But, as it turned out, it was good and bad. Meaning, some days I would get reports that Bastien did great. Other days, well, could have been better. But hey, I got my two hours of peace, so that’s all that really mattered.

I have to admit, I was a little more emotionally attached to the whole experience than I expected. Bastien really surprised and delighted me by willingly being dropped off at class each time and listening to his teacher most of the time.

He learned how to stand in a line. People, do you know how HUGE that is? He even learned to sit at circle time. I cannot even wrap my head around that.

I think the class was most successful because each session started with swim time and was usually followed by playground time. Physically wearing Bastien out is key to gaining his cooperation. Lucky for me, I had practice with a dog with similar needs for four years before Bastien ever came along. I’m no rookie. And neither is Miss Amanda, apparently.

So on the last day of school, Miss Amanda presented all the parents with this class picture. I was so touched, and frankly amazed, that I felt compelled to go the extra mile with my gratitude for what she had done for Bastien in such a short time.

So after dropping him off and getting Hadley down for her nap, I whipped up this coffee cozy. It takes all of 20 minutes–from getting the fabric and batting out to putting them back again. I can attest because that’s about all the time I had before I had to go pick him back up from school. I nabbed a Tim Horton’s gift card and cup to wrap the new coffee cozy around on the drive back.
The tutorial I used is here. Try it; even the most beginner sewer is sure to love this fun little project.

It’s great to keep these kinds of ideas on hand for last minute gift ideas. You know, for those hard-to-buy-for people you barely know, but who’ve made an impact in your life. Thank you Miss Amanda, we sure will miss you. Now what the heck am I supposed to do at nap time?

You are very adventurous and usually flail around in our arms until we let you down to crawl around, climb stairs, and quite often get into the dog food. Or, get the dog food into you, really.

No one can believe how tall and heavy you are – and we always laugh at how much you eat and how much you love food. I’d say spaghetti is your current fave. Good choice. I also take pride in how healthy you’ve always been.

You like a good schedule and can rarely keep it together past 7:00 PM. But, you usually roll with the punches (you usually don’t have a choice with Bastien around). You’ve been going to the pool with us pretty much since birth and never once flinched about being in the water. You’ve also been to pretty much every playground, beach, and library around. You’ve been to a lot of churches too – almost always happily. Though there was that time around your first Christmas when you always got us paged out of service due to stranger anxiety. You sure didn’t want me out of your sight and you sure let everyone know. This was OK (and short lived) thought I admit I was going to church to catch a break – and also I stressed the nursery workers out by not understanding (thus not responding to) the pager system that first time.

You’ve been a great little traveler, heading happily to Jekyll Island, Niagara Falls and Duck, North Carolina where we had a very happy first birthday celebration.

On your first birthday you woke up with a new tooth and we spent the day with a really stressful drive on the Northern Outer Banks beach looking for wild horses and generally being scared out of our minds at the treachery of it all. It also happened to be nap time and you did not like it one bit. Shrieking from your car seat probably wasn’t helpful to your dad’s concentration. But we all made it and it was pretty funny after all – and what other one-year-old can boast such an adventurous birthday? We ended the day with a delicious meal of burgers and sides, cupcakes and ice cream, all in our cheery vacation home. Bastien helped you blow out your candle and you danced to the music on the CD. Who knows? Maybe by the time you read this, CDs will be a thing of the past and you will realize how much things are always changing in your lifetime – just like you.

One thing is constant though. I’m talking about our endless love for you. You make us all feel special – your squeals for Daddy, the way you need to have a quick hug and finger suck on my shoulder when I first pick you up in the morning, and the way you’re always entertaining Bastien. Even sneaking away to bang on his door and wake him up at your whim.

You’re the best little girl we could hope for, a perfect addition to our family and just completely irresistible. Just like you can’t help yourself from dancing excitedly to any tune (or even any doorbell chime for that matter) – we cannot resist you and all of your happiness. You’re a one-of-a-kind wonder and we’re lucky to have you.

Happy birthday (a little late) big girl.
Love and kisses,
Mommy

This weekend, he spent all of his free time getting my advertising writing portfolio online which you can see here. I am so fortunate he has all the skills for this: photography, web development, interface knowhow and an artful eye. Otherwise, who knows how much something like this would set us back? We guestimated $1,000+ per portfolio. BTW, he IS for hire at this rate, all you writers and art directors out there. He is also going to kill me for writing that.

And speaking of who’s for hire, let’s talk about me. Writing is kind of my thing, if you haven’t noticed. And I could use some more of the paid variety. So if your business needs writing of any sort, now you know right where to find me. Ring-a-dinga-ding me!

So naturally this weekend we exchanged gifts. We’ve become quite the traditionalists when it comes to anniversary gifts – and often use the guideline of number of years wed=number of dollars spent on the traditional gift. You laugh, but it requires such thought that it often makes the giving all the more meaningful. HOWEVER, we’re already having trouble remembering what we gave in years 2-4, so I’m going to start writing it down. Hence the blog post you are now suffering through.

Last year we deviated from the micro-budget plan to celebrate our fifth (the wooden anniversary) with a new hutch in which to store all of the glassware wedding gifts that had been patiently waiting in our basement. There is such a long and stressful story about this hutch, I cannot even get into it. But now that we own it, we celebrate how it was the perfect match for us, housing not just the glassware, but also my home office in the middle portion and even the kids toys in the bottom. Now that’s multitasking at its finest!

This was the candy year, according to Hallmark. So Jim got me 6 fancy candy bars from Zingerman’s. Obviously he doesn’t read this blog or he would know I’m on a diet. But! They are handmade in Ann Arbor from premium ingredients and that is pretty darn cool. Plus, I can always eat one bite per day and celebrate the whole year through!

For my groom’s gift, I devised The Great Escape (a little play on The Great Escape Adventure Race we competed in on the first Sweetest Day of our relationship). His gift is comprised of three scheduled dates where we will go geocaching, mountain biking and kayaking. If you don’t count the babysitter, these gifts run a whopping $3.50 for the kayak rental, and another $2 for an iphone app to help with the orienteering. So I packaged it all up in candy bars and ended up breaking the budget. Oh well. He’s worth it.

We rounded out the day with a home improvement project (more on this later), topped of by a bite of our wedding cake that’s still fighting the good fight. And here’s to at least six more best years of our life!

We figure we both have about 20 pounds that we would be happy to never see again. And, we have this lovely weekend retreat coming up (pausing to thank God for husbands who are also saints) where we would like to look and feel our best.

So the game plan is to just report our daily food intake at the end of each day. It is eye opening, let me tell you. But also, it’s really fun to have someone to report to at the end of the day. It makes a big difference. Like, I better not eat another jelly bean, because hey, today might just be the day she decides to eat only applesauce. YOU NEVER KNOW!

Wish me luck. And please, whatever you do, DO NOT send chocolate cake.

I am so grateful for the way Gretchen’s birthdate falls just before Easter this year. It reminds me that she is better off than all of us now, thanks to the ultimate sacrifice of our risen Lord. It fills me with peace.

Before I sign off, I want to say:
Please love the people who are in your life today. Love them, and tell them so.

Lastly, when someone talks to you about their loss, there’s no need to be awkward. Your eyes will express your sorrow, even if your words can not.

Babies, and all of their poop, goop, spit-up, dirt and boogers have NO PLACE in the hands of a diamond-donning lady. Am I right?

Soooo. This year I told Jim I needed just the most basic wedding band he could find. since wearing my engagement ring has now been postponed until I’m, I don’t know, 96.

He got me this perfect ring and I could not be more satisfied. No place to trap poop! Ever the romantic, I will lovingly refer to it from here on as my Beater Ring.

But Jim? Now he’s the true romantic. You see, he had the inside engraved with his very own fingerprint. And we are still trying to decipher what this actually means. I’ve got his fingerprint wrapped around my finger? He’s got a finger on me? He’s not letting me slip through his finger?

Well, no matter, it is romantic, even if it is just a beater.

My hope though is that in posting this, I might encourage another mother to do the same. That is, donate milk, not fall short of the goal! By encouraging you, I will have given what I could, and then passed the torch. Isn’t that the best thing you can do for charity anyway?

And while I was on a donating rampage, here’s a similar little tidbit that is relevant to the big picture… Right before making this donation, I also donated a decent amount of formula samples to a local food bank.

Now do you want to hear the horrible irony? Of course you do!

When we took Hadley to the doctor last week, I asked how much milk she should be drinking. And from what I’ve learned from pumping, she is now getting about 10 less ounces per day than she should. That is 10 less ounces than I am now even capable of producing. The doctor suggested formula supplementation, or frozen breast milk.

Jim told me to call Bronson’s Milk Bank right up and tell them I need to make a withdrawal from my account.