Darby 1/52 v2

This girl seems much bigger now that she is 1, her favorite thing to do is backup and sit on your lap, or anyone's... seriously any lap will do. This week she realized she could sit on Ewan's bathroom stool so she backed her booty up and had a sit.

52 : 8 (part 4)

Ewan: "Sun go up mom?"

Me: "Don't call me mom!"

Ewan: "Okay. Sun go up Peri Welton McDonald?"

Ewan loves to discuss whether the sun is rising or setting. If it is setting he knows bed time is looming so he never asks that, always focuses on the rising. In the last couple weeks Ewan has started to call me mom, I explained to him that I am mama, which he didn't seem to like and has now started calling me Peri Welton McDonald or just Peri... I hope this passes. In this week's picture you can see Ewan practicing his letters with chalk on a beautiful spring evening. 

Don't Forget to Wear Flowers in Your Hair - Darby's 1st Birthday Party

Celebrating Darby's 1st birthday was obviously about celebrating her, but it was also a little about celebrating the fact that we survived our first year with two babies! Darby has been an amazing addition to our family and we were so excited to celebrate her with our favorite people. We celebrated with a signature cocktail (violet crush), Daddy made beer, sweet treats, and our favorite cupcakes.

A montage of our little family celebrating first birthdays!

A year of Darby Moira!

Darby's 1st Toy Drive

1 already!

More pictures of Darby's first year

Cupcakes to match Daddy designed invites

A jumbo Sibby's for the birthday girl

Woke up ready to party! 

She pretended to be dainty... at first

Darby spent a lot of time at (in) the lego station

Our family of 4 survived year 1!

Grampy came from Missouri to celebrate our girl!

Her second favorite place was the crawling tunnel

Don't forget to wear flowers in your hair!

A letter to our one year old Darby...

Dear Darby,

You are one year old now... No matter how many times I say that it just doesn't seem like it can possibly be true. 

A year ago you came in to our lives in a flash and nothing has been the same since. Your sweet disposition, adorable rolls, happy eyes, and fearless spirit enhance our lives every single day. 

As a one year old you move quickly, seek adventures (or danger), smile and laugh constantly, and are always looking for a lap to sit in. You have no concept of stranger danger and everyone who knows you loves you.

At your check up you were 30.3 inches (86%tile) and 23lbs 10.7ozs (92%tile). You took your shots like a champ and did not shed even half a tear. The doctor was amazed by you... Your 9 teeth, big grin, steady walking, social interactions, and amazing growth. 

To say that we are proud to be your people would be a gross understatement. We are so excited to see what you will become and love watching your personality develop, all indications lead us to believe you will be a sassy lady that takes zero shit, we hope that sticks. 

You are amazing Darby, and you are ours!

XO,

Mama

A Day of Sweets and Celebration for Darby's First Birthday

Darby's first birthday was quite the celebration. Her brother Ewan participated in the sugary parts (donuts, cake, and hugs), and mama and daddy got a sweet date in the middle! 

Waiting for the Birthday Girl!

Who needs presents when there are balloons?

First donut, and she is not sure about it, very not McDonald

Birthday picnic in the botanical gardens

A beautiful day in San Francisco

We found the Twirl and Dip Ice Cream Truck

Ewan mandated a purple cake with pink frosting for his baby

Ready for her first tea party!

Ending the day with a birthday hug

1 Year Old Darby

She was not in to her monthly picture this month, sad since it was the 1 year, but we decided not to fight it as this is the perfect illustration of Darby at 1... opinionated, stubborn, and still so damn cute!

Darby Moira - 1 Year

Darby 52/52

Tonight she goes to sleep a baby, tomorrow she wakes up 1!

52 : 7 (part 4)

It seems Ewan's posts should be turning in to the things he says as opposed to pictures these days. In the car yesterday he was very chatty. 

Woman on the Radio: "Here is my favorite song from Belle and Sebastian's performance at Coachella."

Ewan: "Sebastian is Logan's Big Brother!"

Mama: "We are going to make muffins for sissy's birthday party at school, do you want to help, or should Daddy and I do it after you go to bed?"

Ewan: "We all do it, you and me and daddy AND BABY, mama that is team work."

Ewan: "Mama I hold my pee!"

Mama (in a panic): "Can you hold it until we get home? Just a couple minutes!"

Ewan: "We see!" (He did, thankfully!)

Darby 51/52

This girl loves to try new foods and often eats more than Ewan. Although, her teachers say she doesn't like the things we know she loves at home, so maybe there is some picky in there! This week Darby decided mama wasn't moving fast enough with the yogurt, I had walked away to help Ewan with something, and came back to our girl eating her yogurt all by herself. Messy yes, but still effective.

52 : 6 (part 4)

Anytime we pass a Starbucks Ewan will say, "I need a drink. Icy cold white on?" He is referring to the non-coffee vanilla frappucino, which may be used for the occasional be good bribe and has now manifested in to a smoothie, aka "icy drink" obsession. In this week's photo Ewan is making a smoothie for morning snack at school.

52 : 5 (part 4)

Easter was a hit at our house. The Easter Bunny knows our boy well, evidenced by all the Star Wars gear. Ewan loved finding the eggs... And then hiding them another 12 times. He acted like he was hiding them for us and then quickly found them all. He wasn't the most gentle with them so at the end of the day the Easter Bunny had to retrieve them for fixing! We had a very nice day together and spent the morning at the de Young and the Academy of Sciences... this is what we have done 2 years in a row now so we are calling it our Easter tradition!

Darby 50/52

Darby enjoyed her first Easter! The big winners in her basic were the yogurt squeezies, her death grip on them is evidenced in this week's photo. She was more in to the egg hunt than we anticipated, she enjoyed finding a few of the more obvious ones and then watching her bro hunt. We had a very nice day together and spent the morning at the de Young and the Academy of Sciences... this is what we did last year as well, when Darby was in my belly, just 5 days from eviction, so we are calling it our Easter tradition!

52 : 4 (part 4)

I traveled this week and it was rough ...on me... so I sent Ewan a gift to remember me by, no mama drama here. He is very in to Star Wars right now so the Vader mask and the Star Wars Lego movie were a hit!

Darby 49/52

My goal was no travel until this girl was 1, I almost made it! Had the weirdest business trip on a cruise ship (aka the Dream Boat) and had to spend a lot of time, and hand gestures, explaining breast pump and breast milk in 3 different countries, but none the less I survived... and Darby obviously did too. She loves climbing in to the duplo bin and throwing bricks out, no building yet, but she sure kept her daddy on his toes.