They say it's your birthday; Happy Birthday to Ya'...six weeks ago...

I was thinking about my post about Bean's first birthday when...I realized I never did one! So here's a trip down memory lane.

I actually woke up a little early to sneak into Bean's room and take a picture of her at her birth minute. Isn't she sweet?


It was a tender moment as I reflected on the events of the previous year. Then I went back to bed.

All year I had told S that I would like to take Bean to the zoo on her birthday so that's exactly what we did. What we couldn't have predicted was that one of the worst rainstorms this valley has seen would begin the minute we pulled her stroller out of the car. It's not like I didn't have warning or anything. I haven't seen such black skies in awhile. But like any mom excited to share in her child's first trip to the zoo, I figured it would blow over. Which it did--ten minutes after we left the zoo.

It will still go down as one of my most memorable trips there, though. Bean didn't seem at all to mind the rain, or that the air temperature had dropped 20 degrees since we left our home. In fact, by the time we left she and I were soaked through to our skin and she was giggling and giving me love pats. It was very sweet.

We stayed indoor at one of the monkey exhibits for 20 minutes and watched the rain come down.



Then we ran across to some [dumb] exhibit with creepy creatures and stood underneath some bats waiting some more for the rain to stop.

At this point we realized this storm wasn't just going to blow over so we ventured out: no umbrellas, no jackets, just two crazy parents bound to make the most of the experience with their birthday girl.

The funny thing is most of the animals were taking shelter inside from the storm (hmmm...) Here's the baby elephant that is, in fact, only a few weeks older than Bean.

Bean looked so cute in her little sunhat/rainhat.

After we left the zoo we went over to S's parents. They were gracious enough to let us have Bean's party at their house since we didn't exactly know where we would be living at the time I sent out the invitations. Every single cloud in the sky had disappeared by late afternoon so it was time to start setting up for the party. I had spent the previous weeks crafting whimsical decorations and making the party into a living photo album of Bean's first year. Ironically I didn't actually capture any of it in photos the night of the party to preserve in a future album. (My mom says she has pictures, thankfully, but none are at my disposal to use in this post.) We invited several close friends and family and ended up having a really good turnout. I was so surprised and grateful! We set up a dessert bar with brownies, cupcakes and, of course, my favorite: rice krispy treats. I think S's nephews ate more than anyone at the party and my coworkers (many of whom attended the party themselves) helped me polish them off the next day.

So since I lack several pictures of the atmosphere or Bean's guests, I will focus on the EVENT. A one-year-olds first experience with their birthday cake.

Here it is before: (S baked, I decorated)

Here it is after:

Yes my daughter ate half of the cake. Here's how it went down...

We lit the candle while singing a very sweet and tame version of Happy Birthday to You (very unlike my side of the family.)

We presented the offerings. (We may not know alot as one-year-old parents but at least we had the foresight to salvage her party dress prior to giving her the cake.) S helped her blow out the candle.

Food? She's game. Here she is taking her first few tastes.

Here she is taking her 30th taste. She was a mess but she still ate it so daintily!

Here she is after I gave her a cup of lemon water to wash it down. A teaspoon made it into her mouth (to the delight of the crowd,) but at this point did it really matter?

And one of my favorite pictures of the day: Bean with her little buddy E who celebrated his first birthday a few weeks prior to hers.

The party came to a close as Bean was stripped of her frosting covered onesie and put in the bathtub by her daddy. I'm not particularly great at hosting parties (I want to get better!) but this was such a fun experience and we are so grateful to all of those who came and celebrated with us.


And to anyone worried about strolling around the zoo with their baby in the pouring rain and then giving her large quantites of sugar late in the evening: she slept like an angel that night.