All of the whirlwinding took a toll on me yesterday in the form of an annoying head cold/sore throat so I parked it on the couch and watched Gossip Girl between trips to and from the kitchen for juice, medicine and Kleenex.
In a medicated haze, I thought about the cold-hard truth that tomorrow - as in today - Ingrid will be turning one.
Today, Ingrid is one. Today, I have a one-year-old daughter.
And I couldn't help reflecting on our lives one year ago - and how different everything is one year later.
New baby, new role as a mother, new routine, new lack-of-routine, new priorities, new job, new grocery list (seriously, now staples include bananas and whole milk).
And I'm pleasantly surprised how much is the same. I'm at home in our lovely little apartment, Harper is still bouncy little Harper, Dan is still Dan and my friends and family are wonderfully supportive. I still love all of my loves including brunch, online shopping, vodka grapefruits and yoga. I now just do yoga in my living room.
The newness has been constant this past year and - as cliche as it is - I can't believe it's already been a year since we welcomed her on April 10.
Today, we celebrated with Tofu Rice Bowls for dinner, gave Ingrid a bath and read about 14 books.
We did host a birthday party with friends and family last weekend and my favorite part of the day was the cake. When we placed the cupcake in front of her, she just studied the cupcake and started to pick off the sprinkles one by one. She grinned a scrunch-face grin at everyone surrounding her and slowly ate her frosting.
No one was too impressed by this method as they were all anticipating the face-in-cake routine. But not little Ingrid. As I recounted this to my aunt on the phone later that night, she smartly replied "Well, that's how she wanted to eat her cake."
And that's one of my favorite things about Ingrid - she's funny, intense, has a sense of humor and a really, really, really long attention span.
I know there will be years of her smashing cake in her face, years of her requesting a certain cake flavor, years where she'd rather not see me or any cake - but for her first birthday, she wanted to pick off her colored sprinkles one by one. And then, when I intervened and smashed that corner of her treat in an effort to "help" - she looked at me as if to say "This is how I want to eat my cake." Then, I slowed down, listened and let her eat it because she's wonderfully sweet that's how she wants to eat her cake.
I know there will be years of her smashing cake in her face, years of her requesting a certain cake flavor, years where she'd rather not see me or any cake - but for her first birthday, she wanted to pick off her colored sprinkles one by one. And then, when I intervened and smashed that corner of her treat in an effort to "help" - she looked at me as if to say "This is how I want to eat my cake." Then, I slowed down, listened and let her eat it because she's wonderfully sweet that's how she wants to eat her cake.
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