1 Year Old!

Today's the day! (Well, technically tomorrow, but by the time you read this it will be today.)



A year ago last night, we took this photo of Katy.


And that same night, on a whim, I packed a hospital bag - well in advance, I thought, of the day we would need it.

A year ago this morning between 7 and 8am, Katy was having irregular contractions, and I was dutifully trying to time them. (I learned this, I'm sure, from a book or two - though my real mentors were countless panicked movie dads doing - or trying to do - the same thing.)  After 20 minutes of trying to figure out if they were actually contractions, we realized that it was Go-Time and I threw bags, car seats, and car bases into the car without a clue, of course, that we wouldn't sleep in our own beds for another two weeks.


At 12:06pm and 12:08pm, Noemi and Zora were born.

Noey

Zozo trying on her first "shoes"

And now here they are, 1 year old.

Zora tussles with waterbottle

Noey tries out the drum (oddly enough sponsored by Jeep)

It's been a very full year.  And it's hard to express how different life is, how happy and lucky we feel.

It's also hard to express how tired we still are.
And how the year has both flown by and been the longest, happiest year of our lives.    

Messy Babies

Noemi showing off her pincer skills

Do pictures of babies eating ever get old? I hope not since they're some of our favorite shots to take. Partly because it's one of the few times during the day that both girls are sitting still. But also because they have very strong opinions about food - it's a love/hate relationship. Mostly love, thankfully, but they aren't shy in letting us know when they really don't like something or when they're really set on feeding themselves, even if it takes all night. Noemi likes most foods; Zora is slower to warm to things like blueberries (sorry, Opa) and carrots. Funnily, bananas (an innocuous enough food) have not been a big hit, while veggie burgers bring down the house. Maybe I can make a veggie burger cake for their first birthday?

Zora's in a phase of taking her bib off mid-meal. Splendid.

Yogurt is one of ZoZo's faves.

Beware "the face."

It'd be easier to just hose 'em down.

Old Stomping Grounds

Last week was Westminster Spring Break so we packed up Zora and Noemi for 5 days in Austin. I (Katy) am still amazed by how well everything went. The girls were troopers on the 2 1/2 hour flight (albeit very wiggly and squirmy troopers), slept great in strange places, and were surprisingly cheerful even as we passed them amongst scores of new people (Zora seems to be moving beyond her "stranger danger" phase somewhat).

The weather was divine - high 60s and low 70s - so we spent as much time outside as possible, hitting up a farmers' market with good friends Jeremy, Karin, and their 1-year-old Gretta, and taking walks around our old neighborhood. Thanks to our friends Jen and Joseph Strickland, we even got to stay a couple of nights in the first apartment Mike and I ever lived in together - all 400 sq. ft. of it! The other few nights we spent with the Weber family - Sara, Seth, and Silas. Zora got a kick out of Silas' dragon toys. We ate boatloads of good food: brunch with friends Mike and Kirk (new find: siphoned coffee!), take-out from my favorite sandwich shop with dissertation advisor Jim, queso and Mexican Martinis with friend Leigh, and even a date night of tex-mex and margaritas our last night in town.

The visit made us miss the vibrant quirkiness of Austin, but we were glad to get home. It's been a hard winter with all the snow and smog here in SLC, but spring is on its way - no red air quality days this whole week and we can actually see our front yard again!

Zora enjoying the sun

Noemi enjoying her sun hat

ZoZo reading with Kirk

Noey cuddling with Jeremy

Dragon + Baby

at Mueller Park (Noey is so over the sun hat)

at the Mueller Farmers' Market with Jeremy, Karin, & Gretta

with Leigh

in our old apartment

like a true Texas cowgirl