and pockets full of earth

Today one of Ethan's best buddies, Cassidy, had her first birthday party! A few weeks ago, we kicked off first birthday season in our little group of friends and it's pretty crazy how quickly time has gone by. When Ethan first met his buddies, he was barely two months old!

Having great mom friends is an absolute must. (I still look back and cringe when I think of the days when I was sure that Ethan and I would always attend events alone and never, ever meet anyone we had a thing in common with. I do not miss those days.) We hit the jackpot with our little group of friends and I can't even begin to express how wonderful it's been having such a support system during the chaos that is motherhood.

Cassidy's mommy, Jaime, deserves a party planner of the year award for Cassidy's beautiful party today! She threw Cassidy a beautiful garden party for her first birthday -- and how cute did Cassidy look celebrating her special day?! I love watching our little ones grow up together and celebrate their first birthdays but at the same time, it makes me totally sentimental and nostalgic and not at all ready for it to be Ethan's turn in three short months!

Unfortunately -- because for some reason there always seems to be an unfortunately slipped in there somewhere -- Ethan seems to have come down with a cold. He was full of snot and sniffles and sneezes and all of the other yucky things that sadly make for a little boy to stay stuck at home with his daddy and not at his friend's birthday party.

This afternoon, I whipped up a batch of homemade matzoball soup from my mother's family recipe that cured my colds all throughout my childhood. That soup has always been the ultimate comfort food for me and now here I am, preparing the same recipe for my own son when he isn't feeling well. (I know I'll never be able to make it like my mother, however. Why is that?) My mother's matzoball soup has always been one of my favorite foods, reminding me of childhood and my grandmother and family and everything that is warm and good in life. Ethan finished every last drop in his bowl and was laughing and giggling as we prepared him for bed. I could almost hear my grandmother: "Jewish penicillin," she'd insist, whenever I said that I was already feeling better.