Sarah is One!

No sooner had we finished with one celebration and we were already onto the next, Sarah’s 1st Birthday! On the morning of her birthday Matt and I took Sarah to have her pictures taken in her birthday dress. They turned out just beautifully. We got some of her sitting and some of her standing. She did really well and didn’t really cry or fuss. The studio then had us strip her down to just her diaper and they had balloons and a little cake for her eat. It was so much fun watching her. At first she wasn’t too sure if she was allowed to touch the cake but once she figured out that we weren’t going to stop her she had a great time. At one point she actually got on all fours and just bent over to lick the frosting directly off the cake with her tongue! We got some great pictures.

That night Matt had to work so Mamaw and Papaw came over to have a mini-celebration. We ate pizza and Sarah got some gifts to open. She is really a pro at opening the gifts. She would tear the paper off, open the box, and then toss everything aside to start on the next one. Dad and mom got her a Baby Leap Pad that lets her put in stories and push buttons to hear the story read to her. Papaw and Mamaw bought Sarah her first electronic 4-wheeler! She wasn’t too sure about it at first but by the next morning she was riding it around by herself. Of course she can’t steer so she would push the button to get herself across the living room, crash into the wall, and then turn around and look at us as if to say, “well, turn me around so I can go again.” I’m sure by summer she’ll be terrorizing the animals with it.

On Saturday we had Sarah’s 1st Birthday party at Sapora Playworld. All the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins were there along with a lot of her friends. I set up the laptop so that everyone could see pictures of Sarah’s first year. We played a little “get to know Sarah” game where the guests had to answer questions like “how many teeth do I have” and “which fingers do I like to suck on.” Grandma Carlson won with 15 correct answers! We then let Sarah try her very special birthday cake. Mamaw made Sarah a special tiny little teddy bear spice cake with cream cheese frosting. Sarah didn’t make too much of a mess with this one though. I think with all of the people she just had too much to look at to concentrate on eating. She did lick off a lot of the frosting though.

Everyone else had cake (Mamaw made a #1 cake for all of the guests) and then we cleaned Sarah up and let her open her presents. She did pretty well opening the gifts but about half way through she decided she’d rather play with her friends. She got a lot of very nice gifts including a wagon from Aunt Kari & cousin Nico, a teddy bear that sings happy birthday with cousin Owen saying her name at the end, a keepsake cupcake basket, a little girl that says a goodnight prayer, a play kitchen, sparkly princess shoes, her first Cabbage Patch doll, cups and plates, a walking/riding toy, a ball popper, some more cute clothes (mom and dad won’t have to do her laundry for a month!), and so many others I can’t list them all here! All the kids got to play in the Playworld after the party. It was nice having her friends there. She didn’t really know it was her birthday but we thought it was important to do something that was fun for her and she always enjoys playing with other kids.

I'm not sure what Sarah's favorite gift was but dad and mom's favorite gift was a forward facing car seat! Sarah's grandparents all went in together to get it for her. It is so great because now she can see out and she isn't as fussy in the car! Just one more milestone that Sarah has hit. She is growing up so fast! I can’t believe it’s been a whole year already! Sarah is such a blessing to us and it is hard to remember what we did before we had her in our lives. I know that the fun is just beginning and we can’t wait to see what next year will bring!