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First Birthday Party Decor & Planning

Party planning! Wow what a daunting task!

There are some things I can do with ease… Give me photography, video editing, anything computer related, programming, languages, reading, memorizing, researching, filling out- I won’t blink an eye at the challenge. But anything to do with decor, style and crafting – it just eludes me.

So as a disclaimer, nothing here was handmade by me. The most I did that would be considered crafty is buy parts and assemble them based on the vision in my head.

This was  also the first time in my life that I wanted it to be perfect, to work out well. I am usually a “prepare like crazy but go with the flow” kind of girl. But Alexis’ first birthday carried a special significance to me. It signified her transformation from a baby into a toddler and my transformation from Elena to Elena who is Lexi’s mom. It was the time to celebrate her babyhood (while cheerfully waving goodbye to it, because we like being a toddler oh so much more) and it was my first chance to celebrate her birth ( since I didn’t get to do the baby party like I wanted to when Alexis was a few months old).

After we decided that yes, we do in fact want a birthday party, I tackled the overwhelming task of figuring out the theme that wouldn’t be too much work, but was also unique enough that just going to Party City wouldn’t do it.

Quickly I came upon a few ideas that seemed easy enough that such a novice like me would be able to achieve and yet unique and classy.

Since I was infatuated with the French language and France for a few years before Lexi was born, I went with “Tea Party in France” theme. It fit the bill perfectly- classy, simple, easy to execute and non-specific.

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I am starting a series of posts about Alexis’ First Birthday celebration.

I was going back and forth between doing a party and celebrating small with just family and then finally things started falling in place for a party, so I decided to go for it.
We both felt like the first year needs to be celebrated. It was a trying and a joyful year for us an one of the most important years for Alexis and that needed to be acknowledged.

Slowly I came up with a theme I wanted to have: French. I didn’t have a clear idea on whether it was going to be Paris or Poodle (ok, definitely not poodle) or countryside or shabby chic. It was kind of a mix of everything…but that’s for a later post.

The morning of January 31st, we woke up bright and early with Alexis while it was still sort of dark. Her grandma USA was visiting and my mom is staying with us, so they promptly came out to congratulate their adorable granddaughter and watch her open presents. For the gift opening, she wore her new dress, a birthday gift from Nosilla Organics and a matching diaper ( so cool that we had a teal BG to go with it)

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is photography. Photographing my little girl.

I don’t think I am great at it. I am average. But it gives me so much happiness taking photos and then sifting through them, organizing them , processing them. It’s a shame I can’t to on a vacation and organize my photos all day long for 2 weeks …

So while I was gone from here , from life, without having my laptop and my precious photos, and while working on launching Daily Mom, there have been many photos taken a filed away.

Here’s a small part of what I have shot. In just 2 months (has it really been two months) Alexis has changed greatly. I have a lot to catch up on – I know… But I am loving having this blog, and managing Daily Mom and being a SAHM/WAHM to the most adorable toddler in the world and a wife to the most hardworking loving man in the world. I never thought my life would take this kind of track. That I would be a full on MOM. A mom with hobbies and interests and work, but still a MOM, one completely dedicated to her daughter. Yet I am and I am going to embrace it.

11 Months old

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The time has come for you guys to learn about what it is I have been working on so hard for the last 6 months. FEBRUARY 28th!

DAILY MOM

I’ve mentioned this name in passing a few times, but I doubt many of you noticed or paid attention. However it is now a huge part of my life that I am incredibly excited about. It took a lot of work and it’s almost here and you, guys, get to be the first ones to see it. A new portal that will hopefully stand out in the sea of mommy-oriented websites. I first came upon the idea for the website when I was sick of wading through hundreds of useless posts that sucked me in and wasted my time on big corporate website ( you know the ones I am talking about, those with scandalous news and celebrity gossip).  One post that has the potential of helping me as a mom and a woman among 10 posts of useless (but admittedly entertaining content). I wondered if there was a place for a website that doesn’t try to entertain, but tries to help. I instantly thought of Pinterest and how awesome of a service that is. My next thought was “I wish there was a blog like Pinterest, where all that awesomeness was delivered to me daily in a blog format into my email or RSS feed.”

DING DING DING

(that was the lightbulb over my head) Now over a year later after the initial idea and 6 months of grueling work along with my kick ass team of moms, Daily Mom is here.

So what is Daily Mom?

This is how we define it!

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We had beautiful plans for Valentine’s Day/Our Anniversary. Picture a dreamy picnic on the beach, wearing all white with red 5 inch heels, wind blowing, sun warming up the sand, Lexi running around with her white dress, red bow and red shoes, trying to run into water and squealing from delight…

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Sweetheart,

you cannot imagine how much my heart swells when I type these words. And at the same time I get this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Too fast.

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I don’t know where to start. Again.

Again. You’ve blown our minds.

Yes, we are first time parents so our minds are pretty easy to blow. But you’re still a rockstar, regardless of anything.

At 10 months 6 days exactly you took your first independent steps. The next day you ran from mommy to grandma, and back. Then to daddy and back. By midmonth you were taking 10 steps on your own. They were wobbly and were more like running than walking- you were in the process of falling and catching yourself over and over again, which is what walking is, essentially. You spent this last month doing nothing but walking holding onto one of our hands. You don’t like holding two hands. Oh no, you push the second hand away and walk with pride holding onto only 1 finger. Crawling is long abandoned.

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Two years ago I was lucky enough to have a ton of time on my hands, a passion for photography and countless fun times. So when I participated in Ashley’s Memories, Dreams, Reflections, there was a lot to reminisce about. The next year that followed was all about my pregnancy and, honestly, I couldn’t even think about anything but the upcoming birth, so I skipped MDR.

This year, however, is perfect! It was simple, different, somewhat uneventful, but at the same time HUGE when it comes to our roles as parents and our baby girl. So here is a look back at what 2012 had in store for us, based on the prompts provided by MDR 2012.

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Part II of the November Instagrams.

It is mind blowing to me how much Lexi has grown in just one month! Can’t wait to share the December stuff {first world problem: too little time too many photos}

1. Typical Meals. I don’t get a chance to cook a lot, because Lexi usually wants mommy, so daddy ends up being the chef. But when I do cook, it’s 5-6 meals at the same time {multitasker and overachiever anyone?}

This picture shows an evening worth of food made: raddish and cucumber dill salad, vegan pizza with vegan pepperoni and vegan cheese, sauteed cabbage and carrots, roasted fingerling potatoes with portobella caps, vegetable soup.