Happy Birthday Baby Clare!

In the not so distant past, I spent some time with my lovely niece late at night while her parents attempted to sleep. As the visiting Aunt, I was more than happy to offer to wake up with Clare in the middle of the night - a newborn's greatest hour as I recall. Almost a year later and the screaming diaper changes have faded into oblivion but those wide eyes haven't changed a bit. Picking out the book "Little Miss Giggles" was an obvious choice to go with her first birthday gifts. Clare has the best laugh I have ever heard in a baby, it usually starts and ends as a high-pitched sigh. A sigh that affords her a much wiser and more experienced demeanor than that of a baby. She delights in stuffed animals and laid her head on a giant teddy bear given by her Uncle Richie over and over - right before she bit its nose affectionately. Much to our surprise she ate her entire pink cupcake while everyone else devoured the pink and white teddy bear cake that Jess ordered in town. Clare's crowd of admirers at the party included her 5 best fellas - Liam (the 5 year old who knows his multiplication tables and told his Dad he needed to wash his giant tuna hands!); 4-year old Nate; 2-year old Sam; 2-year old Brayden and 1-year old Allister. As a girl growing up in a neighborhood of all boys, I'll be happy to share some tips with Clare when she begins to find that she's the only girl at the boys' birthday parties!

The whole weekend was a smashing success and couldn't have been more fun. Sissy turned 30 on Friday, so I picked Brayden up on Thursday and took him with Jeff and I to Maryland on Friday. Sissy arrived before the party on Saturday after celebrating her own birthday with Ren in Erie. Spending some one-on-one time with Brayden on Thursday and Friday before the party was priceless and the weekend was rounded out in perfection when Jeff and I arrived home at 4:00. Traveling on Sundays is always a pain, but made so much better when arriving home before dinner time. Happy Birthday Baby Clare and Sissy!