What a journey this past year has been - after MANY sleepless nights (I won't lie, I still occasionally have them), bouncing a screaming colicky baby, I feel like all three of us have come so far. A has a little more patience with us, and we have learned so much about taking care of a baby, ourselves, and even about taking care of each other. I truly believe that having a baby is a delicate balancing act, and is a struggle for most moms - you invest every ounce of your being into this tiny new life, but I eventually came to realize that it is just as important to invest in my relationship with Ryan, and into myself. Sometimes that means having a spa day, and sometimes it just means walking around Target by myself after A goes to sleep for the night. With that being said, I am so incredibly happy with my little family. I feel so blessed.
I can't believe that a year has flown by already - I feel like it was just yesterday that I was at the hospital meeting A for the first time. In my mind, he is still this big:
On the weekend, we had Andrew's 1st birthday party in the middle of the heat wave, and despite the heat, it was a wonderful time. We had a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme, and I tried to incorporate it wherever I could.
Here are the invitations and the little envelope seals we had made:
I think that the star of the show (other than A, of course) was the cake, which was made by a friend of our family, Maria. I just told her what the theme was and she let her imagination run wild, and did a FANTASTIC job. I was completely blown away when she brought it in!
The level of detail was amazing - the leaves on top (under the caterpillar), the strawberries and pickle even had tiny little detailing on it! There's even a little piece of fondant Swiss cheese on the back that is so perfect but you can't see it in the pictures!
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| A found the polka dots on the cake fascinating! |
For decor, I happened to find wrapping paper at Chapters that was reminiscent of the Hungry Caterpillar dots, so I used that as a backdrop...it didn't work out so great, as the room was so hot (even with AC!) that the tape didn't seem to be holding it too well!
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| Table Centerpieces |
For favours, I decided to make chocolate chip cookies with mini M&M's instead of chocolate chips to give it the same colourful polka dot look, and had labels made to stick on the bags:
The birthday boy even had a decorated highchair, with a banner that I made:
Here are some close-up shots of the cake - can you tell I am still in awe of it a few days later???
Another exciting moment of the party was getting the Momtourage together for a picture with all the babies. Well, I guess I have to say toddlers now, as they are almost all over a year. Just for comparison, here is a shot of the babies the first time we all got together. In this shot, A is only three weeks old, and is second from the right.
We're missing one of the babies in the first shot and have another addition in the second, but the other five pretty much hung out every week for the first year of their lives!
And here is the rowdy crew, at A's birthday! They have all changed so much, and I am so lucky to call these incredible women my friends. They have been such a source of support, entertainment, and laughter over the past year and I look forward to watching our kidlets grow up together.
After pictures and lunch, it was present time! A only opened a few gifts and then got sidetracked by toys!
The Bubble Guppies microphone was a huge hit - Char even came crawling over to get in on the action!
As A has been cruising around constantly lately, we brought his walker so he could cruise on his own and not get cranky. It ended up being perfect, as he zipped around and visited all the tables while burning off energy!
One of the funniest moments of the day was A's first taste of cake. It was delicious, as you can tell from the photos. He couldn't get enough of it!
Andrew was surrounded by love and laughter at his party, and got spoiled rotten! It makes me feel all mushy and sentimental knowing that he is surrounded by such love in his life. What a lucky little man he is. Huge thanks go out to all of our friends and family who love him, encourage him, and support us in this journey.
NOTE: I have had a lot of comments about his little man-tie. I bought it from an awesome local vendor called Eva + Dell. She has tons of adorable clothes and accessories for girls and boys. She is at many mom and baby shows, but you can find her on Etsy and Facebook as well. Her products are very high-quality, and cute as can be. Please take a moment to check her out :)
https://www.facebook.com/evaanddell?fref=ts
http://www.etsy.com/shop/EvaandDell
Any plans for your little one's birthday? What was the most memorable kids' party that you have been to or thrown? Let me know in the comments below!
