Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Happy First Birthday My Levia Caroline

One year has passed since the wonderful birth of my daughter. I can say that it went by TOO FAST! I miss her being so tiny. When she came home weighing in below 6 pounds, oh how she was so itty bitty. The way she would curl up from being used to tight quarters. Her faint little snores that would make our hearts melt while we watched her sleep. Her little coos and hiccups always had us in awe every second. I miss so much about her being little, but at the same time I love how much she has grown. She is so smart! She's my little explorer, her curiosity level is so high that I watch and wonder what she'll do next when she's in the process of trying to figure out what something is and how it works. Looks like I got a little sidetracked about Levia's birthday. We had a blast! Her party was simple, private, and very personal. Just the way I wanted it! We didn't have to please anyone but Levia. After her mini party, we went and had lunch where Levia enjoyed some rice and beans. We took a walk at the park with a waterfront view. (I can't forget, the weather was just perfect.) The sun was out and a cool breeze was blowing. To end the day we went to Santa Rosa Mall and had Levia enjoy herself by getting on a carousel. (That carousel is just beautiful! Definitely fit for a princess. ) Once we finished with the carousel ride there was one thing we had to check off of our list, and that was to take a photo booth family portrait. I hope to do this every year on her birthday that way Levia can see herself grow and see just how much fun she was having on her special day.
 
Here is what her party looked like:
 
Of course the first photo has to be of our Levia waking up and catching a glimpse of her party.
 




 
An up close photo of her board. I totally forgot to put that Levia has 4 teeth.
 

 
We started of her day by making some blueberry pancakes.

 
As you can tell, she has never had pancakes before. We thought she didn't like it, but we were wrong she started digging in and ate it right away.



 
Time to open some presents! We gave Levia a chance to try and open one. Of course it was a fail, but I'm glad we at least gave her the opportunity to try it herself.

 
Daddy steps in to the rescue!



 
Some classic wooden blocks! Levia loves them!

 
Momma came in for round 2.


 
A nice little summer scarf from Zara.

 
That is almost the size of a blanket, guess we'll have to use it as a stroller blanket.

 
The best part, time for some cake!




 
Once Levia got to eating, we got to enjoy our lemonade infused with fresh raspberries and blueberries.


 
Thank you self timer, we got to take a nice family portrait!

 
We couldn't end the party with out letting big brother Chancho have some cake too. Of course Levia didn't mind, she was ready to get out and have a bath.

 
Just look at our messy little Levia!
For those of you who are not a fan of lace rompers, neither am I. I do have one good reason why I bought it though. It is girlie, floppy, and the perfect outfit to roll away and tuck into Levia's memory box. I had thought of her trashing her dress but I loved it too much to allow her to dirty it. It was also too much fabric to stick inside her memory box.

 
(I'll update later on with the carousel photos and photo booth photo.)
 
 
 


Monday, June 17, 2013

Almost One

Tomorrow is Levia's big day. She turns the big "ONE" or you can say 12 months. This year just flew by, no matter how much I wish time could just slow down, I love watching my Caroline blossom. She is amazing!
 
Today I managed to set up the background for her one year photos. I love the way it came out. I felt kind of rushed since it was only me doing everything. I'm glad with how the photos turned out. Here are a few. Enjoy!
 
(Tomorrow is her big day, so more photos of her mini party!)
 


 
 
In the end I added some large confetti that I cut out from tissue paper. It adds a little bit of personality to the plain paper on the floor.
 
Below is Levia's dress. I bought it at Target this past winter from their Neiman Marcus collection. The dress is by Jason Wu for Target. I waited for it to go on sale and bought it for 30$ and not the original 60$.


 
I love the details!


 
Here is Levia's birthday cake made my me, Mom. It's not perfect but I wanted to do everything myself. In the end I love how it turned out.

 





 
Below is Levia's crown. I ended up snapping a picture after she smashed it.

 
I'm gonna be honest. Keeping this crown on Levia was one of the hardest things ever. I even used bobby pins and no matter what happened it always managed to fall off. I did get a few pictures of her wearing it, which I am proud of. I just don't know if I'll be doing a crown photo session anytime soon.


 
Of course every Little Princess needs a break.


 
Finally, Levia gets to enjoy her cake. I had her changed into a lace romper, that way she could get as messy as she wanted. For some reason Levia did not react like I thought she would when the time came to dig into the cake. She cried because she couldn't get the frosting out of her hands. I had to show her she could eat it. As you can probably tell Levia isn't really allowed to eat everything we eat. Only baby food and her bottles, until now.









 


 
And that is the end. At least of what is left, a beautiful mess!