My baby girl is one! I think it’s time to officially introduce her in this blog. It’s not that I’ve been hiding her, in fact, I’ve written daily posts about our time on maternity leave #ulianasmaternityleavechronicles but it’s all been happening on Instagram. Making birthday blog posts is kind of a tradition though so I really couldn’t skip this one.
Nika is such a sweet and fun baby! She’s very assertive and seems to always know what she wants. She doesn’t just ask for it, a lot of times she goes right after it. Alaric would know because ever since she started crawling she makes it to his little table and steals his food, toys and anything else she can think of! She’s got a true mischief sparkle in her eyes and she knows if she’s being naughty. When you try to tell her “no” she just giggles in your face and continues. She scrunches her nose when she smiles and it’s the cutest thing ever.
We were sure she was going to walk by the time she’s one but she’s been taking her sweet time which is fine with us. I think this age is really fun cause she’s much more interactive but still is a delicious squishy baby. Nika is already very nurturing, she loves to share and always tries to feed us when we are feeding her. Ever since she started cooing, she’s had a very sweet soft voice but don’t get fooled, this little angel can get really loud. Around 9 month old her hair turned completely blond and it still is, she is our perfect blue eyed little blondie.
Nika’s First Birthday Party
I wasn’t sure where to start planning her first birthday party. At that age there babies don’t have preference in colors or characters yet. I turned to Pinterest for ideas and came across a donut theme birthday party which was really cute and fitting! Unfortunately, Party City didn’t have any donut related supplies and there was not enough time to order online.
We had to improvise and see what’s available, ultimately we settled on the “wild child” themed birthday party. It’s a sweet floral boho theme with light pink, orange and aqua blue colors. We picked some plates and napkins, party favors bags, balloons and other decorations. On the way home we stopped by the dollar store and omg, I should have started from there! They have so many party supplies there too and way cheaper. Anyways, we picked some missing pieces like cups and utensils. For the party favors I picked some apple sauce, pink chocorooms, suprizamals, and some LOL toys.
Fun fact, as we were shopping, I felt something like vertigo and noticed that the store signs started swinging. Turns out, it was 7.1 earthquake, the strongest one in California in 20 years! Luckily, there was no major damage where we were but it definitely was memorable.
Anyways, for the party location we picked a park by the ocean in Redondo Beach. Finally, the park birthday idea came true! From Alaric’s birthday posts you might now that we wanted to do that for his birthdays but the weather never permits. We got lucky and found a free table near big open area which worked out perfectly!
I love Nika’s birthday dress! I wanted to pick something cute but still practical. It’s very light, breathable and so adorable with these little lace details. I bought it before we set on a birthday theme but it actually matched the colors perfectly!
I decided to get a medium size cupcake for Nika’s smash cake and a separate one from the guests, we got both from the Whole Foods bakery. For the snacks we brought fruit and veggie trays and a few pizzas. Finally the table was set with food and decorations and the guests started to gather. We had a good size group of adults and kids! It was great to catch up with friends and celebrate our girl!
Public Service Announcement
If you plan to have a party in the park especially by the beach bring sunscreen! I totally forgot about it and while kids were dressed to cover up and spent most of the time in the shade I got a lobster sunburn to match the pattern of the cutouts on my dress! My back is literally and pattern of white triangles and bars on the bed of red canvas (facepalm).
