Nora Lee's 1st Birthday!

A few days after Christmas Nora turned one year old. It's an understatement to say how fast this year has gone by. It seems I was just finding out she was in my belly.

The unfortunate thing about having a birthday so close to Christmas is that most peopple are busy or out of town. This may be even more of an issue as she gets older and actually has friends of her own.

Right after giving birth last year, it was about 5 a.m. and I was lying in bed and I suddenly realized that I was famished. My best friend Lena was there and offered to cook me whatever I wanted and my greatest heart's desire was blueberry pancakes. I might of eaten a thousand of them that morning.

So, for Nora Lee's first birthday we thought we should make blueberry pancakes again. We had a low key day with a few friends and family members. She got more wonderful presents (the poor thing) and best of all - she got to eat her first cupcake.

Let me first say that Matt and I are pretty strict about her sugar consumption. And what I mean by that is that until the cupcake she had had almost no sugar. (I say almost no sugar because I suspect the grandparents may indulge her every once in a while). Anyway, for her birthday we decided to put a cupcake in front of her and see what she would do. First she looked at it, then looked at us, then looked at it, then looked at us. Then smelled it and took a small bite which turned into a big bite which turned into stuffing the entire thing in her mouth. I was quite surprised because I assumed she would take a few bites, but no, she ate the entire cupcake. We all died watching her enjoy this treat. I wish I let myself enjoy cupcakes that much - one more thing I can add to the list of "What I have learned from Nora Lee".

After the cupcake, we hosed her down and put her on the floor to open presents. After about fifteen minutes she was zipping back and forth squealing with delight as she zoomed from room to room. What a sugar rush (and the reason we don't let her eat sugar :)

I'll finish this segment by saying that she crashed pretty hard that night and we didn't hear a peep from her until morning.