www.Bellyville.net

Family

Thank you everyone for all the sweet birthday wishes. It was, indeed, a happy day for me--a happy weekend, in fact! As you may have gathered from Mike's...um...thoughtful post (I'm not sure my poor brother would agree with the "thoughtful" part.), we had a house full of family this weekend.

My parents stayed with us for the entire weekend, and my brother and his beautiful family joined us for the day on Saturday. It was such a treat for me--I don't think we've all been together in Mike's and my house since Eva was born! What a lucky girl I am.



(Somehow, we all managed to fit in our small kitchen to enjoy a meal together. A miracle.)

That Last Picture Wasn't Enough, Birthday Girl!

Hey! Mike, here. Today is Shannon's birthday. Time for some fun. If you thought that picture of a teeny-tiny adorable Shannon was cute, you ain't seen nothing. So let's view some more photos, shall we? Yes we shall.

Below, we see—BAM!

OK ... Socks firmly within sandals? Check. Pink shorts? Check. Missing tooth? Check. Big-ass party hat? Super check. Moving on ...

Alright, if you really muster your mental energy and concentrate, you might be able to focus your eyes on something other than the glorious wallpaper. Directly below it, you'll find not one, not two, but three birthday cakes. I'm not sure if they are all for Shannon, but one of them has a half of a doll in it, which I'm sure Young Shannon loved. Fun fact: The way Shannon obsessively hordes treats, there's probably a couple of slices of that cake lurking in the back of our pantry right now. Next up ...

As you can see, Shannon was born to be a heart-breaker. Even in her tender youth, she was driving the boys crazy with her mischievous smile, cheap red sunglasses, Sesame Street nightgowns, and, um, perm curlers or something. Shannon looked very much like this the first time we met in college. Anyway ...

Self explanatory. Next:

Ah, yes. College Shannon is on her way to the library for a night of stimulating research and finely crafted paragraphs. Notice how the girl's love of festive headgear has grown more refined with age. Breathtaking. And now ...

Here, we see one of my favorite of Shannon's expressions, the face that says "I just woke up and I was dreaming about something pretty damn freaky, and I'm not entirely sure I should trust you because you might be an alien or a robot or both. Also, how did this trucker hat get on my head?" I see this face once, maybe twice a day. Indeed—adorable. And lastly ...

This picture of Present Day Shannon is from yesterday, celebrating her thirty-second birthday with family. She's feeding our daughter birthday cake that's at least twenty years old and has been waiting in the back of our pantry for its big day. As you can see, Shannon is teaching Eva that most important things in life involve frosting or custard of some kind squished between layers of cake. Also as you can see, Shannon is, of course, gorgeous.

As I'm sure you know, Shannon is just ... a gift. She spends an inspiring amount of time thinking about other people. She's taught me so much about life and love that it's hard to comprehend sometimes. (Ask Shannon about the "not comprehending" part. She'll totally back me up.) She is an incredible wife, a wholehearted mom, and an astounding woman. I love her so much.

Happy Birthday, Baby.

How old??

Today you get a picture of ME! Why? Because Sunday is my birthday, silly. And I'm going to be 32. I couldn't say why, but there's something I like about that number. Just a feeling, I guess. Maybe it's a good sign for the coming year...

Have a great weekend, everyone! And if you find yourself near some cake, eat a piece for me.

Sigh.

It's been a long, rainy week. Luckily, I have this smiley lady for company...thought I'd share her with you:

Lucky Ducka

Yesterday, as we were walking from the car to Eva's playgroup, I noticed she was carrying Ducka in with her. She usually opts to leave him in the car (the possibility of having to share Ducka is too much for her), so I commented on her change of routine.

Eva got very serious, and told me, "This is a very special day for Ducka. He gets to come in!"

And so he did.

Which comes right after the pigs fly, I imagine.

So. Remember back when we thought Eva was on the path to being potty trained? Yeah. Well, about a week after I wrote that post, she suddenly started refusing to come near the toilet. She wanted only diapers, and she wouldn't hear of sitting on the potty to "try."

We decided that clearly something spooked her, so we backed off and let her do as she wished. Now, a month later, we're no closer to getting her back on the potty. (Which isn't to say we're worried about it. I know she'll eventually use the toilet. We were just hoping it would be BEFORE the new baby arrives. Now we're not so sure...)

Yesterday, Eva and I were talking about when she might try wearing undies and using the potty again.

Her answer:

"When Ducka quacks."

Um. Reassurance? Anyone? Or maybe some commiseration?

Eva the Brave

All by herself, people!

Spring Caterpillars

By chance, we've recently been reading a lot of books involving caterpillars and butterflies and cocoons and such. (As a result, Eva now likes to call caterpillars "baby butterflies.") So to celebrate Spring's arrival (Happy Equinox!), we decided to make some caterpillars of our own. I took her to the craft store and let her pick out her favorite package of pompoms and some googly eyes, and we headed home to create.

Twenty minutes and some hot glue later (I handled the glue gun), we had ourselves a little family of caterpillars. Eva picked out all the colors and stuck them, one by one, on the glue spot I applied to each. We added some eyes, and we were done. Simple!

If it hadn't been naptime, I think she'd have kept making little bugs until all the pompoms were gone. Instead, we ended up with a family of five (Baby, Mama, Daddy, Grammy and Grampa) and a bag-full of caterpillar food (the leftover pompoms.)



This picture's a bit blurry, but I wanted to share. This is the kind of thing she learns from her Daddy:

When we were all done, Eva moved her new friends into their new home on a very special window ledge.

Happy Spring to you all! Enjoy your weekend!

Basking in the Sun

It's Warm Outside!