Current mood: exhausted
We did it!!!! We have officially thrown our first big bash and it was a total success!!!! Her birthday party was great and everything went as smooth as it possibly could. We both (Adrian and I) are still reeling from everything…. And to think we got another big bash coming up next weekend for the San Diego family!! ACK! Haha
My last blog entry I was sitting at the park waiting to be relieved of “spot watching”. Eventually my Dad came and we traded places. I got to go home and get Mia and myself ready for her party while my Mom dropped off Adrian at the park to watch the site while my Dad went to go pick up the food. We ordered over $350 worth of Mexican food, made from this awesome little place in Somis. It was the same food we had catered at my baby shower. Anyways, once I got home, I was so excited to hold Mia and wish her a happy birthday (since I left the house before she was even awake) but she was napping…noooooo!!!!! Oh well, I fought off the temptation I got from wanting to wake her up by packing up her stuff to take to the park. I also got a quick shower in and by the time I was out she was up. My Mom came back home and watched her while I finished getting ready. By then it was really getting close to the time to leave yet she wasn’t ready. For the first time she took FOREVER to eat her lunch.. and ate 1 blueberry at a time! A record for her since she always shovels them in her mouth as fast as she can, normally. It then got to late to wait so I just packed up her lunch, half eaten, and raced off to the park with my Mom.
The party was set for 1pm and it was already 15 past!!! I guess Mia wanted to be fashionably late to her party! Haha Before we left I quickly loaded up the car as fast as I could and lifted up her HEAVY piñata. The only place it would fit was in the passenger seat. The GIANT one made driving difficult enough the day before when it was empty, but now that it was full of candy it was even worse! I couldn’t even shift my car! I couldn’t wait to see it get bashed opened and was even tempted to take my own whacks at it with the stick prematurely! Haha
Once we got there, we pulled up at the same time her Nina, Nino, and cousins pulled up. They had been running around all day too, her Nina ran around and picked up her special birthday cake (custom made with her little picture on it! It was sooooo cute!, they got it for her), and Nino ran around getting her balloons filled with helium. When one accidentally popped, he made sure to replace it with the cutest little 1st birthday balloon he could find. He wanted to make sure, Mia got her special mylar birthday balloon! They both did tons of other running around all while tending to their own kids, sharing 1 car and not to mention her Nina being 5 months pregnant!!! They helped out TONS and we couldn’t do it without them! All they kept saying was they wanted to help, and make sure Mia had everything she needed for her special day. What great God-parents huh? Ok back to the story….
We met up at the park and they helped unload the car for me. My Great Uncle… Mia’s Great-Great Uncle was already there so was her Daddy (of course still watching the site) and her Great Grandpa Pizano. I had Mia dressed all cute in her pink and white poofy birthday dress and even had her princess crown on. EVERYONE fell in love with her. Soon more family began to show up and the party got started. Everyone had a blast, the music was playing, the weather was perfect and everyone had a AWESOME time. Her “Auntie” Mona and “Uncle” Brett and future Husband Koa even made it!! That was a HUGE treat! Getting the kids together is always fun. They walked around a bit on the grass and she even attempted to give him a kiss but he got shy and wanted no part of that girly stuff! Haha She also got to see all her other cousins and family. We even got to meet the newest addition to the Pizano family… her baby cousin Delilah (2+ months old) she was so ADORABLE!!!! Just holding her made me melt, she was so cute and tiny and once again that baby fever bug bit me and HARD! Haha She also got to see her other cousin Gia (whose big 1st bday is also coming up in a couple of weeks) and they took off walking. I joked about having them do baby races haha. Her Grandpa then showed up with the food and everyone dove in. The food was excellent and we got TONS of compliments from everyone. I was too busy running around to really eat but when I did get a bit in here and there it really was great.
Her Grandpa picked out the best spot in the whole park. It was literally less than 50 feet from the newly constructed play ground. So all the kids got to play there. Mia even got in her first swing and Daddy pushed her. She liked it at first but eventually stopped liking it and wanted out! She rather run around barefoot in the grass with all her friends and cousins. She only cried once and that was when she was dog piled by her big cousin April (2yrs) and friend Avery (2yrs) Poor baby, all I heard was her crying I spun around and all I saw was her little head sticking out from a pile of little ones. She was ok though, she shook it off and was happy again.
I had her 12 month picture frame out on display (the one that has a picture for every month she is from birth to 12months), along with my favorite picture of her with butterfly wings on (her whole theme was butterflies) with the poem I wrote her next to it, and the photo book of her I designed especially for her birthday of her first year. Everyone loved them and really enjoyed seeing all the pictures. Soon it was piñata time! YAY! We finally let her do what she has been dying to do, while taking pictures of her next to the piñata she began tearing up the paper on it. We let her tear it up a bit before we got all the little ones lined up to bash the monstrous thing. Of course, the birthday girl got first dibs on hitting it and with Daddy’s help she beat it with the stick but soon ditched the stick, walked over to it and tore up the paper some more! Then she let the other kids hit it. It started with her little cousin Joe who whacked it hard like a typical boy!, then it was her cousin April’s turn who barely tapped it all gentle and cute, then her friend Avery took her turn and she too was all dainty and cute, then Avery’s big brother Bailey took his whacks and of course he was also the typical boy and bashed it hard.. he even let out some cute grunts as he hit the piñata HARD! Haha sooo cute. Next up was her cousin Sarah.. unlike her little sister April, Sarah went NUTS!!! She put all the boys to shame and bashed the heck out of the #1! After all I have been through with that gigantic thing in my car (driving around town with that think blocking my view, jabbing me in the side, and not letting me shift gears in my car and frustrating me beyond belief) I almost felt sorry for it by the way Sarah was beating it! Haha Then it was her big cousin Tracy’s turn and she also hit the Pinata hard and really weakened it. I was really surprised that it didn’t bust open then! But it didn’t so everyone took another turn including Mia. By then I really started to feel bad for my cousin Kote who was managing the rope, you could tell his arms were getting tired, but he was such a sweetheart and took it like a champ. Even with the beatings it took (even with a second round with Sarah) that Piñata refused to give up its candy! So I finally gave the green light to have her Grandpa tear it open and throw the candy in the air for everyone. Once that happened everyone made a mad dash for the loot! Sarah definitely came out with the most; her little bag was nearly over flowing with candy.
After the piñata it was cake time. We brought out her ADORABLE Winnie the pooh cake, put her little candle on it and we all gathered around and sang “Happy Birthday” to Mia. It was a really touching time for me, just seeing everyone wishing my little baby happy birthday made me feel so happy because I felt how loved she really is. It was too windy to actually have a lit candle so we pretended to blow it out as I leaned her over the cake. Everyone cheered and much anticipated moment came. I NEVER let her eat junk food EVER but I let her have her chance with her birthday cake. At first she didn’t even want to touch it and I grabbed her little hand and put it in the cake anyways. Her hand was covered in icing and cake but she refused to even taste it. She wanted no part in her cake let alone eat it! I tried to put some in her mouth and she didn’t want it! Haha I guess she prefers her blueberries and fresh mangos instead! I cleaned her up and was just about ready to serve the cake when I realized.. uh oh I forgot a knife!!!!! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! There I was, in front of everyone, all ready for cake and I had no way of serving it. Panic set in! There was no knives at all in the whole party! Then it was my Auntie Gina to the rescue, she ran to the party next to us and asked them if they had one we could borrow. Luckily they did and she saved the day!!! YAY!!!! I was able to cut and serve the cake and everyone!! Loved it! It was the first time I ever saw the entire cake disappear at a party. It was chocolate (Daddy’s favorite) filled with fresh strawberries (Mama’s favorite). The icing was whipped cream and was sooooo good. I got the piece with her picture on it, but still couldn’t find the heart to eat her head haha… Daddy found no trouble doing that though haha
Then it was present time. By then Mia really stared to slow down and become really tired. She sat on my lap while I opened up all her loot of gifts. She got TONS of cute clothes from everyone. My favorite was definitely a watermelon outfit she got from her Great Auntie Gina, it came with a watermelon beanie hat, top, skirt, sandals, barrettes for her hair, and sunglasses.. ALL matching! Price-less! She got lots of other cute clothes and dresses and some much needed shoes! Her first VANS and TONS of toys. She got a spinning Winnie the Pooh top from her Nina, Nino and cousins, a $50 gift card from her Great Grandpa Pizano, a little princess ridable car from Grandpa and Grandma Pizano, a table with toys on it (also from them), a music set from Auntie Mona and Uncle Brett and Koa, a dancing/talking/singing Elmo “Live”, a flips book and so much more! However, despite all the gifts and presents she got from everyone, I think she got the most special one from me, her Mama. I found and gave her my little porcelain #1 birthday doll I got on my very first birthday. I am handing down my collection I got from my Mom, to her. It is old (28 years to be exact) and very special to me. I wanted her to have it, it was a touching moment for me. So after all her thank yous to everyone were done, she finally decided to crash on the shoulder of her Great Aunt (my Aunt) Ileana. She NEVER sleeps on anyone but she was so pooped she didn’t mind making an exception this time. She slept on her for over and hour while the party began to wind down and end.
By the time she woke, most of the stuff was packed up and we were almost ready to go home. I didn’t want to leave without her experiencing the beach for the first time. So her and I took a walk all the way down to the shore just the two of us. I didn’t realize how FAR the walk was till half way down there. My feet were already aching so bad and were on fire but I had to keep going. I wanted my girl to finally see the beach! We live so far from it and never can find the time to go. Infact the last time I was even at the beach was in Maui during our honeymoon! So once we finally got to the shore I put her down so she could touch the wet sand on her feet. She LOVE it, right away she sat down, checked out the water and played in the sand. I took a couple of pictures before I realized my Dad standing by me. He had walked all the way to the beach too, to find us and to let us know it was time to go. He said once he saw us he had to wait, sit back and just enjoy watching his daughter have fun with her baby daughter. He was also touched by it. Then it was time to go, but not before he got to take a couple of pictures of me and Mia together and I got to put her feet in the water for the first time. She didn’t even flinch by the coldness of the water and she liked it! I then handed Mia to her Grandpa and we made the long trek back to the car. We then said our goodbyes to her cousins, Nina and Nino and we went home.
We rested a bit, ate some awesome left overs. I later put Mia to bed after she got a kick out of playing with all her new toys and we soon all followed in her footsteps all worn out from the fun day.
The only bad thing that happened is we ALL got BURNT! By the sun. It didn’t matter how much sunblock we drenched ourselves with we still got burnt. Even little Mia got her first sunburn… it isn’t to bad just a small patch below one eye and her arm. I have been putting aloe on it to soothe it and help heal her skin. Me and her Daddy are also BURNT! And I am literally red and brown and ITCHY! ACK!!! I hate the sun!!!!!!! Ah well… the party was still fun though.
Wow what a party! Everything turned out awesome! There is so much more that happened but I am so tired I just don’t have the energy to point out every little detail. We got TONS of pictures and will be posting them soon, however, I need to get some rest. We have a HUGE day tomorrow, it will not only be her Daddy’s 29th birthday but also we are taking her to Disneyland for the first time! YAY!! I can’t wait!! I even have her sleeping in her new mini-mouse jammies she got for her birthday haha. Well I am off to get some rest now.
Overall her birthday was awesome! I couldn’t ask for a better party for her, everyone chipped in and helped make it truly special, especially her Grandpa and Grandma, Nina and Nino. I couldn’t do it without them and truly thank them with all my heart. Wow its official Mia is now 1 years old! Her saga is to be continued……
