Years ago if anyone had told me what an enormous, anxiety-inducing undertaking that a first birthday party could be, I probably would have laughed in their face. But here we are now 3 days away from Betty’s Rainbows and Unicorns Birthday extravaganza and I think I might have an ulcer. There is still so much to do and I want it to be PERFECT.

Of course I’m most likely WAY over-analyzing the whole thing. It is only a 2 hour party and it’s not like she’s even going to remember it.

Also I have a toddler now.

My sweet, fun, free-spirited little girl turned 1 on Tuesday. I’m still in denial. To celebrate her day, her dad and I both took off work, which we intend to do for every one of her birthdays that don’t fall on a weekend. We took her out to a nice breakfast and then spent the day at the zoo. It was beautiful outside, but still chilly so we were one of the only families there. It was very cool to have to place (almost) all to ourselves. The rest of the day was spent fighting naps and playing with her brand new fabulously lime green play kitchen. The 5 hours it took to put that behemoth together were completely worth it. The moment she saw it her little face lit up like the sun. I think she may be borderline obsessed, which I think is perfectly acceptable when it means helping with the laundry.

Knife-wielding toddler bakes cookies for breakfast.

So what has this big girl been up to since she was 10 months old and her lazy mom didn’t do an 11 month update? Well for one thing, she walks. Betty took her first unassisted steps around the beginning of February and now she is ALL. OVER. THE. PLACE. It’s adorable and completely exhausting. Now I can barely remember a time when I could put her down and know that she would stay in that same spot. I bought her her first pair of big girl shoes a couple weeks ago and she loves them. She knows that shoes and socks are supposed to go on her feet, but she can’t get them on by herself yet. She is getting good at stacking the rings on her ring stacker and has several new teeth poking in at the moment, including a couple of molars which has been less than fun. She greets other children by patting them on the head. She loves balloons, food (her recent favorite has been chicken marsala and she definitely didn’t get her love of mushrooms from me) and is still a big Wiggles fan and will dance in her car seat when I put certain songs on. She drinks only from sippy cups and straw cups now. I know for some moms getting rid of the bottle is bittersweet, but I’m just so thrilled to not have to wash those damn things anymore. We are currently transitioning her to whole milk as well, which has been smooth and easy. She is crazy about milk. And her kitty cats though I’m not sure how much that adoration is reciprocated.

My favorite thing about her though is her silly, outgoing personality. She loves being out and about and is the life of the party wherever we go. She’s always ready with a friendly smile and wave for strangers while we are out shopping. I’ve been told by people that she has made their day. That makes MY day.

Nesting like a little oriole.

With her new BFF at the zoo on her birthday.

I can’t believe it’s been a year. What an amazing adventure we have had so far.

Hopefully back to my regularly blogging schedule after this party stops consuming every ounce of my brain power. 3 MORE DAYS! (I’m NOT READY FOR IT.)