Happy Birthday!

Eli is 1 today! The year has gone by so fast, it feels like we just brought him home from the hospital and now he's running all over the place. We are so lucky to have such a happy, healthy little boy.

Thanks

As Eli's 1st birthday quickly approaches I wanted to take a moment to say thanks to a few people...Thank you to all of our friends and family who have sent such thoughtful gifts over the last 12 months. Eli has enjoyed his new clothes, books, and toys very much. He has especially enjoyed the boxes that they came in. Thank you to everyone who has come to visit us, especially the Grammas who really saved the day right after Eli was born and we didn't know what we were doing. Thanks to our friends Jaime & Helena who have done so much for us - cooking dinner, playing with Eli, babysitting, and much more. Most importantly I want to thank my hubby for putting up with all of my post-baby mood swings, momnesia, and general craziness! This first year hasn't always been easy but having such a wonderful support system has made a huge difference.

oops... I can't believe I forgot to thank my sister, Anne, for always being there to offer advice or listen to me vent. Thanks for being such a great sister.

Grandma sent me a box...

and I love it!

Threads

As a rule, I'm pretty frugal when it comes to buying Eli's clothes. I'm always on the lookout for a good deal or a great sale. I also prefer to dress him in simple clothes - solid and striped shirts with plain bottoms. When he was a little baby there were a lot more animals in the mix but not too much anymore. I've found that the Carter's stuff holds up well and stays soft wash after wash. Old Navy and H&M also have nice simple clothes that don't hurt the pocket book. That being said, every time I dress Eli in one of the very cute, very hip (more costly) presents our friends and family have bought I just can't help but take a few pix. He just looks so damn cute. My baby the "Hipster". I can see how people spend so much on baby clothes. It's really fun to pick out the perfect little outfit.

Transitions

September was a month of transitions for us. I left my job at the YMCA and took a job at the YWCA doing fundraising outreach and event planning. Eli's daycare also moved to a new location which was subpar (to say the least). I won't bore you with the details of why the new site sucked but let's just say it involved screaming babies (not mine) and oreos for snack. Who feeds babies oreos for snack? ugh! All of this prompted a move to an entirely new daycare. On his first day the teachers made a little book out of construction paper with pictures of Eli and all of the things he did that day. When I saw the book my heart just melted.
Childcare in DC is hard to come by. We're #40 on one wait list and #101 on another. That's after they place the siblings of currently enrolled kids. It's also really expensive. We've been lucky up until this point because the Y was very affordable and I got a staff discount. Of course we're now discovering that you get what you pay for. The new daycare has fresh fruit every day, the teachers all have college experience, etc... It's worth the extra cost (no more fancy coffee drinks for mommy and daddy).