The Birthday Cupcake

The Birthday (sort of)

Thanks to the FLU, any plans, hopes or dreams I may have had about what Esme's first ever birthday party would look like basically had to be laid to rest.

Alain got hit with the flu first, the week before her party. Esme came down with it mid-week. I held out until the day of her party but the many sleepless days and nights of just having to hold a miserable, feverish baby girl while she cried and tried to rest, made for a sleep-deprived mama unable to fight it off anymore.

(This is the actual flu we are talking about here, not just a little cold. Alain is still stuffed up but mostly better and it is now Day 13 for him.)

All that is just to explain why we ended up scrambling to pull together some form of party to commemorate Esme turning ONE, rather than having a well thought out event!

It was a family only party. Ian and Mich came in all the way from Calgary to be here (sadly, Mich was infected by our flu bug as a party gift.. sorry Mim!). Esme was still very ill and spent most of the day crying. She did perk up for the cupcake! That was the most enthusiasm we saw all day from her. Overall it was the best it could be given the circumstances.

And now I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

the lazy cupcakes

attempts at festivity

uncle kiki and opa

guests being festive

out-of-towners

grandpa

oma and grandma

the cupcakes that might have been

how Esme spent most of the day

more of how Esme spent most of the party

a brief spurt of energy

opening presents

playing with a new toy

more present opening

this kid got too many presents :)

blowing out the candle

first taste of the icing

and she digs right in

Esme decided she didn't like the feel of the icing on her hands, so she just plunged her face right in.

see.. no hands

the most she'd eaten in days 

the whole gang

our one year old!

making a mess and loving it

the decorations

Happy Valentine's Day

Love from, 

Esme (and Co.)

Just shy of a year...

Esme is 11.5 months. She's a bundle of energy. Getting into everything. Happy!! Using new signs every day. Currently she signs 'more', 'I want', 'food', 'Dog', 'Hat' and a bunch more that get a bit jumbled so we are still figuring them out. She also talks. Mama and Dada and NaNums (for yummy solids) are commonly used but she has started to mimic and some words we've heard recently are dog, hat, Oma, Papa.

Here are some snapshots of how life looks for us.

This is how Esme uses her wooden puzzle pieces.

Hanging with Daddy

Close up

Serious face

Looking more and more like her Dad every day.

Loving the animals on Grandma and Grandpa's high chair

Biggest grin ever

This hat is pretty funny!

Grandma's teddy bears

Puppies outside, teddies inside.. too much excitement to bear

Tickled pink - window fun with Grandpa and Dad

Look it's a dog!

The Walking Begins

Esme is officially a walker now. She has officially been walking for almost a month but again the ancient Mac has let us down, so this post has been delayed.

This video shows Esme in the early days of walking. These days she is almost running.  Not quite, but her speed is getting to be shockingly fast and her balance is steadily improving.



And Esme is also into talking on the phone.