As Time Goes By

I always swore that I would never have two parties for the Bee. My attitude used to be, "Hey, if everyone can't make it, too bad. It's not my job to make people get along." Yeah, well... used to be. My parents are divorced and don't get along. They were mostly civil for my brother's funeral which was a relief. The real reason I'm having two parties is because my mother is in a wheelchair and we live in an apartment on the second floor. She used to be able to make it up stairs, but it's gotten more difficult. Actually, it was two years ago, a year before Bee was born - the only time she came to visit me since I've lived in the Northeast.

If I invited my mother, I'd have to have the party somewhere else and I really didn't want to have a huge shebang - just a few close family and friends. I figured it would be easier to ask my mom if she might want to have a party for Bee at her house the following weekend (which happens to be Easter weekend this year). I'm glad I made this choice; she's been really excited about it and has gotten all kinds of neat things for the kids invited (my best friend's three kids, and a 2nd cousin's kids). I'm glad she's looking forward to it and having fun. We'll go out and stay for the weekend, go to service on Easter then have brunch. I'm sure it will be pleasant and we're all looking forward to it. In fact, I think we'll plan on this every year. See? Two parties can actually work out for the best.

Sadly, I don't think my dad will be able to make it to Bee's party here tomorrow - he's developed a terrible case of bronchitis. He said he'll see how he feels tomorrow, but I'm not holding my breath. Frankly, I'd rather he rest up and take massive amounts of vitamins A, C & E, garlic & goldenseal. This is the busiest time of year for the clergy, So I hope he feels better soon. He can always come to visit after Easter to celebrate Bee's first year.

Now that I think about it, there were really three parties - we had kind of a mini party at my playgroup on Friday. I wanted to have everyone at our house, which would have been fine for just the babes, but there are a number of older kids too. Our apartment is about 1100 square feet with only two rooms relegated to kid use. I even invited one of my friends over from playgroup to get her opinion (and had a little play date with her son); she concurred - not enough space! So I made cupcakes, brought balloons, bought decorations and favor bags and my friend who was hosting helped me with some things from her son's first birthday party. That's just one of the things I like about my playgroup - lots of boys just slightly older than Bee.

What did Mommy & Daddy get Ben? His very own chair! Which you can see here. (Got it on eB*ay and saved quite a bit). Oh, it's so cute. We assembled it tonight and he jumped right on to it. Well, we're glad he loves it!

There are some other, more serious issues I've been contemplating. Hurry Up n Wait is going to try to post every day in April. That's a great idea and I'd like to give it a go. Not sure that I want to do it formally, so we'll see. For now, I'm going to go have the delicious dinner Mr. Right has made and write some notes in Bee's baby book. Still can't believe he'll be one year old on Monday. My goodness, where has the time gone...

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Yep, that's the roller coaster of the Bee's emotions. I present for your review Exhibit A, wherein the Bee is fussy: [Picture removed of Bee crying].Now may I present Exhibit B, clearly demonstrating the Bee with a much more pleasant attitude: [Picture removed of Bee smiling]. Naturally, these pictures were taken within mere seconds of each other. Moral: you just never know what's going to happen from one second to the next.

Which is actually okay with me; he's so frickin' adorable it makes the fussy moments pish-posh. He now points to me when Mr. Right asks "Where's Mommy?", and he points to Mr. Right when I ask "Where's Daddy?!" with no small exaggeration, as of course Daddy is right there in front of him. He waves much more readily now, both hi and bye, and he's cruising nicely. I tried him on tilapia last night, which he loved, although he is apparently not into the zucchini, even though he smiles at the name. But what really makes him smile is... yogurt. When I say it, when he sees the container, and when he eats it, that boy looooooooves his yogurt. I'm going to try cottage cheese and hummus next, thanks to a recommendation by Bon at Crib Chronicles in a House of Maio post.


Lots more to write... mother issues, work issues, IL issues... but I want to get some soup on before the Bee wakes up from his nap. Which should be any second now....