Eleanor Josie {1st Birthday}

Well it happened, our baby girl is ONE as of Tuesday, May 27th! Where in the world did the past year go? It only feels like a couple months. Time definitely goes faster with more than one child. 

I decided to get all fancy & write up her stats in photoshop {okay, really I just cropped a photo & didn't like it so I added to it}. But I did forget a few things, in addition to the words listed she also says "what" & she's proving to be a little mommy already. She absolutely hates diaper changes, so when we're attempting to get her to hold as still as possible, she gets upset & points her little pointer finger at us & says "AHH!". She also has done this to John when he's throwing a tantrum. It is really funny! She's definitely sassy! I always thinks of the Shakespeare quote, "And though she be but little, she is fierce." That's Ellie. She may only be barely 17 lbs, but she is full of sass!

{Great-Grandparents/those who aren't familiar with blogger, if you don't feel like reading the rest of the post, just click on the picture below to open up a slideshow of the pictures. That way you can just flip through them & then they'll be larger. Doing this will also allow easier reading of what I wrote on this first photo.}

For this birthday, I decided to order a cake because I wanted it to look nice in her cake smash photos. It turned out AMAZING! The cake had two layers of strawberry cake {made with real strawberries} because strawberries are Ellie's favorite fruit. In-between the two layers of cake was a thick layer of vanilla buttercream, but it was so light & fluffy {the cake & the frosting}. Not dense at all. So, SO delicious! I had the outside covered in pink & cream rosettes since I've kind of done a theme with her over the past year of using a purple rosette backdrop for her photos.

For dinner, I made her favorite meal, homemade mac & cheese! Since our commissary is dumb & doesn't carry wholewheat elbow macaroni noodles, I had to use wholewheat penne pasta instead {macaroni is just easier for Ellie to eat... the penne is a little big}.  I made it in the crock pot which worked amazingly. It was so good & it was nice not to worry about boiling the noodles. I chose not to use Velveeta, because its disgusting & used a block of extra sharp cheddar instead. Yum! We also chopped up some fruit: apples, strawberries, blackberries & raspberries for a little fruit salad.

Right before I was ready to get Ellie's cake smash going, the wind blew their bedroom door shut on her hands, so she was not happy at all. I only have a handful of decent pictures of her because she just kept screaming & crying. I think John was partly to blame because we had him in his high chair in the bedroom to keep him from tearing into the cake before Ellie. He was not too thrilled about this, so he was screaming, which always upsets Ellie. Once we let John down, things went a little smoother because John realized that he doesn't like cake & he left the bedroom lol. 

She had seen me taking a few photos of the whole cake for the gal who made it. I originally had planned on letting her smash the whole cake, but it was too pretty haha. I couldn't allow myself to let her do that. So, she looked at me like, "uh, where's the rest lady?!" 

Ellie apparently didn't appreciate her piece of cake being up on top of a rubbermaid organizer that I had planned for her to use to stand up with to dig into her cake.... ah, the best laid plans.

and yes, I know. the cake looks super classy on a paper plate. I completely forgot about the pretty plate/cake stand :(

she has two hands, I promise. usually, I'd trash a photo like this, but she seems somewhat happy, which was rare on this particular occasion, so I kept it. mommy goggles I guess! 

At this point she was mad because John was screaming really loud & their bedroom is a little on the echo-y side. 

And these are what I like to call outtakes. haha the only edit I did to them is the b+w conversion

And finally bath time, woohoo! 

I was a little annoyed with myself that I forgot to get a couple pictures of her in her adorable little outfit without the cake. Luckily though, Nathan & I soaked her dress, headband & sash in Oxyclean & there aren't any stains at all now after being washed & dried. So, when it warms up some next week, I'll be able to go outside, like I had originally planned for her cake smash & get the photos I was wanting. 

Anyway, we still can't believe a whole year has passed. Ellie is so funny, sweet, loving, dainty, clever, sassy & caring. She's living up to the words of her baby blessing as being a peacemaker in our home; she brings a much needed calm to our hectic life. When I was pregnant with her & trying to imagine what she'd look like & who she would be, I never imagined that I'd be blessed with a little girl so beautiful & so full of personality. We love every side of her, from her sass down to her loving & cuddly side. Thank you for choosing us to be your parents, Ellie. We can't imagine life without you!