My baby girl turned 1 year old this week!
With the holidays and moving all in the past month and half, Norah's birthday was getting over shadowed by everything else going on! As her big day was getting closer and closer, I realized how guilt-ridden I was over it! I was choosing not to think about it and make plans, because I was so overwhelmed with life in general! I felt guilty because I'd always done parties for Titus with lots of family and friends in our cozy home and spent countless hours planning and dreaming... Now I have a GIRL, and two-weeks away from the big 1st birthday, I have planned nothing! I was so discouraged... So I messaged my sweet friend, and former business partner, Laura, and vented all my feelings! I knew she'd understand and have some great encouragement and advice! Just getting it out helped, and I was able to get on top of my feelings and start planning a little party for her.
Then Laura offered to make Norah her birthday outfit! I was just overwhelmed by her generosity- especially her willingness to add another thing to do during the Christmas season! I was ready to explode with excitement when I opened the box! It turned out amazing! And Norah looked stunning! Seriously, she was so cute, you wanted to give her a big squeeze, take a hundred pictures, and eat her up all at the same time!
Here are some pictures of the fun night!
Unfortunately she wasn't in much of a party mood! She didn't have any tantrums or meltdowns, but she just wasn't into all the festivities. She didn't really want to get her picture taken, she wasn't interested in opening presents, and even didn't want her piece of cake... But the rest of us had fun! And even though I was a little disappointed by her reaction to the night, it will be a funny memory to relive for her as she gets older! :)
There aren't any great pictures of her, so I'm hoping to dress her back up in her tutu sometime soon for a little photo shoot!
Winter "One"derland Party
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| Strawberry filling inside Strawberry Cake |
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| Homemade Cream Cheese Mints |
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| Refusing her cake! :/ |
Cake- Fresh Strawberry Cake with Cream Cheese Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Strawberry filling (Thickened Strawberry Puree)
Cake Decor- Snowflake and Pearl Sprigs from Pat Catan's, Wood Number and Ribbon from Joann's (Wood Number is hand painted fuchsia)
Centerpiece- Assembled from the Winter Floral section of Pat Catan's
Decor- Woods letters are from Norah's room- purchased from Hobby Lobby and painted by mama!
Garland is handmade using tulle and fabric strips.
Silver crackle bowl/vase, pearl garland, and all snowflakes are from Pat Catan's
Thanks to my sweet MIL for doing most of the decorating so I could focus of other things! :)
Baby Name Blocks are handmade by my cousin, Megan.
Homemade Cream Cheese Mints recipe
I love the cake!! And the bow on her high chair--such a sweet idea. :)
ReplyDeleteI know the guilt you mean (my 2nd was also born close to Christmas), but something I realized along the way is that you shouldn't take on the pressure of proving to your kids via pictures and scrapbooks and whatever else that they were cherished. Just cherish them!
I also learned to ask for help. Haha, I ask for help all the time! :)
It's a fact that you don't have as much energy to devote to two or more as you did for one. And that's okay! You still know what does make her smile.
Also, since I am NOT particularly organized or resourceful, we have adopted a strategy for birthdays. Most birthdays, they get family over and a cake and presents from guests are optional rather than expected (we usually give them one thing we know they'd really like). Birthdays 5 (or 6), 10, 13, 16, and 18 we'll try to do something extra special. It might be a big party or it might be going somewhere awesome with a friend or two. I find it takes the pressure off and then I have literally years to plan the next BIG bash. :)