Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Lemon's 1st Birthday Party

Weeks of remodeling, days of prepping, cleaning, baking and decorating were so worth it, we had a BLAST at Lemon's first birthday party!  40 of our closest friends and family came to celebrate with us and we had so much fun!  Lemon was totally overwhelmed (and slept three hours during/after the party), but I will remember that day forever.

Thank you to everyone that came over to party with us, it meant so much!  Lemon may not remember her party, but these pictures and videos will be so fun for her to look back on later.  And, I will always remember how much fun we had!

We made sure to have a relaxing, normal morning before Lemon's first nap so that she would be in a good mood for the party.  She slept about an hour and a half and woke up kind of in shock that people we already here.  My dad and Aunts came early to help set up food and pictures.



 My Aunts and Ian's Dad (I told you he was half Native American!)


 
 Livvy, Lemon's BFF (Melissa's daughter, who watched Lemon) showed up in her party gear!

 My mom and Joe helped us so much by bringing fans, a cooler and buying the food!  Once again, I don't know what we'd do without them!

 There's June, our friend who takes all of Lemon's pictures!

 Lemon, Livvy and our niece, Selma.


 My Aunt Virgie came all the way from Nashville to party with us!

 Besties.


This is one of my first yoga students, Drew, who is now a yoga teacher herself at the hot yoga studio we go to.  She is also a friend of ours and maybe even soon to be nanny for Lemon!  (Cross your fingers!)

 My cousin Stormy (second from left), her friend Katie, my Aunt Kathy (they both came from Milwaukee for the party), my sister in law Kelly and my Aunt Donna.


 One of my besties, Christie, who helped us decorate the day before, for 7 hours!  She also painted my toe nails for me that night because she said, "You are hosting 50 people at your house tomorrow, you can't have these toe nails."  We love her more than anything!

This is our friend Nicole who helped us with the pallet couch cushions.  She also made Lemon the most amazing chair for her birthday, scroll down to see!  (You can also order one, in any style/fabric you want, for your own baby here!)

My bestie Christine and our friend Lauren who made the cutest Lemon headband for the party!  (Then I made her give it to me!)

Um, the chair.  How amazing is this?!  I have not cried since Lemon turned one, I didn't even cry on her real birthday.  But when I came out and saw this, I cried.  So so cute!


 
 Time to swim in our matching bikinis!  (Mine is from Victoria's Secret and Lemon's was handmade by Courtney @islas_closet on Instagram, check her out for the cutest baby suits!)





 Jenny, our other bestie, bough us this awesome Lemon slice pool float!  Sooooo cute!





Someone was getting tired so it was time for cake:







She wasn't really into it and had no idea what to do!


 My mom gave her some to try.

















Tired, hot and probably weirded out that everyone was crowded around her!

Oh and the foot made an appearance.  




 Over it.



 
 The Aunties having a taste!





 My lemon cupcakes were to die for, I had to have one before they were gone!  (And yes, that's frosting from Lemon's cake on my arm!)




 Nap time for baby!



Christie repaired the pinata from Nicole's birthday, the day before the party, filled it back up with candy and then this happened:


 Lauren's son Spencer.

Our nephew, Reggie.

Christine's son, Espen.




 We didn't have a place to hang it so Aunt Christie had to dump the candy out!  Ha!

 And then Christine got inside and Lemon said goodnight to her!



My dad hurt his foot so he had to come home from his cross-country trip.  I was so happy he could come to the party and he helped us so much that day, and was on his foot way too much!  I love it when he's home.

Baby asleep, time to party!  My mom, Carol and my dad helped clean up while all of our friends and I swam.  It was so much fun and made us realize that we need to do get togethers like this more often.  I am so thankful for my mom and dad helping to clean up, we were beat by the time everyone left!

Wearing Lemon's headband.

These girls are my favorites.  Just missing Lauren but she had to take a tired Spencer home!  And Espen - love him!  I was at his first birthday party and he's almost 7!

This baby slept almost 3 hours during/after the party and then hung out and watched Hotel Transylvania in her new chair all night.





The next morning we opened presents and even though she looks sad she had fun with all her new toys.  (She fell over this box and took a tumble, so then I had to take a sad picture, it was too cute!)


 Loving her bouncing turtle from Ian's mom, Patty, who also made food for the party.  We love her!

Also loving her little books from her Aunt Ashley, Uncle Leith, Reggie and Selma.  This girl LOVES books.

A wonderful party for an amazing baby girl!  Thank to everyone who came over and to everyone who helped, we appreciate you all so much.  We love you and had SUCH a good time!

To my beautiful girl:  You have a box full of mementos from all of the people in your life who love and care about you.  One day, when you are 21, you will open this box and see all of the things people have given you, tokens of their love and letters describing each one.  It does take a village to raise a child and all of the people who came to your party have helped us in one way or another, to raise you, even in this first year.  They will be in your life a long time and you will come to know them as part of your family, even if they are not related to you.  They love you very much, and are so happy you are in their lives.  We wanted you to have all of these things, when you are old enough to appreciate them, so that you know just how much you were loved, even as a tiny baby.  We love you little Lemon, more than you'll ever know.


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9 comments:

  1. Wow! Her party looks so awesome. I love all of the little details! Love your matching hello tops, love all of the lemon details, the chair, the swim floaty thing.. Everything! I am a lemon fanatic.. Lemon cake, lemon heads everything.. So I appreciate it that much more.

    Glad you had fun celebrating your baby's first. And just remember.. The second year goes twice as fast as the first. Mine just turned two in April and its true!!

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    1. I am a Lemon fanatic too, can you tell? hahahaa

      Oh no, don't tell me that, this year FLEW by!

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  2. The chair is unbelievable and the party looked like SO much fun. Only in AZ would you guys have a pool party for a first birthday. Love it! That Lemon---she steals my heart. Have loved watching her grow up from afar. What a loved and special little lady you have.

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    1. Julia - it's over 115 here, it was our only option! Next year we are thinking water park birthday! I have loved watching Ms. Cece and that Truman grow too, they are just the cutest! I hope one day these girls can meet, these "no sleep for almost a year" twins would have a blast together!

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  3. These pictures made me so happy!

    I actually just took a glance back at the original post that brought me to your page. I can't believe how much has changed in just over a year. I didn't realize until Lemon's birthday posts that she was born on my first due date. What's even crazier is that I came across that blog randomly on thebump.com. Someone else posted it to lend support and out of all the posts on that board that particular day, it was your link and story I found. I'm just so happy Lemon made it here safe and sound. Not to put a damper on this celebratory post, but I've just been feeling down about that first loss, and reading your post over again and our first conversation about it, really helped me once again. You promised me a light at the end of the tunnel and you were right. Thank you so much for everything you've done for me and my little family.

    Happy happy birthday, Sweet Lemon Ray. You are one very special baby girl. I hope I get the honor of meeting you one day and introducing you to my special girl. :)

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    1. Oh Bethany, this made me cry! This past year it has been so hard to connect, so hard to truly be happy because I get so afraid that it all could be taken away at any moment. And then I get mad because I'm not really experiencing anything, I'm just afraid all the time.

      I am so happy you found my blog, so happy you found us and so happy for your and your family. Baby Elise is just a doll and it has been so fun watching her grow up as well. They are SO special and if you think back to how we felt after our losses we never thought we'd be here today. It's truly magical.

      We love you guys and hope we can all meet one day. This journey into motherhood has definitely been a crazy one and I'm sure it's definitely not over yet - and I can't wait to follow along with you guys as you experience it all too.

      Lots and lots of love to you! Don't feel down, you are living the dream, the dream that so many women have, and that's what I tell myself daily when I drift and can't seem to stay in the moment. When it's tough, when I'm sad, when I need a moment to breathe I remember just how lucky we are.

      xoxo

      Allison

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  4. Totally a yoga baby! That foot is so annoying but oh so cute!

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