twinkle, twinkle

The weekend prior to Elia's first birthday, we were blessed to celebrate her first year with our family and some of our closest friends.

We chose a "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" theme for the party.

And decided to keep things pretty simple, with just some snacks and of course, a cake.

I was particularly concerned about the cake since Elia, up to that point, had never had anything sweeter than a mango and, absolutely no added sugar, and I'm pretty committed to keeping it that way for a while. I spent more hours than I should admit looking for the perfect cake recipe for her party. I finally settled on a carrot cake recipe with cream cheese frosting, which seemed to go over pretty well.

When I was a girl, my dad made my(and my siblings') birthday cakes every year and they were always magical. We never knew the theme ahead of time, and we couldn't wait to see our cake on our birthday morning, they never disappointed. Keeping with that tradition, my dad came over early to help with Elia's cake. A fun tradition to keep up, and an added blessing, as I'm terrible at frosting cakes.

To be honest, we weren't entirely sure what to do for a first birthday party. We've only been to one before, and that was on a beautiful summer day so we all visited outside and watched the kids play together. Turns out, that's all you need to do, even on a rainy spring day. All of the kids who were there got along swimmingly, and it was really fun to see them all interacting.

As an added bonus, I had not only my sister visiting but, my little brother walked through our door the night before the party, in town to help us celebrate and help my sister move cross-country. What a blessing and what a surprise!

 All in all, Bug was so happy to have her friends and family over to play.

What a joy. Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate and sent birthday wishes!

egn: first birthday

Last year, at this time, Todd and I were awaiting the arrival of our baby girl. At 10:49 PM on this day, Ms. Elia Grey came into our lives. From that moment on, she has brought us so much joy, and my heart is so full as I reflect back on the moments following her birth.

Since that day, I have learned what it means to love with abandon. I am learning more patience by the day. I am learning what it means to be the kind of mother I want to be. This little, bitty person keeps teaching me so much about myself - my weaknesses and my strengths.

What a remarkable year. 

Watching Elia grow, watching her learn, watching her take life in, I couldn't imagine anything better than being the mother of this precious bambino.

To all of our loved ones who have helped us get the hang of this in some way during this first year, thank you. We are endlessly grateful for all of you exceptional human beings.

Smiling, curious, joyful little lover girl, Happy Birthday.  I couldn't possibly love you any more than I do.