The Big 1!

Here's me at about 5 or 6 am, one year ago...after already being in labor for, oh...let's see...8 or nine hours. (SO glad I'm not pregnant anymore.)

That's right folks-Misha will officially turn one tonight at 8:11pm EDT. I can hardly believe I'm mother to a toddler. Heck, I can still hardly believe I'm a mother. Anyway-we celebrated Sunday since my sister and niece were in town. We had a couple of close friends from Southern Maryland over as well, and had a blast celebrating and watching Misha down her first piece of cake independently.

You obviously see Jer here in the movie-the little girl next to him is the daughter of two of our close friends, Jeff and Katie. You'd be surprised-she's only 3, and I swear the tallest one I've ever seen. My dad's voice is the distinguishable deep one in the background-he's actually standing just out of view. Clearly I'm the one filming. After we sang to her, we put a disposable table cloth over the chair and what not, stripped her down to her diaper, and let her go to town. You can actually see she was a bit anxious to get her chance in the video.

And yes...the cake was good enough to lick the plate. I love McKay's cakes...

She got a lot of toys (THANK YOU EVERYONE!..she really needed some news ones to freshen up the exploring), and some fabulously cute clothes from my mom.
After she was done mashing cake all over creation, I took her upstairs for a quick bath and then she opened her presents.
She was highly entertained, as were we all. So, how old is she?

That's right, one.

Oh, and here's a picture of her and my niece after the party Saturday night.
All in all, I think she's had a pretty great first birthday, minus the shots she had to get at the doctor's today. Here's to many more birthdays! I love you, Misha, and Happy Birthday!

30 Years

Is how long my parents have been married. Can you believe that?!?! I can't-and sometimes I don't think they can either. But, they've made a major milestone, and in a world that is ever increasing in divorce rates, I'm really happy for and proud of them. My sister and I planned a surprise anniversary party, and despite the both of us at separate times coming close to blowing the surprise, we totally duped them. It was a blast, and it was so wonderful to have so many come, and to have so many write them very heartfelt letters that we had bound into a book as a gift. I truly love my parents-they are two of the smartest, most generous and charitable people that I know. They've taught me so much in how to make a marriage work. I don't think I can honestly remember ever hearing them yell at one another...that's not to say that they've never been unhappy with the other, just they were very good about not hanging their dirty laundry out to dry. It's something I respect, and wish so much that I was better at. They're a testament that if you're willing to work at your marriage, be forgiving, and love unconditionally, that it really can work. They've given me so much in my life, and I respect them more than I can possibly say. So Mom and Dad-here's to 30 more!

Napping...

Is not something my child wakes up well from.

Well, all, it's my last weekend before starting a "real" job. It's going to be a hectic week and a half or so. But I'm praying I make it. I'm uber stoked about it. I hope everyone is well! Perhaps I'll be posting a picture of me looking very similar to this in about a week.

Firsts

Being captured giving kisses....

Staring into her first fire....
Well, this isn't really a first, but it is a first on "film"...here she is trying to crawl in a dress....

Upgrades

So, thanks to our refund this year, we were able to go out and purchase some much needed improvements to our house (and still save some!). I realized some of you haven't even seen what our "house" (Okay, it's a duplex) looked like, so here it is with a lawn much in need of mowing after all the rain we've been getting. The first thing we got was a desk. (Courtesy of Ikea-that place is a MAZE.)

Oh so needed! Although I shouldn't complain about our last one-it was free courtesy of North Fork Fire Department (we miss you guys!)...but they were getting rid of it for a reason.
Next we got Misha a crib. (Courtesy of Overstock.com) She's really close to outgrowing her pack-n-play, so we upgraded to a crib that converts from crib to toddler bed to day bed to head and foot board for a twin size bed. GOOD investment...I'm thinking if we have another kid, it'll get one of these from the get go. Our next upgrade was our patio furniture...(courtesy of HomeDepot.com)
again, the original was free...and I finally feel like I'm starting to make my house my own, instead of free stuff from other people. While I liked the old, the flower print and PVC piping just weren't doing it for me.
Although they did glide quite nicely. We added to the patio furniture with a new "fire pit". (Courtesy of HomeDepot.com as well..You can even see a bit of the old desk there to the left.)
Obviously this isn't a pit, but it's awesome, and it will allow me to stare into some flames and not think about anything...it's one of my favorite things to do, and it seriously relaxes me to sit in front of a fire...I suppose I truly am a pyro at heart. Back at Christmas time we began our new furniture collection with a new tv stand (Courtesy of WalMart...it was previously sitting on a broken coffee table with a sheet over it),
and a movie case (Courtesy of WalMart as well...the contents of which were previously on an open book case).
Obviously these were needed because Misha had begun crawling and getting into things...so we needed things that were enclosed. And I think by now everyone realizes how much I really like dark furniture. So these are our wonderful improvements...our next save up is for a flat screen...but that may be a while in coming.
For those of you who haven't heard the good news.................no, I'm not pregnant if that's what you're thinking. I was previously employed at an agency called OMV Medical Inc. as a Respiratory Therapist. I was working at National Naval Medical Center on an "as needed" basis. I am proud and very happy to say that I upgraded my job as well and am now a full time Respiratory Therapist at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health. It's literally across the street from Navy, I just make a right turn instead of a left. I'm really excited about it...I'll have much more of an opportunity to be a therapist rather than a tech who dispenses nebs and pushes buttons on a ventilator. It's a very prestigious place to work, and I'm really stoked to be working with some people that seem really awesome (one of them being the girl that trained me during my clinical hours at Navy, and called to tell me they had positions open at NIH....THANK YOU NIKKI!). All in all things are looking up. As soon as I'm over this sinus infection I have, I'm pretty sure our April showers are turning into May flowers.