Alyssa’s First Birthday Fun!

Yesterday, the hospital doors swooshed open and after two long weeks inside, I emerged into the sunshine carrying my beautiful baby girl in her car seat, strapped her safely in the car and took her home for the first time. Except it wasn’t yesterday was it? It was infact a whole year ago and yet somehow it feels as if I blinked and a whole year has suddenly passed and that tiny bundle that I emerged with is now my feisty, independent, full of character daughter who amazes me with her new abilities each day. So, as you may have guessed, my darling baby girl has turned 1 and of course we had to celebrate with Alyssa’s birthday fun which actually  lasted several days…

Now, what on earth do you do for a party when the birthday girl is only turning one? Well, Alyssa s very fortunate to have an awful lot of people in her life who love and adore her and wanted to wish her Happy Birthday, so my mum and I decided to have a BBQ for her birthday (weather permitting) so that we could invite all our friends and family to help us celebrate. So that everyone would be able to come, we made it for the weekend before her birthday and the night before the preparations were in full swing and kept us up very late whilst the princess herself went on sleeping  and mummy was up making unicorn biscuits at 10.30pm at night!

It was completely worth it because the BBQ and party was a roaring success. All of my lovely family were there, the Ex-Dad came as did all of his family who adore Alyssa  came as well. Not only that but some of my amazing blogger friends, Adventures with J, Beta Mummy, Mouse Moo and Me Too and Bridie by the Sea, made the journey to come and join us for the party too and it was wonderful to be able to sit and chat with them during the party – we had a lot of laughs and giggles and it was also lovely to watch our children playing…. and I hate to say it have a bit of a blog chat too (ha ha ha we never rest do we?!?)

The weather was on our side and we had a wonderful few hours in the afternoon with hot dogs, cheese & pineapple, unicorn cookies and more and at the end of the day we  all collapsed tired and happy and had two days to rest before Alyssa’s actual birthday arrived.

Alyssa awoke bright and early on her birthday as usual and despite the fact that I was dying to let her open her presents, we waited a little while for her Nonna to get up and then sat down and opened them when we were all together. I have to say that there were rather A LOT and it took us quite a while as we didn’t want to overwhelm her so let her open them gradually but she absolutely adored everything she got – from wooden blocks to Iggle Piggle to a Limited Edition Little Tikes Pink & Purple Fairy Car from her beloved Nonna and Bear which as you can see from the photo she was completely overjoyed by!

Alyssa also had a couple of wonderful surprises in the post! The first that came was beautifully wrapped in tissue paper and when we (okay when I) ripped it open it was to reveal the most beautiful custom made tutu by Bella’s Baby Boutique UK a wonderful small independent business that makes the most gorgeous tutus, dresses and hair accessories made to order. Alyssa’s tutu was made up of varying shades of pink with white sequin material as well as pink bows and an extra bow that we were able to pop in Alyssa’s hair – soooooo beautiful and adorable. Have to say that I am a little jealous… next on my to buy list is a custom designed tutu for me!!

The other lovely surprise that arrived in the post for Alyssa was a pretty unicorn (the theme from her birthday bbq) letterbox cake from the wonderful people at Bakerdays. They sent us a delicious little vanilla sponge that came with a couple of candles and balloons to help us celebrate this first birthday and mark the milestone. Alyssa enjoyed grabbing this cake and crumbling it all up and licking her fingers with delight and mummy got to eat some too!

Across both days Alyssa received so much but to be honest the thing that overwhelmed me the most was how much love she received. I was amazing to pop onto my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and see all the wonderful messages from friends, family, followers and readers, wishing my little baby girl all the love and happiness in the world. It is wonderful to see and know that not only has she completely changed and brightened my own life but that she has had the same affect on so many people around us. To finish, I just wish to say this to my little girl…

“To my darling Alyssa, I cannot believe that you have been here a year already and yet at the same time, I cannot now imagine my world without you in it. You make me laugh and smile everyday and can make tears turn into laughter with a simple look out of the corner of your eye. I adore watching you every day and marvel at how quickly you are learning everything and adore watching you get excited by the world and things around you. I can honestly say you have been the most precious gift I have ever been given and I promise I will treasure you always. Happy birthday my beautiful angel and here’s to many more birthdays to come.”

Lots of Love

Mummy

xoxox