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"a portrait of each of my children, once each week, in 2016"

  

Cruz: We've been attempting to get the kids to eat better for dinner and found some success with Cruz tonight.  He cleaned his plate for the first time in a long time and I was so proud of him, I threw together a little treat for dessert.  I have a feeling Cruz may be a little more motivated to finish his supper from now on. :)  

Mila: Speaking of food, we got a little carried away during spaghetti night and two of the four of us (not naming any names) ended up with noodle hair before dinner was over.  It was bath night, so we let our hair down a little beforehand and the kids were in hysterics.   

A Sweet Birthday Song...

(I will take more videos, I will take more videos, I will take more videos, I will take more videos)

One of my very favorite moments from Mila's birthday party, in video.

a little black dress and a gold balloon

Happy Birthday, Mila Carys!  Oh, how we love you!

Twirling...

Mila's Birthday - More Celebrating

Mila's birthday fell on a busy Wednesday the first week of the semester, but we were able to fill the day with sweet little surprises that made our girl smile, with bigger plans for a whole day to play the following Monday with no school for Martin Luther King Day.  Tuesday night, after the kids were asleep, I gave my diaphragm quite the workout and blew up 20 pink and purple balloons to sneak in Mila's room and cover her floor.  After finding a bag of balloons in the basement during our New Year's Day clean, we've been playing many games of keep-the-balloon-off-the-ground, leading Beau and I to the conclusion that we should have just filled the kids' stockings with balloons this Christmas.  So anyways, I was pretty convinced Mila would love her birthday morning surprise and absolutely could not wait for her to wake up Wednesday morning.

And I'm telling you, it was better than I expected!  She was a little groggy and overwhelmed at first, but it didn't take long for her to join Cruz in running back and forth across her room kicking the balloons in the air and squealing in delight as they floated back down to her.  We sat in her room for twenty minutes and watched them play in their very own balloon pit.  And then, when I decided to store the balloons in her crib for the day, the kids soon found themselves in her crib, too, both of them burrowing down beneath the balloons, their hair sticking straight up to the sky with static.  It was a great way to start the day and the definite start of a new birthday morning tradition.  Cruz even asked if he could have a balloon floor for his birthday, too. :)

I made chocolate chip cookies and sent Mila to school in her favorite black dress, with a promise to pick her up early afternoon as soon as my meetings were done.  After naps and meetings, with yet another special balloon taking up the entire back seat of my car, I picked up Cruz and the birthday girl and we went to Gallagher for a little photo shoot with a supersized '2' balloon that caused quite the stir amongst my kids and the various college kids passing through the performing arts center.  Cruz relished being my photographer's assistant, Mila relished the attention of his funny faces and multiple renditions of the birthday song, and both kids loved showing off to a few of my own college students who happened to be in the building.  Soon, we got a call that daddy was on his way home, and we raced off home for presents, cupcakes, and pizza, a perfect combination to celebrate our birthday girl.

Mila walked into the living room to find her very own lounger chair like her brother's, and Cruz helped her open a duplos' ice cream cone set, a bunny ballerina, some new kitty pajamas, and a Minnie Mouse purse set, complete with a cell phone, lipstick, sunglasses and money!  With her shades on and her cell phone at her ear, she climbed into her chair like a little teenager, saying, "Hello?  Minnie Mouse" into the phone, her head cocked to the side like she's fifteen instead of two. 

The rest of our night included a must stop for any birthday celebration in Cedar Falls, where the new pink top spinning chairs at Scratch were the perfect backdrop for a raspberry love cupcake for my little love.  We were prepared with candles and a lighter, and had the entire place to ourselves for our little celebration.  We sang once again, Mila blew out her candles, then double fisted that cupcake and ate every last crumb.  We ended the night with pizza at Mulligans, books before bed, and the Avett Brothers Second Gleam, just like the night she was born.

Some things changed from last year...

And some things not so much... :) 

  
It's a good thing Mila's actual birthday and her party weekend were good to us, because a much anticipation day away to explore the Iowa Children's Museum on MLK Day took a turn for the worse, about five minutes after getting there!  We decided to be smart and start at the end of the museum stations to avoid a growing crowd, and Mila immediately started climbing the stairs to the top of the two-story curly slide in the aviation station.  Beau went down with her and after going pretty fast around the first turn, Mila's little leg got caught.  She immediately started crying, and when Beau put her down to walk to me, she wouldn't put any weight on it and walked with a pretty good limp.  Beau and I had no idea what to do and after pacing for about twenty minutes, we were advised to take her to the nearest urgent care for an x-ray.  After spending most of the afternoon at an Iowa City urgent care, then another day at Covenant for an x-ray, it was deemed that Mila did not have a broken tibia, much to the surprise of the doctor.  She got a pretty good sprain, but her gimp leg seems to be improving steadily and we are very thankful to not have a cast.  The children's museum was kind enough to give us four free passes for our next visit, and we made sure to promise big brother we'd be back, for he was one disappointed little boy! 

We have Mila's two-year appointment this week, and are hoping her leg is on the mend.  It was a birthday of ups and downs, but mostly ups for our Mila girl.  We love her so!