Lily's Birthday Parties

It's been forever since I've posted, so what better reason to pick it back up than the celebration of our little one turning, well, one? At 3:50 a.m. on the 14th, Lily passed the threshold from months into years and like all moms I feel bittersweetly about it. Mostly sweet, but it is hard to watch your little one become a not-so-little-one so quickly. I am, however, happy to report that she is growing big and strong and happy and healthy. Big: The 18M yoga pants grandma sent her from America fit her like a glove. (Can't stop laughing from joy at the sight of her in them, either). Strong: Sometimes I literally can't get things from her steely grasp. Happy: Lots of people call her ''Smejko'' which means Smiley in Slovak. Healthy: I'm incredibly thankful that she is part of the only 20% who did not get sick at all in their first year of life. This is surely the grace of God, seeing as how I'm so fragile a mother I barely survive diaper rash. But back to the point at hand, her birthday! I had wanted to have a big, American, kids-abounding party but Tomáš said our flat was too small so we ended up having two; a family party and a friends party. I had been planning it for months. I knew I wanted her in blue-green because it makes her blue eyes look amazing, so I drafted a pattern for a reversible pinafore and sewed it up for her. I tried really hard and was mostly pleased with the results. Babka ordered her a fancy cake and she got a lot of nice gifts like a toy laptop from my mom, piano keyboard from daddy, a bilingual turtle toy and blocks from Auntie Bea and Uncle Marek and a lot of adorable clothes. To the friends party I invited our friend Eva and her husband and three girls and our pastor and his wife and two sons. I made cupcakes and pumped the kids full of sugar in general and then we played some games like pin the tail on the monkey and one where you're blindfolded and have to guess who a person is by feeling them with only a wooden spoon. I learned a lot about party planning, namely that I am not much cut out to be a hostess and that I am a closet perfectionist. There was so much more I had wanted to do, but I think the kids had fun, despite their tired parents. And now I'll make with the pictures...

There's a tiger under there.

The candle, the best part!

Cousins, Lily and Verka

The keyboard is for Lily. Riiiiiiight. : )

Decorations, ''Happy Birthday Lily.''

Pin the Tail on the Monkey

Janka congratulating Lily

Luci congratulating her, ''...and lots of success at pre-school...''

Noel's turn

Proof that I was there, thank you Evi

Impromptu game, ''how do you say this in English?''

L is for Lily..Laverne and Shirley style. (Should be turned)

Our little Monkey

Watching Daddy clean up.

Now and Then

Photo by Cody Schliebe

One of the coolest things about having a baby is seeing your family members in them. From the very beginning I knew Lily had my dad's eyes. And because my younger brother also has my dad's eyes, Lily also has his eyes. But possibly even stronger than the physical resemblance are the expressions she makes. I was hoping to find a better one of Code making this face because anyone who knows him knows this face, but you still get the idea.        

  This next one is me as a what? two-year-old? three? I think the resemblance is pretty evident (save for my dead tooth). I was pretty pleased with these ones. P.S. I wish I had that smock today.    

I tried to find a picture of my dad as a kid making this expression, because he is who I mostly see when Lily makes this worried, brow-furrowing expression (and she makes it a LOT), but then I found this one of Code making it. The one of Bug isn't exact, but I didn't have time to search our 8 billion pictures of her for a better one. But you can see what I mean. 

She always reminds me of my older brother when she's drinking her bottle. At first I couldn't figure out what it was, but I think it's because when she's laying down, her face thins out a little bit when those sizeable cheeks fall back, and she looks more like he did when he was a kid. Unfortunately Tomáš only has two, faraway photographs of himself as a baby, so it's hard to compare. But if you look closely, you just might see a slight resemblance there. 

The funny thing is that I don't see him so much when I look at her, but I totally see her when I look at him. The expressions he makes with his eyes. 

I looked more like my dad when I was little, but now I look much more like my mom. I wonder if she'll look more like her when she's older too. I love seeing my family in her. It makes me feel close to them. Sometimes it makes me miss them terribly. But it certainly makes me love her even more.

 No matter who she looks like, she is Lily Štrbavá, a true original. 

*I went ahead and left the pictures blown up, despite how Blogger crappily cuts off the edges. 

Rainy Summer

Wishing for more of this:

Shirtless shorts weather

My handsome hubby playing guitar and coffee in the garden

Sleeping babies