Birthday Smash

Happy Birthday, Gwen!! She looks pretty uninterested in these photos because she was tired. We had a party with family in New Mexico over the weekend. I'm so glad that a lot of people were able to celebrate with us! I wish that I had taken more photos of the actual party, but I just wanted to relax with our friends and family after all of the time consuming party prep. I think for the next baby I'll hire a photographer for the first birthday. Gwen was a little scared meeting a lot of new people. It was so sad: she'd cry whenever someone "new" would hold her. Sorry, mom and dad! I think she was starting to warm up to my parents near the end of our visit. 

My mother-in-law helped me decorate the cupcakes. A lot of people complimented the homemade icing. 

I was so pleased that Gwen actually smashed the cupcake. I've been to a couple of 1st birthday parties where the babies had no clue what to do with their cakes, so I wasn't sure what to expect with Gwen.

Wow, a year! I didn't get as emotional as I thought I'd get on her birthday because a couple of weeks ago I got pretty emotional looking through photos and videos of her as a newborn. So I must have gotten it all out of my system, I guess. ;) We actually ended up having two parties for this baby- one out of town with family and one on her actual birthday this week with our church family. I was so surprised with how many people showed up to the last one! It made us feel so special. And Gwen was spoiled with presents! A big thanks to all of you gift givers! I'm mostly excited about all of her new books. She has been enjoying reading time more and more.

I have an idea of what I want to do for her 1 year photo shoot, but we'll see when that gets done.