Click play to view a slideshow of Julietta's family birthday party. Uncle Miles and his girlfriend, Elise, made it over to celebrate with us. We are hoping to have a larger celebration in the coming weeks. If you scroll over the slideshow after pressing play, on the bottom right corner there is a square with arrows. Click that square to view the slideshow larger. Press the Esc button on your keyboard to return to the blog after the slideshow is over.
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We had a great day with our little one year old. Julietta's big day started with her smiling and giggling. Julietta woke up after the big kids had gone to theater practice. She immediately found those balloons (see the post below for more explanation). She would not let go of them. She looked so silly in her high chair with a fist full of balloons. It reminded me of Liliana, who on her first birthday napped with her fingers tightly clutching the string to a white helium filled balloon!!
Typically Julietta eats organic fruits and veggies for breakfast. The only sweet she had ever eaten before her birthday was a plain sugar cookie on Christmas Eve. She was not a very big fan of the glazed donut I gave her after breakfast or her sugary cake. I tried to teach Miss Julietta how to blow out a candle on her donut at breakfast. She thought it was hilarious and eventually figured out how to make drooly baby bubbles, but never quite got the hang of blowing. After breakfast we played and read books and Julietta laid down for her morning nap. I quickly got down to business and started baking and wrapping gifts.
While the cakes were in the oven I set up the decorations and embellished her bumbo tray and cake stand. Poor Derek had to run to a specialty store to buy the gingham wrapping paper because I was unhappy with what I had bought - I just wanted Julietta's celebration to be picture perfect. He dropped everything and went to two stores in search of the elusive paper.
After the cakes cooled I started decorating. Julietta woke up while I was decorating and ate lunch. It was obvious that she knew it was her day. I got her dressed and finished decorating the cake just in time for the big kids to come home. They were so cute. Ella and Liliana each gave Julietta a handmade card, special gift, and a dollar of their own money (because she was turning one : ) - thoughtful girls. Jack was thrilled that it was Julietta's birthday and lavished her with love and attention while I put the finishing touches on the cake.
After dinner we sang happy birthday, while Julietta grinned, clapped, and laughed, and let her dive into the entire cake. As you can see, she hardly dove. Ella and Liliana begged her to "smash her face in the cake," but Julietta was content to stick her fingers into the cake. Derek actually had to stick her fingers into her mouth before she realized it was yummy! I wanted her to make a mess, but alas, just like my other three munchkins, she was a neat birthday girl. She did eat a few tiny bites of cake, but I had to feed it to her.
After cake we opened gifts. Julietta untied ribbon and tore paper like a big girl. Julietta loved her sterling silver rattle, new books, chatter phone, and especially her new push toy.
We had an amazing day with Julietta. I was weepy all day. I was so happy, but the combination of reminiscing over Julietta's first year and wishing my Dad was here to celebrate with us was overwhelming. All in all, it was a picture perfect birthday.
Happy, happy my sweet Baby Julietta Annabelle.
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