And I mostly wondered how many people noticed the toilet wasn't clean...

Well, it's taken me a full week to recap the baby's big 1st birthday weekend, but here it is. I'm sure you've all been on the edge of your seats.

The weekend started out awesome, baby shane was feeling better and back at school (hallelujah!) after being home sick for two days with a fever and double ear infections. I had one day to try and get caught up on work and pull off a miracle backyard birthday party, which, trust me, had you seen our house/backyard 24 hours earlier you would wholeheartedly believe in miracles.

Friday night, somewhere between the basement cleaning and the dominoes order, the guest of honor decided to wake up screaming. Long story short: all the screaming, inconsolability (is that even a word) and the fact that he had a low body temperature, land us in the E.R. Why this has happened twice when Aunt Meme is staying with us on the eve of a major event (Christmas Eve was the last time we were in the E.R.) is interesting to say the least and enticing me to put a ban on her staying here anymore and major holidays in general! Just kidding, Aunt Meme - you are very helpful and then we didn't have to worry about Bridgey so that was nice!

When all is said and done at the hospital (the new one in Fenton by the way - very nice, well, that is if you subtract the blood that was on the floor in our room - I know, I can't even think about it anymore) it is determined that the ear infections had gotten much worse even after 3 solid days of antibiotics. The doc at the hospital rates them a 10 on the severity scale...out of 10! ouch! Fast forward to 3:17 am, everyone is back from the hospital and tucked in to bed for what will hopefully be some nice hours of sleep... and eyes close... and 6:07am EYES OPEN.... Baby hollering, won't calm down again... Two pain relievers and a trip to starbucks later he's better and we determine it's time to give up on sleep and that we better start getting this place ready for a party.

I'm not sure how we pulled it off, but we did and it looked halfway like a birthday party - mostly thanks to this AWESOME cake by my friend from high school. SIDENOTE: If you ever need an awesome cake, email me and I'll hook you up with her. In the end, Baby/Toddler(?) Shane had a good time and rebounded to open some presents and try the cake...sort of.. and then it was off to bed for the birthday boy for some much needed post hospital/party rest! :) It was certainly a first birthday party to remember (or forget)! We definitely missed Grandma and Uncle Mark who, unbelievably, were at home with ear infections themselves. Guess they aren't quite as tough as the birthday boy (again, just kidding!)

I'm posting a few highlight pics here, but most will be up on my picasa/facebook accounts! PS - anyone else who has some, let me know as I'm seriously going to make a 1st birthday book for him. No, really, stop laughing, I mean it.

Lastly, in wrapping up the big 1 of my #2, I just wanted to highlight things that I notice about him right now. Read: majorly boring for most everyone so you can feel free to skip this part, but I like capturing these details!

• Baby Shane, we still call you that and while I'm seeing it phase out a little, I have a feeling you might still be referred to as BS occasionally even when your 24.

• You freaking LOVE any and every kind of ball. You have a borderline out of control ball obsession. You flap your little hands back and forth feverishly and omit a high pitched shrieking sound when you see a ball, hear one bounce, hell, probably even when you think of one - which might explain the random shrieking and hand flapping that comes out of nowhere. (Just kidding, don't worry mom.)

• You LOVE your sister. Like no one else. She can make you smile almost every time. AND THE LAUGHING. Oh my god, the laughing. I have never been able to amuse you as much as she can and I have to say, that's very disappointing. You'd think I'd be able to pull out a few more humorous stops than a 2 year old, but that's not the case.

• You are very clingy to me right now. And while I secretly love that fact, it does break my heart everytime I have to drop you off at daycare or leave you with someone and you start crying and reaching for me. That is not fun, but I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless and wonder how long it will last.
  

• You have an infectious smile. All I have to do is look at you most times and you get that big toothy grin. You really are the most gorgeous 1 year old little person on the planet.
  
  
• You like to feed yourself, but if you don't like something, it will come right back out immediately. The face that accompanies the dislike is akin to how I look and feel when Ann Curry says something stupid, so I get it. It must be REALLY BAD.
  
  
• You already seem to know when you are doing something wrong. You look at me with this little over the shoulder grin, like, 'how long am I going to get away with this for, mom'? And then you try it again and again each time upping the cuteness factor just a tad bit more seeing if I'll cave then. Those poor girls in your future. They are going to be in trouble with you, I can just tell. Rachel, fair warning, watch out for this one, he's crafty.
  

• You are still my baby. You like to snuggle and I still like to hold on to every minute of every snuggle.

You ROCK and we love you baby boy.
Happy first year, beautiful boy.