...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt. Just kidding. We had a great long weekend.
Last year at this time, we were preparing for my c-section and the birth of baby Brice. For Thanksgiving, Simon, Joel and I ordered some food from Boston Market and sat around on the couch watching football and playing video games. We didn't want company and quite frankly, at 38 weeks pregnant, I couldn't really travel anywhere. One week later, Brice was born. That night may have been the last "quiet and relaxing" evening we would have... ever.
Fast forward to this year. At 29 weeks pregnant, Thanksgiving was a little bit different. My parents and my brother, Steven, came to stay at the Harvill household and we were joined by George and AJ, who stayed in a hotel nearby. My sister, Allyson, hosted and my other sister, Jill, traveled in from London with Andy and baby Grace. Eric's parents, sister, his sister's husband and sister's husband's parents also joined. Oh, and did I mention it was also my nephew, Zach's 17th birthday? Needless to say with the birthdays and the babies, we had a lot of celebrating to do.
I have to report that despite the criticism and threats to have the Westport fire department on standby, Joel and George's Cajun deep fried turkey was a major hit (and no eyebrows were lost during the cooking process). Its amazing what men can do with a deep fryer and gallons of peanut oil.
The day after Thanksgiving, we celebrated Brice's first birthday since our families were in town. We had 35 people at our house including six kids under 3. The bagels, etc. were a huge hit with the crowd that was still working to digest the previous night's turkey dinner and I still giggle when I think of everyone walking around with blue teeth due to my selection of turquoise cupcake frosting. Brice cried hysterically through the singing of "Happy Birthday" which only made me and Joel laugh harder as we were not surprised at all. Needless to say, the second everyone left, he happily played with all of his new loot. To date, his favorite toys seem to be the music table from Aunt AJ, the singing helicopter from Graciela and of course, the Winnie the Pooh card that plays the Winnie the Pooh song (Joel and I attempted to download it off iTunes this morning because we know the birthday card battery will only last so long!).
Now we're gearing up for Elaine and Meredith to arrive on Thursday. They'll be spending Brice's actual first birthday with us on Friday. I'm thinking we need to do something special... lunch out? A trip with the family to the Children's Museum? An extra long bubble bath? We'll see what the day holds in store for us.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm still having a difficult time grasping the fact that my little boy is one. Where did the year go? I fear that I'll close my eyes for a brief second and Brice will be in kindergarten. Another blink and he'll be graduating from high school. Blink again and he's moving to some faraway city for his first job. Part of me wants to put him in a little shoebox in the hopes that he'll stay little and innocent forever. This morning, Joel and I couldn't help but laugh when I asked Brice for a kiss and he responded by chomping down on the tip of my nose.
The other side of me can't wait to see what an amazing man Brice will grow up to become. Graciela told me yesterday that while they were at the library for singalong time, several of the kids, including Brice, were playing with a set of Thomas trains. Apparently a "fight" ensued between a couple of the other one-ish year olds. Graciela beamed as she told me that Brice picked up one train and handed it to one boy, then picked up another to hand to a little girl and then sat down to play with the remaining train himself. Perhaps a future career with the U.N.? Maybe a hockey referee? Who knows. Needless to say, the story made me very, very proud. Brice got extra chicken nuggets for dinner :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment