first birthday – Writing In White

This post is a long time in the making, but I wanted to share the wonderful day we had celebrating Rowan as he turned one!

I went easy on myself and chose a carnival theme – it’s so easy to find decor for this type of party! We had delicious, fun food and drinks, and even a game or two to keep the older kids occupied.

All of the games came from Oriental Trading, and I found a few places online that carried really fun temporary tattoos. That was my favorite part of the party! Even the grandparents were sporting some tattoos before the day was through.

The Ferris Wheel centerpiece was handmade by my father – isn’t it amazing? I wanted something that would be cute for the party but would also serve as great nursery decor after everything was said and done.

As for costumes people wore, we picked a few hats from our stash of halloween costumes, and I found quite a few carnival masks from Amazon. But the best ones were from my favorite seller on Etsy – Mosey! She not only made the cutest felt animal masks, but she also did all of the bunting, Rowan’s adorable hat, and his birthday bib.

After hesitantly poking his finger in the cake, he dug right in – but he requested a spoon for the process once he saw that the cake was getting more on his bib than in his mouth!

The first birthday. So important that I haven’t even had time to get on here and tell you all about it! Which means it will require multiple posts, of course.

The week leading up to Griffin’s birthday was very intentional on my part. I wanted each moment to be something special, perhaps because birthdays have always been such a big deal for me. Of course, this was also about me, wasn’t it? I became a mama during this week last year, and each day I would tell him about what I had been doing to prepare for him the previous year.

Did he understand a word of it? Perhaps. But what’s for certain is that he felt loved, because Jeremy and I made sure he did!

We celebrated his birthday twice – once with our immediate family on the actual day of his birth, and once with a big ole shindig involving lots of our friends and even a few kiddos. This meant two birthday cakes, of course! Griffin got to chow down on a chocolate cake and a hummingbird cake. He was quite a happy camper, and we have leftovers of both!

Sunday – a coffee shop outting, followed by a stroll down Franklin’s mainstreet (arguably the most adorable, quaintest street in America). It just happens to be about 10 minutes from our front door, and Griffin loved the people watching! That evening was a tad chilly, so we had to stop for an impromptu early birthday present…a pair of SmartWool socks! These things were so big he will have them for years to come.

Monday – Griffin spent time with both his Nana (Jeremy’s mom) and his Poppie (my dad) as I ran errands preparing for his party.

Tuesday – His last music class of the season. It’s amazing to watch him every week – he gets a little more adventurous and a little more social each time. There was no sadness at it being the last one though, since we signed up for their “Holiday Hoedown”, a twice-weekly class during the month of December!

Wednesday – Griffin is officially ONE! I sang Happy Birthday all day long. Literally. Different versions, different tunes. My mom and I took him to the best children’s shop in Nashville, and let him crawl around and play with the store mascot (a friendly golden retriever) while we shopped for last minute birthday gifts. Then we let him be his social self at a coffee shop across the street as we had fed him lunch grabbed lattes. After his second nap, Jeremy and I surprised him with tons of balloons that we threw into his crib. He had so much fun playing with them! Everyone arrived and Finn had broccoli, followed by his own tiny cake. I honestly think he preferred the broccoli at first! He is definitely not one of those children that dig into the cake. He actually looked upset that we even had the nerve to serve him something to insurmountable. I finally had to break the cake into smaller portions, which he quickly shoveled into his mouth. I’ll be writing a full post on each birthday celebration this week to give more details!

Thursday – “How old are you, Griffin?” That was the question I asked, and he answered, all day long. He is such a quick learner, and loved this new game. We played with his birthday gifts, and he had some Nonnie (my mom) and Nana time again as I continued to plan for the big party on Saturday.

Friday – Griffin had so much fun as the house morphed into party central. All the parents were over helping decorate for our Woodland ONEderland, and he got to help. He especially loved all the little woodland creatures I had found to scatter throughout the house. Then he spent the whole evening with his Nana and Papa (Jeremy’s dad) as Jeremy and I did last minute shopping, and finally had a much needed Margarita when it was all done.

Saturday – Party day! We had a photographer friend come and document the entire event. I can’t wait to get the pictures and share with everyone! Griffin had two very long, well deserved naps. He loved being surrounded by friends and family, and forming a band with some older children that had come to celebrate! The grown-ups had a blast as well, and took advantage of the woodland theme by mixing up some moonshine and spiked cider. It was a very festive event, and we still have some of the decor up!

Be on the lookout for tons more pictures, and an in-depth recap. Have I mentioned I love birthdays? Now that I have a child, that love has grown ten-fold!