The Strawberry Festival

We're going to do some major backtracking here, because, as I mentioned, our March was super duper busy and I sort of dropped the ball on the "timely blog posts" front for the majority of the month. Now, life seems to be slowing down a bit: the case I've been working on is selecting a jury this week so my work should be winding down, today is April 15 (did you file your taxes?) so Eric is about done with his H&R Block job, Ellie's birthday and Easter are behind us. The cold Ellie has been fighting for weeks also seems to be making its exit (halleluia, we can all sleep again). In short, we can all take a breath now, and this week I plan on going back and picking up on the things that I couldn't get to in the midst of the craziness.

So, today we go back to the first week of March, when we spent one of Eric's days off at the Florida Strawberry Festival. We had so much fun at the State Fair, and Ellie is a known strawberry enthusiast, so we knew we had to go. She even dressed the part:

Sporting her strawberry finest for the occasion

And so, off we went on a lovely March afternoon. We had no traffic issues, found cheap parking, and got the fun started.

This girl is clearly the queen of the Strawberry Festival.

Our first stop upon arrival was the pig race, but we were too late to get much a view. Still, love those pigs.

Eric and Elie trying to get a look at the racing pigs

There goes one!

Sweet baby holding on to her daddy in the crowd

Then, it was time to get down to business. We needed shortcake. Obviously, it didn't take much effort to find a place serving up such a thing, so I got one to share with Ellie. She loved it! That's my girl.

Shortcake!

Because Eric is a weirdo who does not like strawberry shortcake, we stopped for a funnel cake for him before continuing to just wander around. We walked past all the rides, and Ellie was particularly taken with the swing ride, which I assume looked to her like a big people-moving ceiling fan (one of her most favorite things in the world at the time).

Left: Eric gracefully consuming a funnel cake; Right: Ellie and me amongst the rides

Midway

Ellie very excitedly showing me her favorite ride

Throughout the afternoon, there was lots of fun to be had with strawberry-themed photo ops. And we are not people to pass up a photo op, am I right?

Left: My baby sitting in a giant strawberry throne; Right: apparently pigs eat strawberries?

Ellie and Daddy as strawberries

Sweet Ellie as a little white flower!

The gang's all here!

The other big event we made sure to check out was the jumping dog show. We arrived in plenty of time for this one and were able to get a good seat, where Ellie spent the half hour leading up to the show charming the people behind us. Then, when the show began, she was quite excited. She is a big fan of dogs so she was smiling and exclaiming and pointing like crazy as they did their tricks.

Hanging out with Daddy before the show

Waving to the dogs!

This dog just wanted somebody to throw the frisbee already.

So excited about the dogs!

I'll bet these dogs think they're fancy.

Jump-roping dog

Dogs long-jumping into a pool of water

Let me at those doggies!!!

After the dog show we did a little more wandering around and then made our way out. It was a beautiful afternoon and we had a great time - definitely a nice way to spend a March afternoon!

Family fun at the Strawberry Festival!

Baby Steps

Well folks, I am both thrilled and rather sad to announce that the days of Ellie's one-legged scoot-crawl are numbered. Yesterday, she took her first steps!

Enjoy it while it lasts!

Because she is kind of a punk, she naturally chose a moment to do so while I was not around to witness it. We spend almost every single waking moment of every single day together, yet she chose one of the few days that I spent working (instead of just using her naptimes to do so) to take those first steps. Eric was entertaining her in the other room while I worked and apparently she was standing on her own, holding his iPhone, and he asked her to give the phone to him. Then, just like that, those little feet started moving forward - essentially unprompted and definitely unassisted. What a moment!

Naturally I was sad to miss it, but it's nice Eric was there to witness it (although in fairness, he also got the first smile, first laugh, first arm reach and first word, but who's keeping track?). And she did repeat it later! I came out to see her during a break from work and came up behind her as she was holding onto the couch. She looked back and saw me and voila - two more steps, this time in my direction! Hip, hip, hooray!

I'm so proud of my baby girl and so excited to have reached this major milestone. Now, to go shoe shopping!

Heather's 28th Birthday

I have recently written approximately 50 posts relating to Ellie's birthday, but believe it or not, she is not the only one who recently celebrated a year of life. My sister Heather's birthday was March 28, the day before Ellie's. This was Heather's Golden Birthday - she turned 28 on the 28th. Yay for Heather!

To celebrate, she got a hotel room at Shephard's on Clearwater Beach. We have good memories at Shephard's - that's where we spent the weekend for my bachelorette party back in 2007, and had a blast. I hadn't been back there since then.

Flashback! Heather and me at Shephard's for my bachelorette party. You can't see it, but I'm wearing a veil with my bikini, which caused a couple of people to buy us the pictured free drinks. Pardon the penis straws.

On her birthday, Heather picked me up and we went out to the beach. Her friend Simon was already there, and he directed us to our room so we could get ready for the evening. The room was much nicer than I remembered (not that it was a dump before, of course, but maybe they've updated?), with a nice view of the water and a glorious shower.

Beach, here we come!

View from the room

Once we were properly primped, we headed down to the Tiki Bar for a quick happy hour drink. By that time, Heather's friends Tony and Corey had also arrived. I hadn't seen Tones since before Ellie was born (he just got back from a nearly-year-long stint working at Disney World in Tokyo - wicked cool, right?), and this was my first time meeting Corey, who bought me a beer and immediately gushed about how cute my kid is, so needless to say, he made a stellar first impression!

After drinks we hit up the Seafood and Prime Rib Buffet at the restaurant. Oh boy, was that delicious. We went a little crazy and pretty well stuffed ourselves. Mmmm, crab legs.

A random sampling from the buffet: prime rib, chocolate cake, and rainbow ice cream that looks like it's straight out of the movie Hook. And of course, crab leg remains. Yum.

Heather's friends Megan and Casey had joined us by that point, and after dinner we all went up to the room where her friends had set up her celebration: champagne, gifts, a Hannah Montana balloon, the works. We drank champagne out of gross-smelling paper hotel cups, and shortly thereafter, Heather's surprise cake was delivered. Well, it was supposed to be a surprise, but the room service guy knocked on the door and yelled, "Cake! Caaaaaake!" so...I think she guessed what was going on. They also failed to bring plates, silverware or the lit candles as requested, so cake delivery fail.

But, the cake was delish, and quite funny - it was made by Tony's cousin and was a delightful "cake wreck"-style tacky cake. Really, any tacky cake decoration that was available was on there, including pink flamingos, a frightening red-eyed white rabbit and a baby doll head.

Heather with her cake!

Happy 99th birthday, Bairds! You still got "it!"

We ate our yummy cake and hung out in the hotel room for a while longer. By that time, Eric had gotten Ellie to bed and my dad was home to take over baby duty, so Eric met us out there for a little bit. Soon, though, Heather and Co. decided to head down to the nightclub and that is when Eric and I made our exit. Ellie had been sick and wasn't sleeping very well through the night, so I knew I needed to be sober and home in case she woke up and needed my help to get back to sleep (sure enough, she was up about 30-45 minutes after we got home). Plus, frankly, hitting the club for the first time in years with a group of professional dancers would've been a little intimidating, ha!

From what I understand though, they had a great time at the club and even more fun at the beach the next day. I'm so glad my sister got to take a break from work for a couple of days (she's been working so insanely much for months on end) and got the celebration she wanted and deserved. And I'm so glad I was here to attend the festivities for the first time in a long time, even if it was only for a portion of the party! My sister is awesome, so I loved being here to celebrate her. Happy birthday, Heather! Love you!

One Year Old

So now that I've shared all the fun and details of Ellie's birthday party with you, let's talk about her actual birthday. Her party was held a week before her birthday, given that her birthday was on Good Friday this year and we didn't want to add another event to our guests' Easter weekend itineraries. So, by the time Ellie's actual birthday rolled around, the party was over and we were able to spend a quiet day together as a family. If you ask me, it was perfect.

How old is Ellie? ONE!

Unfortunately, Eric got called in to work unexpectedly on her birthday morning, so Ellie and I had to start the day sans Daddy. But, we already had plans to have a birthday breakfast at Cracker Barrel with my mom, so she agreed to pick us up and off we went. Ellie spent breakfast happily munching on toast and waving at the large mounted deer head above the fireplace. Good times.

The birthday girl at breakfast!

After breakfast we returned home so Ellie could take a little birthday nap (we should all be so lucky, am I right?). By the time she woke up, Eric was home and we were able to take Ellie's official 12-month photo. And then, of course, we had to spend some time looking back through all the other pictures in disbelief over how far she's come in a year, and how fast that year flew by.

The First Year of Ellie

We were closely watching the clock all afternoon to make sure we wouldn't miss Ellie's birth time: 3:27 p.m. We had a little celebration planned for her birth minute, thanks to Eric's thoughtfulness. He came home from work that day with a bouquet of purple flowers for me (similar to the ones he had sent to me after Ellie was born), and he arranged for a three-drink toast: ice water, then orange Gatorade, then Cherry Coke. He remembered that as soon as I came out of surgery, I was so insanely thirsty, and for whatever reason, I wanted those three exact things, in that exact order. I couldn't have them last March 29th, but this year, I got all three right in a row, my dream come true!

Our celebration is ready to go!

Ellie and me toasting her birth minute together!

After our birth minute celebration, we went to Toys 'R Us for a bit to browse. We couldn't pull the trigger on any more new toys for Ellie, unfortunately (the girl really came home with quite the haul after her party), but it was fun to wander around and look.

When we got home, we decided to set up Ellie's Cozy Coupe so she could take it for a spin on her big day. She was very excited about this and couldn't even wait until the wheels were on before jumping right in. Luckily, Auntie Heather and Uncle Tones came by just in time to keep her distracted while Daddy put the thing together.

Left: This girl is ready to ride! Right: Ellie and Auntie Heather

Once the Coupe was mostly assembled, we took a break for birthday cupcakes. We all gathered around, lit Ellie's candle and sang "Happy Birthday" to her. Then, we unleashed her on her cupcake. Once again: not a fan of the cake. She was pretty mad by the time she was even allowed to eat it (she didn't like me holding her hands away from the lit candle, naturally), but she really just wanted nothing to do with it. Weirdo!

A little unsure about the whole thing

We may have forgotten to get a family photo at the party, but we made sure to get one to commemorate the actual birthday!

Helping Ellie blow out the candle!

Why do you people keep forcing this disgusting sweetness on me?!?! Just give me some broccoli and let's call it a day.

After the cupcake refusal, we opened Ellie's present from Auntie Heather (lots of adorable clothes!) and then it was Cozy Coupe time. She loved it! We took her out for a little ride around our culdesac and she was a natural. My little girl in her first car!

Adorable.

She loves it!

Beep, beep!

Cutie pie.

When we went back inside, we gave Ellie a gift from us: a Noah's Ark Little People set. It was a hit!

She's very excited!

We also bought Ellie the Dr. Seuss birthday book and a sandbox, which we tried out the next day (pardon my skipping out of chronological order for a moment, here). The sandbox was not exactly a smashing success, but I think she'll warm up to it in time!

Get me out of here!!!!

After her final gifts, our little birthday girl was all tired out, so it was off to bed. And once she was asleep, it was time for her parents to celebrate. Eric and I treated ourselves out to a date night at Carrabba's, where we ate tasty food, drank sangria, and reflected on our first year as parents. It was a perfect evening.

And that's it. Our first baby's first birthday is officially in the books. I loved every second we spent celebrating her and our first year as a family. We are so very blessed.

Happy birthday, Ellie-Bellie. We love you.

March 29, 2012 and March 29, 2013 - what a year!