The best birthday ever!

Rachel officially turned 1 today. We had a little party to celebrate. A few highlights:

--She took a long morning nap, which enabled me to bake lemon-blueberry bread and finish cleaning the house, let the carpet guy in to carpet the upstairs closet (which looks amazing, so if any of you want to travel 3,000 miles to admire it, we will happily put you up), set up the table and then expand the table when Drew brought the foodstuffs from Kenny & Zuke's, our favorite deli out there. Everything was completely ready to go 20 minutes before folks started arriving.

--Kenny & Zuke's apparently mis-heard Drew. About two dozen people RSVP'd; Drew wisely ordered food for 18, and they gave us enough for...an army. Drew and I will be eating corned beef, salami and cheese sandwiches until, oh, her 2nd birthday. This is why America is obese, folks.

--We have yet to open all the gifts, but one of the best ones was from our friend Molly, who has two kids and a baby about a month younger than Rachel. It was a little car that Rachel can power with her feet! when she figures it out; until then, Mom or Dad will have to push her. You should have seen her face light up behind the wheel when Drew pushed her up and down the driveway, and when Marigold (Molly's daughter, the 11-month-old), pushed the cart with Rachel inside...well, I'll never forget that scene!

--Toward the end of the afternoon, Doug and Linda and their two boys showed up, Linda with a plastic ballpen big enough to hold Rachel and an adult (we have to inflate it; it will live upstairs) and a tubful of plastic balls to go with it. Drew had the genius idea of putting Rachel in the tub surrounded by the plastic balls and you have never seen a happier child. She went to town, throwing the balls outside the tub, handing the balls to Drew and laughing. At that point I figured it was time to break out the soap bubbles, so I blew bubbles while Andrew (Linda's son, who will soon be 6) tried to break them and Rachel giggled. I took plenty of pictures!

--Drew and I switched off taking care of Rachel throughout the day, and she most definitely wanted to be with him. But around 8 or so, I took her in my lap while Drew finished the last of the cleaning up and she became very cuddly. I sang a couple of lullabies while Anne, David, Amanda and Jenn chilled out. (Jenn at one point started falling asleep on the couch!). Anne paid me one of the most beautiful compliments of the day: "You are such a natural mother, Lisa." she said.

--Rachel is now asleep, hopefully for the night. She had a couple of meltdowns with all the people and the excitement, but otherwise everyone complimented us on how beautiful, alert, smart and happy she is. Drew is upstairs talking to the remainder of our guests -- most of whom stayed way later than the 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. window, which was just fine with us, we love having visitors stay as long as possible -- and I am here writing this, with a very full heart and the absolute conviction that it will be impossible to top this birthday. Thank you all for helping to make it possible and remind us how much Rachel is loved.