Party!!!

Although I originally wasn't planning on having a birthday party for Eileigh, we had a great excuse to throw one when Mike's parents decided to come down and visit! I decided to go the easy route and did a taco/tortilla/nacho bar with all the fixings, ordered a free first-year birthday cake from Albertson's for Eileigh and whipped up an Oreo cake for the adults (see recipe below). Mike is a gem and took care of most of the house chores- vacuuming, mopping, etc. while I prepped for the evening.
Eileigh wasn't too sure about the cake at first- I made a wish and blew out the candle for her (not that she cared...)


Eileigh didn't quite know what to do with the cake at first and mainly ate frosting by the globs after poking it to death with her finger.

We had a great time with everyone, Mike's parents, his sister and her husband and two boys, my parents, my sisters and their men (one husband, one husband-to-be), and of course baby Boone.

Eileigh must have figured out early on that it was an Event Day and decided to officially crawl for the first time!!! She's really been working on it for the last week and all of a sudden on Saturday morning started to crawl (and continued to crawl everywhere), climbed up the stairs, and sat up from a laying-down position. We were pretty excited- she has her 12 month appt. with the pediatrician on Thursday and I was not really looking forward to telling her that my one-year old wasn't crawling yet (although walking everywhere along everything)!! I seriously had convinced myself that Eileigh was just going to walk first and then I'd have her crawl after the fact for all of that hand-eye coordination garbage.... :) Kidding. But yay! Now I don't have to *worry* about it. However, I am now facing an entirely different brand of problems- those involving mobility. She already climbed up the stairs- the entire flight- this morning all by herself. Unbelievable. I think she will be getting a couple of baby gates for her birthday from us. Any recommendations from anyone?
And a heartfelt thanks to our family who celebrate with us: a year of Eileigh's introduction to our world, family, and lives, and for their presents and presence- we are so appreciative and thankful for your generosity, love and blessings!