Well, as you all know, my birthday was on March 11th, and I thought it was so nice that Mom took the day off and that she and I went to the bakery together and that I even got to eat a cupcake. Since I’d never had a birthday before, I had no reason to expect anything else. Well, today was definitely something else!
Here’s a slideshow of my day:
http://picasaweb.google.com/s/c/bin/slideshow.swf
I got up at my normal time and Aunt Claire joined Dad and I on our weekly trip to the grocery store. We had a great time, as usual. Everything seemed pretty normal until we went to the floral section and bought a bunch of balloons, including an Elmo balloon that said “Happy Birthday.” We got home and I was so happy to see that Grandpa Droste had come for the weekend! The entire Droste side of my family was visiting us — yet another hint that something was up.I played with my aunts and grandparents while Mom and Dad were cooking in the kitchen. I took my nap a bit later than usual and got up right around 11:30. I came downstairs and saw that the house was really clean and lots of yummy food had been cooked. At about 12:00 Mom took me up to my room and changed me into a brand new dress (while Dad conducted an impromptu photo shoot).
When I came downstairs, I started to figure out what was going on – I was having a birthday party! Luckily, I was well-rested and in a great mood as Mom carried me down the stairs to greet the awaiting paparazzi (aka, my family). The entire Yagan side of my family had also come over to celebrate. My whole entire family hasn’t been all together since the week I was born!
After being passed around a bit, we all sat down to dinner. Mom and Dad had cooked several recipes (lentil burgers, corn & salmon chowder, orzo with vegetables, just to name a few) out of my baby cookbook for me — and all the adults — to eat. I was so excited that I could eat absolutely everything on the table and everything that everyone else was eating. I think I’m going to like being a toddler!
After we ate, it was time to open presents. I got so many things! New cloths, new shoes, new toys, new books, and even a slide for the front yard! It was really fun to rip open the gifts and I especially liked the ones with fun colored paper in them.
After we were done opening gifts, there was more eating! I had a huge birthday cake (a “smash” cake) all for me. By the time I was done, I had eaten literally 50% of the cake! It was so good. Mom was especially thoughtful to get me strawberry filling – I love strawberries! I consumed about a million times more sugar today than I have in the entire first year of my life. I had so much cake on me — on my face, in my hair — that picked me right out of my high chair and took me straight into the bathtub!
ABC’s!
I love my new photo album…especially myself:
Gifts can be fun even before they are unwrapped:
Me and my new farm:
Hello, cake!
So, when it came to nap time…yeah, that wasn’t going to happen. I was so wired on my sugar high that there was no chance of my sleeping. After a half-hearted effort, they gave up and got me out of my crib.
Mom and Dad had decided to let me have one cabinet in the kitchen that I would be allowed to play in, so I spent some time in the afternoon playing there. At one point I crawled all the way inside of it and then realized that I didn’t really know how to get out without face-planting into the floor!
When bed-time rolled around, I was pooped. I think people were scared I might be unable to sleep, but that wasn’t a problem at all. I had had one of the most fun days of my life with all of my family around and I was more than happy to end the day with a good night’s sleep!
In case you were wondering, we took over 1,000 pictures today!
And, here’s what I was doing one year ago today!
margaretyagan 
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