Happy 1st Birthday to my Father's Day Baby

I officially have a ONE year old! This past week, preparing for Amelia's birthday party has been absolutely CRAY! By the end of it,  I was ready for it to all be over! Hosting a party is no joke.

To begin, Amelia caught a stomach virus a WEEK before her party. I'm talking throwing up food and diarrhea to no end. We threw our bed sheets in the wash every night from whatever blow out she had. (Took me back to her newborn days). She was on a strict Pedialyte diet. Ultimately I made the decision to continue nursing. It just made sense to me to allow her the comfort of nursing and the extra anti-bodies and nutrients regardless if she was going to throw them back up. My little babe looks so little after her sickness. I'm used to seeing rolls on rolls on rolls with this chunk. On top of having a sick baby, we were understaffed at work. You can imagine how stressed I was last week in trying to prepare for her party, having a sick clingy baby and being in overdrive at work to compensate for being understaffed. I'm surprised I don't have wrinkles/bags under my eyes, gray hair or any hair for that matter! 

Sick babe couldn't muster up the strength to give me a smile

 

Party Planning: I tried to prepare myself ahead of time. I have a problem over committing to projects and really not allowing myself enough time to complete everything. For her party, I did a 'shades of pink' theme. Ombre pink if you will. I knew I wanted to bake all the desserts. I also knew I wanted to do a pinata (duh, I love making those). I also wanted to make a 'Stats chalkboard' for the guests to read. Everything was pretty much completed besides baking (which I did the night before the party). Once I had everything frosted and all my decorations together, my final vision came together nicely and I was really happy with the outcome.

 

 Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the inside of her cake, which was also ombre pink! :(

Sou Kwan: Before the birthday celebration began, we had a sou kwan. You can find more information on the ceremony here. The ceremony ended up being really intimate. By this time, Amelia was unhappy and hungry. We were afraid to give her food in case her stomach was still upset. But after a little bit of rice and chicken, she was in better spirits. 

Tired baby on the way to her party. She is holding onto the top of a frosting container. Whatever keeps her content.

Getting ready to start the Sou Kwan

 Sou Kwan

She was upset mid way through

My mom and Amelia

 

The rest of the night we danced and hung out with friends and family. The pinata was another success. It really gets to me seeing my beautiful creations being demolished like that! We also rented a bounce house, which is always a favorite for the kids. Chalk and bubbles were a great idea for the kids too. (It's so fun to have a summer birthday after years of having winter birthdays) 

 Mommy and the birthday girl 

Benson and his buddies playing with sidewalk chalk

Weeks  Months leading up to her birthday, I started singing 'Happy Birthday' so she wouldn't be taken by surprise and cry from being afraid. (Something I learned when I had Benson) So when the singing came around she was amazed by the fire of the candles to pay any attention to everyone singing. I blew out her candles and immediately brought over her smash cake. She went to town! She was kneading her smash cake and indulging in the frosting. All in all, I would say her first party was a success. 

Smash Cake!

 

 

Celebrating her REAL birthday: We celebrated her real birthday on Monday. I cooked a big pot of spaghetti (one of her faves). This was one her first meals after being sick. After getting cleaned up, we sang and let her enjoy a cupcake. 

 Father's Day: Amelia was born on Father's Day last year. I believe every 5 years, her birthday will land on Father's Day. Sadly, she isn't much of a daddy's girl as she is a momma's girl. (I'll relate that to the breastfeeding) Father's Day was spent opening her gifts from the party. She loves to pull stuff out of boxes, drawers, bags etc. so she had a blast making a mess. We surprised Eric with some Walking Dead books and comics - he is the biggest zombie lover ever! We got some ice cream and watched a movie at home. A day well spent with my favorite people!

Grabbed some ice cream and this little one wanted to eat the grass. Her reaction when we told her 'NO!'

 This past year has been one hell of a ride. If anything, it has taught me a great deal of patience and learning to let go and leave it to the universe! Being a mother of two is a tough one. I've had to learn to spread my time and attention. It's hard to tend to a screaming baby while the other needs help with something else. I've learned a lot about my husband, my children and about myself. I'm excited to see what's in store for us. My family has my heart and as long as we're with each other, I'm the happiest I can be.

 

 Amelia's first ride with her car seat turned forward!

 

This picture tickles me. Her facial expression KILL ME!

I know I've already written a novel but I'll end it here with some updates on Amelia. (We have not had our year check up yet so these are based on guesses from her last visit)

Age: 1 Year!

Height: 28 inches

Weight: 20lbs

Head: Will update once I take her to the doc

Clothes size: 12 months are perfect. I prefer dressing her in 18 months for the comfort so we're not having to contort her body to get her arm in the sleeve!

Milestones: She can walk along furniture - another 'step' closer to walking!

Sleep: My least favorite of things. I've finally come to terms that she is not a good sleeper. Some nights are better than others. I've read and talked to my lactation consultant that breastfed babies (especially those that co-sleep) continue to wake through the night until they're older. With her recent illness, she has picked up the very bad habit of nursing ALL NIGHT LONG! (who the f*** has time for that!) I'm trying to break that habit which means we have a lot of long nights ahead of us!

Best Moment: My heart melts seeing my children play together. The age difference is perfect for our family. Benson is so helpful. He is comfortable holding her (or at least trying to). I even saw him fixing her dress for her!!

Worst Moment: She is such a diva. I don't remember Benson having tantrums as bad as Amelia has been having. Screaming at the top of her lungs. Inconsolable - nothing will distract her attention. We have had to leave immediately to avoid stares! Never in my life have we had to deal with that with Benson. Oh boy. We are in for a ride!

Fave Foods: Amelia is such a great eater. She loves fruit! Spaghetti, chicken and rice, eggs and jelly toast are some of her faves. We have slowly been introducing her to whole milk. So far so good. She seems to like, especially warm. But this baby sure does love her breast milk. We are 366 days into nursing and going strong. I don't see us weaning any time soon.

Language: Still no words yet but she makes her message very clear when she does not like something!

Teeth: We're at a total count of 4 for now. Her top gums are swollen so I imagine more coming. Maybe that'll explain her bouts of terror!

Weekend Recap: Happy Birthday to ME!

This weekend I celebrated my 25th birthday! (Talk about having your foot in the grave, ha!) I was a little sad at first to be turning half a century old but I'm really starting to embrace it now. I have a lot of be proud of; my family, my home, my job. I've been joking that I'm really celebrating the 4th anniversary of my 21st birthday. I know when that day comes that I feel "old" I'm going to cry like a baby. 

I hardly ever do anything special for my birthday. My birthdays became insignificant once I became a mom, so having Benson at 19 made me miss out on those 'party like a rockstar' celebrations. The only time I remember doing anything cool was when Eric threw me a surprise 21st birthday. (He really is the best husband) So this year I decided to celebrate ALL weekend long! Eric and I took Friday (my actual birthday) off of work to spend the day together with the kids. We started the day off with breakfast. My sweet husband made me a yummy green smoothie (household favorite) and an amazing omelet! He pulled the "I forgot something in the garage, can you go get it?" line. I knew he was up to something...

He got me the coolest road bike. We recently surprised Benson with a big-boy bike and I had previously gawked at some bikes. Looks like he had been listening. (good husband...)

 We went to lunch and did a little shopping and ending the day at the pool with my mom.

                                                                                                                 My mom and Amelia relaxing at the pool

I spent most of Saturday having a girls outing with my mini and did a little lot of shopping. I did some damage. Oops. We enjoyed the company of a few friends and family with a BBQ at our place. The night was spent with really good food, music and lots of laughs. 

Of course we did lots of drinking

My bestest friends growing up, my two cousins,  Surita and Vorada

The entrance to our doorway where Eric wrote this warning for our guests. "Welcome, please do not step on the bird shit!"

Check out that chalk work!

 

Sunday funday was spent relaxing. My the minis slept with my parents so Eric and I could finally get some alone time. We got to go grocery shopping together, alone! We ended the day drinking by the pool like old times. 

My birthday weekend was perfect!