The biggest thing to happen in those 10 days... my baby turned 1!!! Our first year is done and over with and I am more nostalgic than I thought I would be. My time with Hannah will now require a lot more energy, but I am starting to get some lovin´ back. What I mean is that before it was all loving on Hannah, but she was unable to express herself and more focused on getting her needs met and attended to. She is a lot more expressive (if not vocally) now and, while she is very independent and only likes smooches and cuddles on her terms, I can see in her eyes her love for me. I had the best experience this past Sunday... we drove to Iximche (a Mayan archaeological site I love that is only about 2 hours away) for a morning of photos in breath-taking nature to commemorate her first year. My husband drove and I sat in the back to keep Hannah entertained and calm during the drive. She took her usual morning nap for about 1 hour and 20 minutes of the drive and the rest of the way she was very content to hold my hand, stroking it with her little thumb, and look piercingly at me with beautiful brown eyes that exuded so much unconditional love... I became so overwhelmed I couldn´t keep from crying tears of complete and utter happiness. It was such an amazing moment for me I had to get it into writing so that I never forget. The rest of the day was great, but nothing compared to those endless 30-40 minutes of baby lovin´!
After our adventurous weekend, I spent the week getting everything prepared for another Pinterest inspiration... the "Smash Cake". We had the camera my sister gave me, a lamp she used in her studio, and lots of fabric for the backdrop. I just had to assemble the decorative bits. All in all, it was an exhausting week because I also decided to make Lemon Curd and Lime and Kiwi preserves because they are in season and while at the grocery store my eyes and cravings got the best of me and I ended up buying a lot more of these than my husband and I would have been able to eat before they went bad. I actually made one delicious Lemon Curd and the lime and kiwi ones weren´t bad at all. Aside from that, I wanted to make Hannah´s cake myself and had decided on a Wacky Cake recipe I have pinned in Pinterest because it is dairy and egg free. I used my own cacao and substituted the flour for my gluten-free blend and the result was a yummy chocolate cake my husband could enjoy as well. After preparing the back-drop, I was ready to roll because my sister left a lot of her props (she had a photography studio here in Guate) and that took care of Hannah´s outfit for the occasion. Then it was a matter of buying her birthday presents. My BF helped me with that one and we managed to find her an assortment of lovely toxic free wooden toys including blocks, a bear and a finger puppet theater.
Thursday morning we sang Hannah "Happy Birthday" and had her open her gifts. Then that night we took on the "Smash Cake" while my family watched via Skype. It went well and we managed to get some good photos despite being amateurs. But let me tell you something... cleanup was a pain in my behind!! My husband gave her a much needed bath while I tried to clean up as much cake and frosting as I could. We were able to contain the mess to the fabric we used as the back-drop, but then smart Jessi did a very "smart" thing... she popped a frosting coated balloon... why? because that was the ´logical´ way to throw it away. POP!... I realized just how "not smart" a thing I had done when I watched in horror as frosting went everywhere, catapulted in all directions. Serves me right for thinking I had outsmarted the mess. It´s okay though, I cleaned up as best as I could and the ants will take care of the rest... hahahahaha!
No, we did not throw her a birthday party because (a) we didn´t want to spend a lot of money (we are living off of one income right now after all) and (b) Hannah is 1 and will not remember having a party at this stage. A "Smash Cake" photo shoot was messy, but a fun first birthday celebration for my baby and I have plenty of photos to go through, fix and choose for a collage that I can frame to immortalize the date... Score!
Meanwhile... here´s Hannah playing with the above mentioned balloon-culprit.
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