Olivia's First Birthday

Yesterday was a blessed milestone for our littlest, Olivia Claire. She turned one! We will have a more "official" celebration on Sunday, but yesterday could not have been more of a perfect birthday for a our one year old. Olivia actually didn't sleep well the night before and actually woke up at exactly 12:00 a.m. I went in to hold her for a moment and, of course, wished her a very happy birthday! I think somehow she new it was her birthday and wasn't going to let a minute pass before she celebrated! Ha!

After she went back to sleep, she woke up to a bottle and then the most wonderful food experience she has had to date. Her very own cupcake. The child devoured it! I've never seen her eat something so wonderfully, with such delight. Of course, big brother and sister got a cupcake too which meant that after all the 'breakfast' festivities, all three enjoyed a morning bath. After the morning bath, I allowed Olivia to have the joy that any one year old dreams of...tearing apart tissue paper and pulling the wipes out of entire package of wipes. This may not make sense to you or me. But the child finds great joy in these two activities, and it was her day after all! After some post-bath downtime and a nap, I took all three kiddos on a walk. Then came lunch, and a nap. After their nap, it was time for our first official ride (an almost daily ritual in our family). What was special about this time was that Olivia was finally able to turn her carseat around!!!! It was a whole new world to the little girl as we traveled our frequent route to Sonic (where all three kids got ice cream). We came home after our ride out and ate our ice cream, and then we played and I cooked dinner until Daddy got home. My favorite part of Olivia's day was all five of us sitting around the dinner table, singing happy birthday to her, praying together, enjoying a meal together, and, of course, watching Olivia eat her second cupcake of the day. It was so special. I know Olivia won't remember the day she turned one, but it was filled with activities that she loved and she was surrounded by people who love her and wanted to celebrate her.

There will be more special things for Liv in the coming days as well. I always love an extended celebration!