To say that Emily was excited about her birthday would be an understatement. She counted down to the day, picked where we would go and eat, gave her suggestions for gifts, picked her cake design, and put up with her mama’s teasing about not getting gifts. Mama and Julia joined her for a birthday lunch at school. We shared tiny ice cream cones with her class.

She requested a pink butterfly cake. Emily was delighted with the outcome and assisted with the decorating. 

Making her wish.

Julia was excited about Emily’s birthday. One morning on the way to school Mama teased Emily that when you turn a birthday with a seven in it you don’t get gifts that year. It was quite the discussion. Emily didn’t believe it, but she put her heart into the reasons that included gifts in the birthday. Interesting enough Julia never joined in the conversation. She and Mama were about to go and buy her gift for Emily after dropping Emily off, so she knew information to the contrary of what Mama was saying. She is learning a teasing side to life also. After dropping Emily off at school Julia had several comments that she had saved and shared with Mama.

Emily was right, there were gifts! What a fun day we had with all that we did. We love you big girl!

Happy Birthday Julia!

By far our favorite thing to do today was to sing Happy Birthday to you. Your face brightened and glowed with joy each time. You really understood that you were special and that we were singing about you. My other favorite thing from the day was our 1:30 am cuddle that we shared, just because we could.

Julia has had a lot of sweets over the last week. Here is the remaining plate after we all shared her slice of chocolate birthday cake. I know, I let her have some chocolate cake. I relaxed my standards for one day – her birthday. She really liked it and even tried to eat the plate when her share was gone. My standards were slack for Emily too and she got her share too. We will see if all the cupcakes and cake bites add up to a significant weight gain for her at her one-year checkup. I’m not too hopeful given that she has also picked up her general activity too.

Julia has been a lucky girl and has been celebrating her birthday for a week now. I think she has really enjoyed all the attention and yummy snacks. Her first birthday party was in Florida a couple days early. On her actual birthday we had a family dinner out, and the weekend after her birthday we visited a corn maze and pumpkin patch. Each time we celebrated we had either cake or cupcakes. Emily now thinks that we have cupcakes with every meal.

Julia is pretty good at eating cupcakes herself. She starts with playing with the icing and then licking her fingers. Then she picks up the cupcake and puts it into her face and starts chowing down. When the big pieces on the high chair tray are gone, she starts looking for the pieces that have fallen onto the bib, lap, or chair. One time I saw her trying to lick crumbs from her bib straight into her mouth. Too much fun to watch! She has eaten 5 cupcakes and several fork fulls of cake over our three celebrations.

This has been a fast year! Julia has grown so fast and it has been a joy to have her in our lives. Words just do not seem adequate to express my joy, gratitude, and love for her. What a great gift she has been for us. Happy Birthday, Julia! We praise God for the blessing she will be to many during her life.

Happy Birthday to You!, originally uploaded by Robby Edwards.

Today is Emily’s first birthday.

While we were visiting my parents for Christmas, we had a pre-birthday party for her. Grandma made cupcakes and as you can see from the remnants, Emily demolished hers in no time.

Happy Birthday Emily! Daddy hopes her special day is wonderful.