Birthday Girl

One year ago today, we were going nuts trying to get baby “Voldemort” (yes, that’s what we called her until we knew who she was) to come out and meet us.  And then on a Sunday, beautiful and breezy like today, we met our girl for the first time.  It’s hard to believe we’ve been a family for a whole year.

And yet, it’s hard to imagine that it’s only a year – it feels like she’s been a part of us forever.

So today (a day before the actual date), we celebrated Nora’s birth and our whole family, which started with her.

In case you’ve been living under a rock and missed all my blog posts and Facebook statuses about it, I was really excited to throw her a party and wanted everything to be perfect.  The house was all decked out in pink and yellow.  There was bunting,

number “1”‘s everywhere,

a birthday girl seat of honor and, of course, balloons.

She had a super-girly pink tutu outfit, which made me want to giggle with joy just looking at her.

We ate some delicious brunch (recipes will be put up eventually): tomato goat cheese crepes, cheese strata, roasted potatoes with wilted greens, and a yummy cranberry-citrus punch.

And, of course, there was cake! A big one for all of us and a little one just for Nora.Nora was pretty dainty about eating – she hardly got messy at all!  But, she did pull a good chunk out of the side of the cake so we know she liked it!

After cake, we opened presents, which started out like torture for her, because all she wanted to do was walk.

Walking around holding our hands is her favorite activity and she was mad that everyone was sitting! Once we got to her airplane though, she was sufficiently distracted.

She seemed to like the walker wagon we got her, and actually did some standing unsupported next to it!

Nora was surprisingly interested in the baby doll my friend Christina, Mike, and Mr. V got her (her first doll!). She got a beautiful book from Sunny, the LLL leader out here, and her kids, an adorable bunny from Jeff, Chris’ boss, and a lot of other nice presents from our family and friends.  We’re so lucky to have such thoughtful people in our lives.  Thank you!!!

After presents, we went outside to blow some bubbles for Nora (the first she’s seen), but she was definitely starting to get tired, so the party wound down quickly after that.  Then I put a fresh diaper on her, she nursed, and passed right out.

It was one big, wonderful day!

P.S.  Thanks again to Kathleen for the great pictures!!  And if you’re wondering about my dad, his flights were canceled because of Earl and he couldn’t make it out.  🙁