Date of Birth

I think it is outright irresponsible of me to not post photos tonight, but I had to help Muriel fall asleep after all the excitement, which led directly to me falling asleep, and then waking up to discover it is nearly eleven. I am not inclined to hook up the hardware to make pictures move apartments from the camera to the server, but when I do, tomorrow, you will see Naomi wearing her flower girl dress (again), blinged up with mardi gras beads that my parents brought along, and basically cranked up to eleven. She had a really good time.

I had fun, too, actually. We put the extension in our newish dining room table for the first time, so in case you are wondering, 12 people total is about the best we can do at one seating, and that's if four of the twelve are kids. After dinner, Naomi seated herself on the ottoman as though on a dais, and waited patiently for everyone to find a seat so she could begin the present opening performance. Yikes. She was not, shall we say, appropriately slow and appreciative, which makes me glad we have asked for no gifts at her kid party.

Then there was the moment, when I had lit the candles on her cake (which she insisted on placing herself, after a fairly dignified acceptance that I did a terrible job writing her name across the strawberries in Reddi Whip), and we started singing, that I got completely choked up and could not finish the song. I can't begin to summarize my feelings in that moment, but I wonder if you ever stop time traveling back to the beginning when you celebrate the birthday of your children, or any child you have known since the day they were actually born. Beautiful, tiny baby Naomi is now beautiful five-year-old Naomi. Thanks, Universe!