It's hard to believe how fast the year has flown by - I remember like yesterday meeting her for the first time. The first year of parenthood was NOT what I expected, in good ways mostly. She has been such an easy baby - always has been a good sleeper, a good eater, and a smiley happy personality. Mothering, in terms of actually caring for her, was also easier than I thought. I was lucky that nursing came easily and we've cruised through this first year with no problems. Ivy loves her milk! I've also learned there's really something to be said about trusting your instincts - after reading many books and websites, I usually end up going the route of whatever my gut tells me and I think we've all turned out okay!
I was not prepared for how much I would change as a person - all of my patience now belongs to Ivy, and others are not so lucky. I find I don't care so much about many things anymore, relative to how much I care about her and taking care of our family. I have NO memory left - mommy brain is WAY worse than pregnancy brain! And I REALLY need to start exercising again to hopefully feel more like myself - I'm on the Ivy New Year's resolution plan. Starting tomorrow, of course.
But I won't ramble on further about my random maladies and angst when clearly the news you are looking for is a rundown of the birthday weekend! Because we Silversteins can't just have one party and call it a birthday - we are better known for weekend-long extravaganzas! Accompanying photos will be on Facebook later this week.
Friday: The Rosenkranz/Tennenbaum/Silverstein crew arrived from the east coast, just in time to see the sun make its way out. We had lunch at Nate n Al's, and then went to the Marina to hang out the hotel. Ivy enjoyed playing with the air conditioner the best. We headed home early so Ivy could get to bed, and I could get to the kitchen to start baking the birthday cake. The giant cupcake was a bit of a disaster (even after I had it sitting in the over for an hour without the oven even being ON!), large chunks falling off in landslide fashion. I was able to recover it somewhat with loads of frosting, and I further salvaged it for the party. I have to say that while I'm no Martha Stewart or future contestant on Ace of Cakes, it turned out nice.
Saturday: We started off our day with brunch at Toast, where Ivy was fascinated with the bakery display of cupcakes, so much so that it was one of her longest unassisted stands on record and our waitress gave us a free blue velvet (yup, you read that right!) cupcake to take home! We then headed straight to Dodger stadium where the following events happened:
- Ivy met catcher (and Jewish Ivy Leaguer) Brad Ausmus - so dreamy!
- The scoreboard read Happy 1st Birthday Ivy Bess during the first and fifth innings
- Ivy devoured a hot dog bun, after refusing all other food
- Oh, and a baseball game was played...one that turned out to be an exciting one but only after we had left.
We came back home, not having sufficiently napped (for any of us), only to then head out to dinner in the neighborhood before crashing for good.
Sunday (today - birthday!): Ivy treated us by sleeping in a little and we had a big family snuggle in bed for about an hour, recounting the events of her birth. Then Mike left on a walk to pick up some stuff for the party and encourage a nap, which did not happen, while I finished preparing the cake, etc. We arrived at the park and had a sweet day with bagels, friends, family, and sand pails. Ivy was more interested in her bagel than her cupcake (video coming to Facebook and/or the blog soon).
She collected many pairs of pajamas to donate to the Pajama Program, and got an AWESOME baby-sized stroller for a doll that immediately upon assembly started pushing around the apartment. Other loot included a jogging stroller from Grandma and Grandpa and a pink plush chair from Nana and Papa. We then headed out to Caleb's first birthday party, a very different kind of party, which was slightly overstimulating, mostly for Mike. I caught up with an old friend, who also has a daughter Ivy's age, and we got to take a nice stroll along Ocean Ave., soaking up perfect weather and views. We ended the day at Gladstone's for dinner, where Ivy scarfed up some broccoli before diving face first into her second birthday cake of the day. Bliss!
Okay, well one year of being a mom would not be as great if it weren't for Ivy being the rock start that she is...and having Mike as my co-parent in crime. Now I need a weekend to recover from the weekend. Is it Friday yet?
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