hello 26. nice to meet you.

this year has been a whirlwind, and it's not over yet. but yesterday was my birthday and, well, it's a day all about me. so how could i not be excited? i mean, really?!

for as long as i can remember, my birthdays have been pretty spectacular. my mom should have won an award for best birthday party thrower. for my 10th birthday, she rented a hotel room and i brought 9 of my closest friends and we slept all over the place. i woke up on a lawn chair by the pool. sweet 16? we were "going out to eat with our friends" which turned out to be a restaurant full of just about everyone i knew. and of course i got a car. which was waiting outside with a bow on it (at least that's my memory. really, the insurance lady ruined the surprise when she called and told me i was added to the policy. so my dad brought it home the day before. but let's not ruin the moment). birthday's ere a really big deal in my house.

so when i left home, i kind of had an expectation that that would be the way birthdays were for the rest of my life! fortunately, i have a husband who likes to do what i want. so i have pretty awesome birthdays still.

this birthday was no exception. my first year being a mommy we went to, where else? DISNEY WORLD. only.....we didn't make it to disney world. or sea world. or even wally world (wait......yes we did......). we went to WONDER WORKS. never heard of it? us either. so we went.

no, this picture isn't upside down. the building is. the coolest thing was that in the "basement", aka, 3rd floor (upside down building. get it?) there is a high ropes, black lit course. it was a pretty cool place, full of experiments and fun science-y things. and lots of 2nd graders.

we walked up and down the street, we ate at some fun places, and we got some much needed alone time (thanks mom!!). and bella gave me the gift of cutting her first tooth! yep. thanks bel, your crying was a wonderful addition to our weekend getaway!

you see that little booger poking through? she's real proud of it. and likes to show me how sharp it is by leaning over and chomping on my arm/finger/ear/leg/toe/pretty much anything she can put in her mouth. fortunately, she hasn't linked eating with chewing yet. because that would be bad news.

and while it was MY birthday, someone else decided it was time for her to grow up.

that's my girl. up on her knees. starting to actually crawl.