golden turns 1

one month ago, my baby turned one year old. it is overstated but true: time seems to go by so fast! what happened to my little newborn?! she is now a long, strong babe full of personality, who enjoys books, communicating with baby sign, who is saying words, and is on the verge of toddlerhood. she has been the best surprise of a child imaginable. honest confession: i thought that since i was having another girl, it would be more of the same, and that i pretty much knew what was coming up. i couldn't have been more wrong. golden has been so different from sparrow from the minute she came out, and she has held her own in this family beautifully. she has enchanted us all, and is our little joy-bringer. she truly carries the banner for us some days! and all at only one year of age. delightful.

golden's birthday party was held on saturday, the 8th of august, 2009. we didn't make a big fuss about her actual birthday the day before, except i kept reminding sparrow to be very nice to her. thomas was out of town for feldenkrais studies, which appropriately echoes last year's birth. but he was there in spirit.

i had spent all week staying up late and preparing things: making her birthday present (a tutu), making the party favors, making decorations, etc. i had found these gorgeous hanging tissue paper pom poms as decorations at marthastewart.com, and decided they would be perfect. the theme, of course, was "golden," so i got a few yellowish hues and set to work while trying to catch up on back episodes of "the office," which i have sadly missed enormous chunks of since season 3. fortunately, the pom poms turned out to take AGES to make, so i got to watch a lot of office! hee hee. i had been up since 2 or 3 am every night, but when the day of the party came, i was not tired at all. running on adrenaline.

the cake was my classic 1st birthday carrot/apple juice cake with no sugar, but i had decided to add whip to the butter cream frosting, and it almost ruined it, making it impossible to spread, it was soooo schloopy! it worked out ok in the end, and i decorated it with gold dust (symbolic of the Lord's favor, and i used to find gold specks on golden's temples almost every day when she was newborn), sunflowers, gerber daisies, and apricots. pretty! she got her own mini cake to tear into as well.

i had decided to keep the party small, but turns out there are a lot of people that we love and love us, so i praised God for a full house instead of being miffed about it, and we welcomed many lovely friends with joy.

sparrow had been excited about the party for weeks, continually asking me if it was happening "today," and--finally--it was! she got so excited when people started to come over, and exclaimed "i love parties at home!" she had helped me make the home made ice cream, and had gotten quite a few early servings that way! it was the recipe from "the natural way" with coconut milk, cream, vanilla, and honey. food processor, freeze, food processor, freeze, etc. lots of fun. i LOVED the ice cream! mmmmm...

the party was a happy mingling with children traipsing about, golden balloons everywhere and general fun and merriment. the kids had their cake and ice cream on the floor so as to avoid catastrophe. golden wore a white satin angel costume and looked so precious! she had quite a good time opening her presents, too, which i was happy there were not too many of--her invitation said "no gifts required." but it is a birthday, after all, so SOME gifts are nice, which is why i made her a tutu, and sparrow had beaded two necklaces to give her. we really don't need a bunch of new extra "stuff." we are trying to raise the girls up to be thankful and happy with simplicity. and not having grandparents/family living nearby really helps keep loads of kid stuff to a minimum around here.

golden has truly fulfilled her name this first year of her life, it has been an amazing joy getting to know her. praise God for babies, and especially baby girls!