The Festival of Being One...

This past weekend we celebrated Sequoia's first year.

A surprisingly large number of family and friends made the trip to our house for what turned into a wonderful two day party for our little girl.

I was amazed by how many people traveled from out of state. We had people from North Carolina, Maryland, West Virginia and even Colorado in addition to our local friends.

We all enjoyed watching Sequoia discover sugar ...

She was actually quite reserved and well mannered as she disassembled her birthday cake and pig-cupcake.

Sequoia received some wonderful gifts - including new bike seat and bike helmet so that she can go riding with us now. She also really enjoyed the many fascinating books that people gave her. She LOVES books. And all of the toys are also a huge hit with her. I doubt that she even will notice that some of her other toys will be getting recycled to make room for the new ones.

Well it was a very busy weekend, but our little one year old carried herself like a big girl through it all. She even took her first official steps Thursday night, the day after her actual birthday.

Here she is in her party togs, standing (I'll point it out again, standing) all by herself just waiting to get the party started.
I think she is adorable.

Thanks again to everyone who was able to attend her festival, and thanks also to those of you who sent your thoughts and wishes.

I will post some more of the pictures in a separate post.

Happy Happy Birthday Sequoia!!!!

Well I guess time really does fly doesn't it? Here we are celebrating Sequoia's first birthday already and it seems like just yesterday that Colleen and I were beginning to wonder if she was ever going to join us on the outside.

This past year has been interesting to say the least. In addition to watching Sequoia grow up and mature in so many unexpected (to me anyway) ways has been humbling and awe inspiring. I am not certain what I expected, but I am certain that I was unaware how quickly her personality would show up and how immediately she would be this little person with her own style and her own will and her own charm and her own likes and dislikes. I think it is fair to say that I really had no clue about what I was getting into...

Colleen and I could not be more proud of her. She has an incredibly happy and sweet soul. I spend the majority of my time these days just trying to absorb it all. I am admittedly relieved that she and I have such a close bond ... I know that is only natural, but I was honestly concerned about that this time last year. I love watching how she and Colleen interact - like two peas in a pod in so many ways.

One thing that we have been sincerely grateful for is the tremendous extended family that has played such an active and positive role in Sequoia's life so far during these first twelve months. I am constantly reminded of that phrase - it takes a village to raise a child. I think in many ways that is very true. I have been amazed by the number of family members and friends who have followed her story here in the blog and who have, without fail offered us their support. I am truly humbled by this outpouring of love for my little girl.

I think it speaks for itself that we have around 20 people coming from out of state for her birthday celebration this weekend. That is in addition to her local friends that will also be attending. I could not be happier about this village that is raising our little girl.

We are excited to see what the next twelve months will bring. She will be walking VERY soon and I am certain talking is not far behind. After that will come dating then college ... or college then dating if I get my way. Anyway, it is all a great adventure and I hope that we are always able to fully appreciate how lucky we are to have her in our lives.

So happy birthday Sequoia. We love you more than you will ever know.

Celebrating the Spring Equinox...

Today we had to carry on our tradition of celebrating the 4 cornerstones of the year with a bonfire - this being the Spring Equinox.

We had Brooklyn and her parents , along with Jasper and his mom over for a bonfire and cookout. The weather was perfect and we all enjoyed being able to sit out on the deck for dinner and then later around the fire for s'mores. The kids crawled all over the place and had a fun time finding ways to make their parents run fast to keep them from hurting themselves.

We got a kick out of the fact that Brooklyn and Sequoia both had the same pajamas on when it came time to settle down for bed.

They are pretty funny together. These days Brooklyn can sometimes get feisty when she thinks something is not quite right. Tonight she decided it was time for the "cookie jar" game to be hers or nobody's so she flung it to the floor with a growl - Sequoia just howled with delight thinking her friend was the funniest person around.

I think Sequoia's joy caught Brooklyn off guard and she was not certain how to act. I am not looking forward to when Sequoia starts to really throw some tantrums. I am not certain that I will be able to keep my sense of humor about the whole situation when it is my kid.
Anyway, Sequoia was very sad when Brooklyn left - she went to the door and just howled with a brokenhearted little cry. It was not until she got distracted by her dogs that she got back her happy smile. She had a wonderful and busy weekend and was very happy that her first spring equinox was such a success.

The March Birthday Parade continues...

The steady parade of March Baby First Birthdays continued this week with Elizabeth's party.

Elizabeth is exactly one week older than Sequoia. Exactly one week prior to that was Elayne's birthday although her party will not be for a couple of more weeks yet.

The next birthday to come along will be Sequoia's this Wednesday followed a week later by Jasper's - ending the parade started by Jeremy back on the 5th.

Of course those are just the March birthdays - not to take anything away from her older and younger friends - we are not trying to develop a clique here.

All of the kids had a great time at Elizabeth's party.

It cracks me up watching all of Sequoia's friends interacting with each other - there is some give and take mixed with a fair amount of just plain take.

There was ample time for daddy day care - I think I might be too big for this group, but they seem to accept me.

One thing that is obvious is that it is never too soon to practice being a diva or a rock star.

The highlight of any first birthday has to be the indelible image of a small child covered in icing while attempting to eat five pounds of sugar..

Although Elizabeth started out very reserved and polite ... gently and neatly sampling her cake....

the final results were inevitable and adorable. What a sticky mess, and no dogs around to lick her clean.

Water Baby Nature Girl...

Should it surprise anyone out there that our little Sequoia is a bit of a nature girl? She has a bit of a free spirit - streaker side to her.

It probably has a lot to do with enjoying the freedom of movement combined with a love of getting a bath.

In one of those developments that is both really cool and really scary, she has figured out how to climb in and out of the tub by herself. Obviously we do not allow her to do that unattended, but it warrants more than just a passing acknowledgment that she is fascinated by her tub and has no real fear of anything just yet.

she has so much fun playing around in the water, splashing and crawling. At the end of the bath she has started to "help" putting her toys back in their net. She has also started announcing that bath time is over by standing up and climbing out. Cute but not always so helpful.

She is all smiles from the beginning of bath time right through to the big toweling off and hugging process at the end. Admittedly she is not quite as big a fan of the re-diapering and jammies part that happens immediately afterward.

Buy me some hiking boots ...

Sequoia is taking advantage of the convergence of her new desire to walk and the warmer weather to expand her exploration of her world.

She went on a walk on our trail last night and for the first time, she actually propelled herself along a significant portion of it.

She absolutely loves life, but there are obviously things she loves more than others - and her trail is high on her list of things she loves.

She has many modes of transportation to get her around in the woods ranging from daddy's shoulders to her cool little push buggy car.

It is fun watching her as she discovers what is all around us.

She is a fully engaged child - there is no questioning her inquisitive nature.

Sometimes it is just an opportunity for some quiet reflection as we walk through the woods.

Last night it was about expanding her self sufficiency. She tried to walk parts of the trail. She tried to climb up on top of the benches.

She played with her dogs on their level.

She took a look at things from her new perspective.

She crawled along a stretch of trail covering about 200 feet of ground before being side tracked by the wonders of life on the forest floor.

Then she went back to walking with her mommy.

It certainly will not be long before she will be walking this trail by herself. Hopefully this desire to expand her abilities and horizons will remain as a core element of her life.
There are too many wild and beautiful places in this world to be satisfied until you have seen them all.

Spring fever pays us a visit...

This past weekend - just 5 days after our one snowstorm - the temperatures got into the eighties.

This gave our little girl a chance to break out some of her warmer weather outfits and get outside to do some exploring.

Sequoia loves standing up and trying out her walking legs these days. She is not quite walking on her own yet, but has suddenly become obsessed with trying.

She is all about walking with us, holding loosely onto one or two of our fingers.

I don't know if she will start walking before her birthday in a few weeks, but it looks like she is going to give it a try.

Other than working on her walking and talking, she enjoys just hanging around with her mommy.

They are pretty cute together.