Olivia's 1st Birthday Celebrations

Baby girl turned the big ONE in December. As soon as I found out that I was going to have a little December baby I was adamantly determined to make her birthday stand alone and apart from Christmas. I do not want her birthday to be overshadowed by the holiday! 

On Olivia's birthday both she and I woke up with colds. Booooooo! It was a strange morning as we were also trying to get out the door and on the road to go home for Christmas. But, before we packed everything up I insisted that we celebrate and make Olivia's morning special. 

We made breakfast - which Olivia didn't eat much of which was a sign that she did not feel good - and then finished things off with a homemade, "healthy" smash cake I had made the night before. I was slightly proud of this cake since it was made of fruit and I had to make my own gluten-free oat flour etc. We sang Happy Birthday to a bemused Olivia and let her dig it...

She actually didn't seem very interested. I'm not sure if it was that she had never been served something so substantial or if it was just that she had no appetite because of her cold. Either way I was kinda disappointed she didn't go crazy over it, but it's okay! 

After cake we opened a few presents from mommy and daddy. Olivia didn't really know what was going on, but she had fun pulling out the tissue paper and seemed to enjoy her gifts (a bead maze and some books). 

Excuse our jammies and bedhead haha

After a quick nap the three of us headed home to Atlanta for the holidays. It was a pretty uneventful day, but we had dinner with my parents and sister's family and she opened a gift from her grandparents after dinner. I was so sad she felt sick, poor baby. I'm glad she won't remember feeling awful on her first birthday, but it was still sad for me. 

We had a great time celebrating Christmas with family over the next few days. But the Monday after Christmas we were back in party mode to properly celebrate Olivia's 1st birthday with a party! My parents graciously allowed us to throw the party at their house. We invited family and some Atlanta friends and are so grateful to everyone who came as we know it cut into vacation and holiday time with family! 

I really tried hard not to go too overboard with this party... which is kind of hard for me. I could have very easily done a theme and let myself get completely carried away, but I knew I wouldn't be at home, Olivia wouldn't remember the party anyways, and I didn't want to overload myself since it was the day after Christmas.  I guess the birthday theme was birthday and dots. I'm glad I stuck with a low-key "birthday" theme especially since I was really sick the day of the actual party. 

(I wouldn't have been able to pull any of this off without the help of Miguel, my dad, my mom, and my sister who came over early to help! Miguel blew up all the balloons, my dad ran errands and picked up the food, and my mom and sister helped with all the little details while I sluggishly ran around blowing my nose haha. Also, thanks to Miguel's dad, Pedro, for taking photos!)

Luckily, the birthday girl woke up feeling better than previous days and she also took a good nap in the morning, waking up refreshed and happy just in time for her party!

Sadly, we've reached the stage where the bow doesn't stay on the head for long... 

A friend of ours in Savannah has a New Years day baby and decorates their Christmas tree each year with balloons for his birthday and I decided to adopt this as a birthday tradition for Olivia! I love this because it helps make her birthday seem special and independent from Christmas! 

My dad was awesome and got this inflatable pool and ball pit balls for the kids to play with! They loved it and it was a great way to entertain and contain the kids in an adult space. Thanks again dad for getting that and setting it up for us!!

I kept decorations pretty simple, but made these posters highlighting some milestones for Olivia and documenting each month of her life. 

We kept the food simple and had a family friend bake the birthday cakes. 

After playing for a little bit, we sang happy birthday and did the smash cake for Olivia. Olivia seemed to like this cake a bit better this go around (probably thanks to the sugar!). Sadly, no one remembered to get us singing on video. Pout. 

Forgive my red rudolph nose... stupid cold. 

After cake we opened presents. Olivia had a lot of practice opening presents over the days leading up to her party thanks to Christmas and seemed to enjoy receiving even more gifts! 

After presents it was time to visit some more and then wrap the party up. Short and sweet. 

It was such a sweet morning and I loved having family and friends celebrate our princess with us. Nothing is better than being with the people you love and celebrating happy events together. Thanks to all who helped with the party and who took time to be there with us (Lolly and G-daddy, Grandpa and Grandma Amador, Aunt Sarah, Uncle Jared, Karis, Evan, Aunt Jessie, Uncle Juan, Uncle Adrain, Brian and Lauretta Kloer, Alice and Joyce, Sarah Wilder/soon to be Hecht, Jennifer and Mike Wilder, Uncle Peter, Linda, Lauren Jones). You each mean so much to our family and we are so glad you are part of Olivia's and our lives! 

Wish we had thought about getting a group photo! We were all too busy enjoying the party I suppose.  Next year! =)