Here's the cake that no one ate--it was pretty, and we got it for free from Dominicks. Don't worry, it didn't go to waste; Brett and I proceded to eat it until it was gone in a few days. I must say, it was pretty good. 

"I've got a spoon--forget the cake!" 

do you want some, Gram? 

Next! 

"Let's have that, Daddy"

What's in the bag? 

What a mess! 

a little help from Uncle John 

She's much too civilized to eat without a utensil :) 

she's ready to party 

I know it is a little lopsided and not altogether perfect, but it was made with love!  

birthday party

I am finally going to post the pictures from Phoebe's birthday party. Thanks again for braving the extreme heat to celebrate with Phoebe. It meant a lot to us. Since her birthday, she has been working on walking. She still can't do it on her own, but that is only because she is too afraid to let go. As soon as we let go of her, she sits down unless she doesn't notice. She says "hi" and waves at everyone who walks by her. She says "bye bye" as well. And she started singing the other day. She'll sing along with the La La La's in a song. So that's her latest and greatest. It is amazing to watch her develop. She seems to learn a lot from mimicking--I hope that continues once daycare begins in a week and a half. I can't believe it is coming up so soon. She is starting to get so interesting--I hope that bringing her to daycare only adds to her development and gives her that much more to learn from. It has been a wonderful year. I appreciate how hard Brett worked at this new job and the comfort that he sacrificed so that I could have this opportunity to spend the year with Phoebe. Brett, unfortunately, missed a good deal of time with Phoebe that he wouldn't have missed had he not changed jobs and taken on track coaching. But he also had some opportunities to spend time with her that some people never have because of the time off in the summer. He and Phoebe had a great experience this summer when he stayed home while I taught summer school. I don't know how many families get the opportunity to trade places. It's pretty outstanding! And while we didn't have the chance to go on any kind of vacation this year since I taught and took a class and Brett took two classes that lasted the whole summer, we did try to do a fun outing a couple of times a week and introduce Phoebe to new experiences locally.
This year again will take some major adjusting since we will both be working. It will take some trial and error, but hopefully, in the long run it will all work out to Phoebe's benefit. Henry will have to do some adjusting, too :) He has gotten so used to having me home this year. He has always been very concerned with my whereabouts and has been fairly attached to me since the beginning, but recently, he seems to be even more so. It is going to be hard to leave him each day, too. It's a big year for everyone, but it is all inevitable. We'll take it one day at a time and see how it goes.
I keep thinking about this, and I can't express how lucky I feel to have so many choices. I hope that we are making the right choices, but if at some point we realize we are not, we have the ability to change our minds and take a different path. That is so comforting and so fortunate to know we have options.
I don't know how often I will update once work starts--I can only imagine I will get worse about this. And I don't know how often we will get out and see others, either. I am guessing we are going to be fairly insular for a while as we try to figure out how to spend the most quality time together with Phoebe as possible in a work week. I will apologize now if we offend anyone in the near future by not seeing them or by some other ignorant act on our part. Bear with us--this is our first time and it's going to take some work. Although we are all excellent judges (Brett and I included :)), few of us actually start out as perfect families who are able to balance everything and please everyone. I know we have done and will continue to do all kinds of things that will merit hushed whispers and laugh-out-loud good-natured ridicule, but hopefully, in the end, our kid will be fairly well balanced and so will we. In the mean time, check back here occasionally for updates and we'll resurface eventually. Try for holidays and then there's always next summer. :)

crawling

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There is practically nothing better than a good spoon. 

she loves it! Thanks Aunti Tabitha.  

opening her first present. 

feeding the ducks at the pond at St. Xavier University. 

one of her favorite faces--I finally caught her doing it. 

Happy Birthday To You! Phoebe has a strawberry muffin on her birthday to practice blowing out candles--don't worry, she never had the opportunity to touch the flame. She had the actual cake at her birthday party. 

a trip to the vet. Poor Henry has some tail issues--so much that it irritated him to walk, so we strolled him to the vet. We got a lot of funny stares and comments along the way--especially on 95th Street, but it was time for our afternoon walk and there was no reason to waste the gas since the vet is so near by.