Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

*Sigh*

Best. Party. Ever.


With perfection in every form, Kayla's first birthday party was a great success. She was the happiest, most affectionate, most entertaining birthday girl I have ever seen. She smiled and laughed and played with not one moment of fussiness, despite being surrounded by 30 people and no time for a nap. She put up with the monster tutu that her mommy put her in, she wore her birthday hat without a complaint and when it came time for her cupcake, she dove right in and made a beautiful photo perfect mess, just as every first birthday parent hopes their child will. She was wonderful. She was perfect. She is my baby and I couldn't help but get choked up a few times yesterday watching her turn into a delightful little kid. She is maturing every day, becoming more and more of a toddler and less and less of a baby. She figures things out at lightening speed and is becoming shockingly self-sufficient in some ways. She is also becoming quite the show-boater and to prove that point, Kayla chose to wait until yesterday afternoon, when she was surrounded by family and friends, to take her very first steps. The room erupted and she beamed around at everyone, clapped her hands and went "Yay!!!!" My daughter...I can't express how grateful I am to have her in my life. She creates sunshine where I might otherwise have had a cloudy day and she is constantly reminding me that "Hey, it's not that bad. It's never that bad." After all the hoopla was finished yesterday, she and I lay in bed reading books before it was time for night-night and I marveled at this cuddly little body who means more to me than anything else in the world. You can't know until you have a child how much your parents love you. There is nothing like it in the world. It's magic.

And so, Kayla Potata, Happy Birthday and Happy First Year of Life. You are a magical, wonderful, special little girl and your Mommy and Daddy love you with all their hearts. Continue to be brave, continue to be curious, continue to be loving and continue to be kind. You become more and more amazing every day and I can't wait to see what this next year brings.

And for those of you who have been asking for pictures of all my arts and crafts, I've tried to include pics below. Hard to capture the full effect, but trust me...it was wow worthy. :)

Front Door - the theme for the party - "Baby in Bloom" (Flower says "Kayla is 1", while the stem spells out the theme)


Month Banner - A number and picture from each of the first 11 months!


The Birthday Girl takes her first steps!


The Spread...

The Dessert Table:


Themed Yumminess:


Custom Labels and Toothpicks with Spring Leaves:


Kayla-ified Cupcakes!!!


The Best Part of All:












And finally, why babies and sugar don't mix:

Spring Things (The Good, The Bad and The Bizarre)

Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...

So, Kayla has had the never-ending cold from Hades for about six weeks now. I think it was a train of two, maybe three colds, really, but it has basically left her sniffling and coughing for the last month and a half. And though she seemed like she was starting to feel better yesterday - great appetite, in great spirits, conquering all kinds of new feats (more on that), today she seems to have taken a few steps backward and she's having a tough go of it. The poor thing is just dripping snot and her cough is horrendous. To top it all off, she is pulling constantly at her ear. To this, I say, "NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" You can not do this to me Virus Gods! You can not give my baby her first ear infection on the week of her birthday. I will not allow it. You back on off of my baby and you leave her healthy and happy, preferably forever, but I'll take until next Monday. Honestly...timing is a b****.

In other news though, yesterday was a major Big Girl Day for Kayla. We are supposed to be transitioning her from the bottle to a sippy cup. She has been drinking water from her sippy cup for a long time now and does great, but we are now supposed to be giving up bottles and only drinking from cups. Sigh...my baby is a toddler. Anyway, the first couple of times I gave this a go, she pretty much refused to take her milk from a cup. She would eagerly grab the cup, take a big sip and then go "Waaaaait a minute! This is not water!" and she would set the cup down, give me a look of disdain and then patiently refuse to drink any more milk until it was transferred to a bottle where it belongs, silly woman. So, realizing that her birthday is now almost here and that most of the daycare centers we're looking at have kids transitioned to sippy cups by 12 months, I decided yesterday that I better give it another go. This time, I tried it with her first bottle of the day, thinking maybe she'd be too hungry to refuse. Sure enough, without hesitation, she sucked it all down. Victory! Then, her second bottle of the day...I was 100% anticipating she would now be less hungry and would return to giving me the "Are you a moron" look...Sluuuuuurp. Sucked it right down again! Victory x 2! I have absolutely no idea what made the difference yesterday, but she didn't even blink while drinking every last ounce of milk from those cups. I wasn't brave enough to try it before bedtime but, despite a little hesitation this morning, her first milk of the day once again came in cup format. Looks like the transition may happen after all!

So, that was the first big girl thing. The second thing was that we went out to dinner last night and Kayla used a straw! She has tried numerous times before, but usually just winds up chewing frustratedly on the straw, looking at me like "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?" This time, she chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped, chewed, stopped then sucked! And then sucked some more! And then got all excited and drank the rest of my very yummy carrot juice. Can kids have carrot juice? Let's hope so! But yep, two Big Girl mountains conquered in one day. This kid is growing up way too fast.

In non-Kayla related news, it is spring time. It is spring time and this means that the Easter Bunny has returned to a mall near you. Can I just say, right here, right now, that the Easter Bunny is a scary bizarre freak of nature? I mean, really...A gigantic, walking, talking rodent that steals some poor chickens eggs, paints them funny colors and then hides them in strange and unlikely places? Who came up with this? The Catholic Encyclopedia, of course, says: "The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." So, the fertility god rabbit brings pretty painted EGGS to small children? Creepier and creepier. Laugh all you want, but the Easter Bunny seriously freaks me out. I mean, really...



Do I really have to introduce my child to this? Can't we do egg and basket hunts (because those are just way too fun) without having to get into the whole "The Easter Bunny brought it," thing? Can't we just celebrate spring and talk about flowers blooming, chicks being hatched, etc., without discussing some humongous rabbit who somehow managed to get past our security system? I keep seeing Easter bunnies around town and, let's be honest, this is the weirdest tradition in the history of holidays. Well, no, that's not fair. There are some pretty bizarre holiday traditions in every corner of the world...ever been to India? But that is a story for another time. But this bunny...why? I can't help it, I am a little bit glad that Kayla is still too young for Easter and we have time left to figure out how to handle it. Easter Bunny...ugh.