The birthday post

It's hard to believe it's been a year already. Nicole's grown so much. So has her hair. And her vocabulary's catching up. She says dada and mama (dada came first, so it's not just because I'm the one writing), banana (well, just nana), book, nose (at least the no- part), more, bye bye and hi. We swear she also says "What's that?" when she points at things, but we're not kidding ourselves.

Nicole's birthday celebration got off to a great start. Not only was the day before her birthday the end of a little stomach illness, but she welcomed her new friend Genevieve Sala into the world. Then for her birthday, Uncle Howard, Uncle Neil, Aunt Lauren and BFF Maggie were in town. You may remember what happened the last time Nicole and Maggie got together in Arizona, but this time was much more civil. By the end of the night they were having a great time playing together.

Nicole enjoyed playing with her birthday cake. It was coconut, which was delicious, but white frosting and a pale baby don't make for great pictures. We'll do chocolate frosting at her party. That'll show up much better.

Other than her words, she doesn't have too many new tricks. She still won't walk on her own. She does great when holding on to someone, and she'll stand up on her own. But then she just sits back down. She loves to climb, which keeps us on our toes. And yes, she's still crawling by dragging one leg across the floor. Keeps us from having to sweep, though. She started swimming lessons last weekend. She's had two so far and has cried for about 58 of the 60 minutes. She spent one of the other two minutes pulling out Daddy's chest hair, and the remaining minute swimming. Hopefully she'll start warming up to it soon. She has to; we live in Arizona. And she's spending most of the summer in the pool whether she likes it or not. Speaking of pools, Nicole fared much better in the NCAA tournament this year. She was 7th out of over 900 at one point after a few rounds. But her Final Four teams of Michigan State, Louisville, Xavier and Georgetown (based on her visits to East Lansing, Louisville, Cincinnati and D.C. this past year) didn't come through for her.

For those that are concerned with Nicole's parents and their residence, the repair work on the house begins tomorrow. We hope to have the first floor work (carpeting, painting and kitchen cabinets) done by the end of the month. The upstairs carpeting and painting will follow, and more pictures will follow that.

I hope that by holding off the links to the pictures until the end that you've read this update. I'll try to write more frequently so the updates won't be as long. Meanwhile, here are some pictures we took in late March that we have not yet shared. And here are the pictures from her birthday.