony and I celebrated our anniversary at La Caille this past weekend. When the waitress surprised us with chocolate covered strawberries with a sparkler in it, the neighboring table offered their congratulations and asked us how many years we've been married.

When I replied "three", I thought that couldn't be right. It had to be more than three! Wasn't it more like nine or ten? But I quickly calculated 2011 minus 2008 and yes, that was indeed three. Not that it seems like three years = forever, but honestly....I can hardly remember my life before Tony.

We sat on the patio and enjoyed one of Utah's lovely summer nights. And as we were chatting, Tony said somewhat non-chalantly, "I've been meaning to ask if you want to start on the adoption process."

I looked over at my husband of three years and I kid you not. My heart melted. Earlier that day at the farmer's market, we saw three little Asian girls. Tony saw them, called my name and I could see the look in his eyes. He was smitten.

So with the morning's memory fresh on my mind, I replied, "Are you ready? You know our little girl will have you wrapped around her little finger." Tony said he didn't think it would be any more than Ryan having his daddy wrapped around his little chubby fingers, but I know better.

So I guess this is it. The beginning of another adventure...

the farmer's market drummer boy

For those of you who go to the SLC farmer's market...have you seen this kid? We've seen him quite a few times and he's amazing.

For those of you who haven't been to the SLC farmer's market, you should go. If for no other reason than to see this kid. I think he's going to be famous some day.

He's ten and a half.

first steps...

It's always hard being away from home, but this time I was SO afraid I was going to miss Ryan's first steps. I kept telling Tony to make sure Ryan DIDN'T take his first steps while I was in New York. He was to do whatever it took - duct tape wasn't beyond the realm of possibilities.

And if by chance, Ryan did take those first few steps, Tony wasn't, under any circumstances, to tell me about it. I didn't want to know I missed another first - especially this one.

So yesterday afternoon I arrived back home. We went straight over to pick him up and I spent several hours just playing with him. And a few hours after I was home, he did took his first steps! Yes, he's holding onto the strings from the blinds, but we'll take it.

I love the look he gives the camera just before he falls so gracefully backward...

ryan and charlotte

Cousin Charlotte came over to play the other day. It was actually the first time the two cousins sorta interacted.

And I have to say, it was so darn cute.

Although Charlotte wasn't too keen on sharing her binky.

Can't say that I blame her though.

look what we had in our backyard last week....

We actually had two of them, but I only got a good picture of the one. It was really amazing to see them but they sorta creeped me out how they were watching Abby so intently just below them.

On another note, I'm headed to New York tonight and may or may not be able to post until I get home end of next week. It's the New York Gift Fair which is a fun show, but August is NOT my favorite time of year to be in New York.

ryan's birthday

For Ryan's 1st birthday, Tony and I took him to the zoo. He loved looking at all the animals, but I think his favorites were the giraffes with the elephants in a close second. I loved watching the look of wonder in his eyes as he tried to process what these large animals were.

I loved that we had a low-key celebration without a lot of fanfare and gifts. All we really wanted was to spend time with our little boy. And that's just what we did.

So we did without the big party. We did without the birthday cake. And we even did without a lot of presents. Grandma and Grandpa Mano sent some great books which we love and some cute clothes and he loved the books books and toys from cousins. We gave him a snappy little $5 car that says "Finn McMissile...British Intelligence" which he loves.


Afterall, besides spending a day with mommy and daddy at the zoo, what more could a one-year old ask for?