BrassineFamily.com

Dear Gwyneth,

My little girl had her first birthday! Mommy and I still cannot believe how fast time has gone by and just how much can happen in one year – the year you turned 1 year old!

We both thought you were going to be a Halloween baby as we drove to the hospital that Halloween night, as variations of Hannah Montana and Spider-Man walked our neighborhood, a bowl of Halloween candy forgotten on the kitchen table evidence of our early membership into parenting. And you were both gracious and stubborn as you waited for your Grammy and Uncle DJ to arrive from Pennsylvania the next morning before being born. Such a good girl.

But what can happen in a year you may ask?

In the past year our family has experienced extreme weather, yet another Ohio State championship game loss, highest gas prices ever, a Global financial crisis (Dow Jones stock market index records its largest-ever one-day fall of 777.68 points), new Olympic records, man-made proton beams, the “worst to first” Tampa Bay Rays made it to the World Series (and lost), The Dark Knight approaches a world box office revenue of 1 billion dollars, a historical presidential election as Barack Obama is elected as the 44th President of the United States (you helped Mommy and me vote in both the primaries and on election night – you even got a “I Voted” sticker!) and multiple trips to visit friends and family around the country.

We have had so much fun with you this past year and would not change a thing, be it our morning ritual of watching the Wiggles and Blues Clues together everyday, or playing with you and the animals at night. I have to say that I am surprised to see how much you already love Keegan, Tess, Maizy, Amos and Sophie and am proud of how gentle you can be when you want to play with them. Maizy even waits for almost a full 10 seconds before running away from you now!

You have your Mommy’s heart and laugh and a smile that I cannot begin to describe – all of these things have made you the love of my life, and while many great events happened this past year, I know you are the only one that mattered to me.

Penblwydd hapus i chi Gwyneth Ann!

(Welsh for “Happy Birthday to you” – just like the origin of your name!)

We love you very much!

Daddy

And now we have various pictures from the birthday party, her Halloween costume and a slide-show of Gwyn eating her 1st birthday cake. (you can click on each individual picture within the slide-show if you like)

Gwyn having fun eating her very first birthday cake!! (not piece… CAKE!)

Rachel and I would also like to wish our Tess a happy birthday! Tess turned 4 today! (11-12-08) Tess is our eyes and ears to everything around us… we call her the “Fun Police” for a reason! We love you Tessie!

Thanks for reading and look for Rachel’s turn at the blog next – hopefully we can get back to the once a week posts!