Face.

That's all.

Her first gross motor skill! I am both proud and alarmed.

SHE ROLLS OVER YOU GUYS. This is both awesome and terrible, because I leave her lying on things all the time. Which, I mean, she's still working on rolling back-to-front, but she's going to pull that one out UNEXPECTEDLY and probably while I am in the other room. So no more lounging on the countertop.

Anywert, it is sort of astonishing to see her Do A Thing. And not even flukey-like, but regularly. You just have to flip her onto her tummy and wait for her to get past the HEY NEAT I CAN SEE DIFFERENT THINGS FROM HERE stage

and through the UGH MY HEAD IS SO HEAVY WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE AID ME stage and eventually she get so mad and flaily that she pushes herself over and then lies there, stunned, like she can't figure out how the scenery changed.

Pinterest Is Making Me Fat, Vol. 2

Lemon brownies! Lemonies! These were super very good, with a brownie-like texture and a lemony flavor. I feel stupid for having written that sentence because obviously. If only there were some sort of button to delete it. OH WELL. These tasted like lemon squares, without all the bother of making a shortbread crust or all the inhaling powdered sugar when you go to take a bite.

Strawberry macarons with chocolate buttercream! I have always wanted to TRY macarons, and then Joel brought me some back from New York, and then I wanted to try MAKING them. They didn't grow feet like they're supposed to, and the tops didn't smooth out, and I'm too lazy to go to the store for cream for ganache or to even remember the day before to MAKE ganache so it can set up, which is why BUTTERCREAM, so basically as macarons they were the worst. BUT a bad macaron is still very nummy, if labor-intensive. I would definitely make these again, because I cannot abide failure. Also, nummy. Also, SO PRETTY.

Blackberry Blueberry lemon pudding cake! This was, as Bekah said, not one of my best. It had...a texture. BUT for the first time in maybe ever, I didn't over-beat my eggs. Maybe I should have. ANYwert, two people really liked it, but they are also two of the sweetest, most unfailingly complimentary people I know, so.

 Treatsssssssssssss!

The eatings go on and on.

And then, because it is my birthday and I am 30, yesterday I got to pick the eatings for family dinner. So we had steak and potatoes and caprese kabobs and flatbreads with goat cheese and caramelized onions and bean salad and pasta salad, for there are vegetarians among us, and angel food cake with greek yogurt and berries for dessert.

And then today we had fajitas out of the leftover steaks, and because it is my birthday I got to eat the leftover cake.

And also , mom took Eleanor and I took a nap. This may have been my best birthday yet.

I prefer plain-spoken restaurant names.

Because it is my birthday and I am 30, we went to Meat and Bread for some meat and bread. I had the porchetta.

It was full of cracklins, served on a plank with mustard, and unreal good.

I also had the bacon maple ice cream sandwich.

It was lightly sweet, lightly salty, and it, too, was unreal good.

Eleanor had the receipt.

She says it was flavorful but a little dry.

Also there is a fly in my soup.

It's my birthday and I am 30, so I had coffee in my new birthday mug. It has a tail.

But then what is this, peeking out from my coffee?

That appears to be A CRITTER.

What can I do for you, sir?

Clever girl.

Remember how hard we were all encouraging her to get her fist into her mouth?

it's super difficult, you guys

Man, she is so good at it now. One day I'll figure out how to upload videos and then post the one of her using her own fist to muffle her crying. It's adorably pathetic.

Anyway, not only is she super good at getting her hands to her mouth, but she can get them to other things, too.

And then to her mouth.

I am frankly astonished that that bird still has wings. At any rate, she is not using her powers for good.

If she can get her hands on it, it should probably be in her mouth. Even if her sense of 'things I can fit in there' is still being developed.

I will nom this whole thing!

We know it's just the beginning of the end, and that the days of plunking her on our laps while we eat are over.

That thing you are holding? She would like it, please.

I continue to like my life.

Yesterday Joel had to work, but Eleanor napped for two and a half hours IN HER CRIB, which is her longest nap to date that has not been On My Body. (I checked on her three times to make sure she was not dead. SHE WAS NOT. Just very, very sleeping.)

And then I took a jog with my new stroller (and my baby, obvs) and it was everything I wanted it to be, and I will totally jog all the time now! Except, not very far or fast, because I'm pushing 40 extra pounds. But Eleanor loves the fresh air and the sights and smells, and also finds them soporific.

And then Pop Pop and Gigi took the baby and I put on a new dress and my hummingbird skull and went downtown for a pulled pork poutine

and a brisket sandwich

and also, look at this giant dog!

Right? And then also, 21 Jump Street was much more hilarious than I expected or felt it had a right to be. I mean, CHANNING TATUM. And yet, he has serious comedic chops.

Excellent day.

Five and on.

Five years ago today, Joel and I ambled over a bridge INTO OUR LIVES TOGETHER.

This time last year, I told Joel I was knocked up and that we were going to have to sleep in really aggressively for the next eight months.

Since then, we have acquired a dog-niece

and a dog-nephew

and lost a dog-sibling (RIP, Koala-kins).

I went to New York without Joel

and Joel went to New York without me.

We both went to Haiti

and Jamaica

[um, sometimes I don't take photos of stuff. I know.]

and Mexico

and ate more pulled pork than, if we're being honest, was necessary.

We moved in with my parents, and have been doing All The Vancouver Things. Like go to the PNE.

And walk around Stanley Park.

And go to a Lion's game.

And (for significantly more money) a Canucks game.

And the Christmas market.

Oh, and then somewhere in there we had a baby.

And now we are THREE PEOPLE and Joel is practically a doctor and I am definitely a mum and we are two months away from packing up our stuff and moving yet again and setting up our little home and getting cats and maybe a dog and everything is so very, very good.

(Oh yeah, and holy crap, I graduated. I forgot that because there were no pictures because I didn't go to convocation because I already graduated from university once because I am addicted to school.)

I felt like Jessica today. I liked my dress. I liked my shoes. I liked my coat. I liked my stroller. I liked my baby. I liked the weather. I liked my nail polish. I liked my lunch.

Also, I went to Make It Vancouver with my mom and my sister and my sister's bff Bree, and bought a gold necklace cast from a hummingbird skull. I liked my gold necklace cast from a hummingbird skull.

Sunriiiiiiise, sunset.

Remember these two lovebirds?

So delicate. So unaware. So completely unconscious all the time.

Now they are ripe old babies, with such hobbies in common as staying awake for long periods, tracking moving objects with their eyes, and gnawing on rags.

Felix is all, Hey baby, and Eleanor is like, Got this rag to gnaw on, thanks.

She is already very good at sharing.

Hands! I mean, who wouldn't want to chew a hand, right? Here, I have two hands. You can have one.

It was a weekend!

We ate very elaborate burgers in the sunshine.

I ran 10k with 48 000 other people.

Before:

During:

After, and much redder of face:

I went for Thai food with the in-laws. Eleanor fell asleep on my neck.

I gave her to Joel

so I could eat my fried bananas.

They were my birthday bananas, nine days early.