Natasha is 1!

It was pointed out to me recently that I haven't done such a great job at keeping up with the blog since leaving Moscow.  So here's a little update.

Natasha turned 1 on Thursday.  She also cut her first tooth about a week ago, and has been almost-walking for the past three or so weeks.  She does up to 10 steps at a time before falling.  It's pretty cute.

I'm due in less than three weeks and #2 is officially full-term.  So Natasha could become a big sister any day now.  Hopefully #2 will wait until Jeremy arrives on October 9, but I'm starting to worry that he/she plans to make an unfashionably early appearance.  Not much we can do about that, though, and it wouldn't be the first time a Foreign Service brat is born before Papa arrives ...

And speaking of Papa, he's been living it up in Moscow.  I've been telling him to blog about his adventures, but I guess he's too busy attending concerts (U2 and The Pogues) and bottling his own beer to fire up Blogger.  It's a rough bachelor life, I tell ya.

A few birthday photos, starting with Natasha wearing the same dress I wore on my first birthday (incidentally, my father was also absent - having moved to Washington ahead of me and my mother to start his Foreign Service training).  The cake is carrot (made using this recipe, which really is awesome - I just added vanilla and omitted the nuts).  We made sure Papa was part of the proceedings using the magic of Skype and webcam.  And Natasha ate her entire carrot cupcake (though unfortunately I had to give her dairy-free frosting as she is still allergic to cow's milk), but only after I took her out of the high chair and held her on my lap.  After that, it was meltdown city.

Ah, the first birthday ...