Monday 18 April 2016

Elarna Birth & Beyond - Update #12

It happened. My 2nd baby turned one. How can this be?! It only feels like yesterday that I was in labour and welcoming her into the world. The weeks have rolled by so quickly and it has been a truly amazing year. We've had our ups and downs, mostly ups and I've slowly become (what I hope!) is an ok Mum of 2. It's pretty amazing to look back over the last year and see how much she's changed, even since last months update she's getting much more confidence and is starting to want to explore all day long. In this update I'm going to share some photos of her 1st birthday weekend. It sounds terrible but I didn't want to make a huge fuss. When Alfie turned one it was a huge thing, we had a big party, we invited lots of people and generally it was quite stressful! We had a fab day but Alfie didn't really know what to do with himself, bless him. I decided that for Elarna we would have a quiet family day on her actual birthday and then a very small gathering with just close friends and family on Saturday. 


Bizarrely I didn't really know what to get her for, I'm so used to boys toys that buying for another gender was tricky. It was a tough job but I did get through it, ha! We now have a nice mix of some girly toys for her to play with as she grows up. I do still have quite alot of Alfie's younger toys which is good but she definitely needed some that were more girlyfied. Sorry if the sight of pink offends, I love pink and I do admit to buying her quite a bit of pink and purple gifts! As you can see for her big gift I went for a rather lovely princess cozy coupe, this was without a doubt a hit with Alfie aswell as Elarna! 





We spent Friday morning opening pressies and playing. It was really nice and chilled......apart from my husband being in some weird man mood for the best part of the morning but other than that it was great! We were originally going to head to the little zoo that's local to us but the weather was absolutely pants so that ruined that idea. My next idea was to head to a soft play over in Stamford with a lovely cafe, I'd heard lots of good things about it and it was really nice, quite small but perfect for having a coffee and being able to enjoy it while being able to make sure the children are ok. I loved that the baby area was right next to the seating area so I could pop Elarna into the ball pool while being able to sit close and watch her. We had a really nice afternoon and then finished the day off with pizza and pasta......at Alfie's request. 





Saturday I'd arranged a little tea party, I'm really pleased that I kept it small, it was probably the least stressful party so far and with only a few family and friends there it meant I got to chat to everyone. We massively over catered and had enough sandwiches to feed a small army .....needless to say I think we'll be eating ham sandwiches until they come out of our ears. 


I had some gorgeous little butterfly cupcakes made and they were so pretty. I actually bought the main cake from Tesco! I was pretty impressed with their selection and it tasted pretty good too. So if anyone is looking for a birthday cake I can definitely recommend popping to Tesco and checking out their range. 




As always forgot to take many pictures as I was busy chatting and the ones that I did to get weren't great! I wish I knew the trick to getting an almost 4 year old to smile for the camera. We only just managed to get these pictures with the bribery of being allowed a couple of sweets, this is the best of the lots, trust me!


Elarna had a great time, she was absolutely pooped when I put her to bed. Alfie on the other hand was running on haribo. We had a couple of friends stay over with their little boys so they were running riot around the house while the adults were just wanting to sit down and drink wine. Eventually at around 8:30pm our wish was granted and we were finally able to sit, have some adult conversation and enjoy some champagne. All in all a lovely end to a successful day. 




As much as I'm sad to say goodbye to the baby days at the moment I'm of course looking forward to the future and really excited to watch her meet her milestones. I think Alfie is looking forward to when she can actually play with him! We're still waiting for those first steps to be taken, she's so close but hasn't quite dared to yet.....I'm hoping that the next update I'll be able to share that she's walking but we'll see! So there is lots that awaits us and for the moment I'm just taking each day as it comes and loving my little family. Thanks for reading and I'm going to shut up now, all that remains to be said is here's to the next year!

27 comments:

  1. Ah look at that happy smiley face! Looks like you all had a lovely time, such a special day x

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  2. Oh what a little cutie! So nice to read you all had fun celebrating and she looked like she really enjoyed her special day! #MarvMondays

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  3. Happy birthday Elarna! Sounds like a wonderful day and those cupcakes look beautiful. :)

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  4. Aw looks like a lovely few days and I love her outfit!! Happy birthday Elarna; wish we could have been there too xx #marvmondays

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  5. She's so cute! They grow up way too quick don't they! I can't believe my two start full time school in September. Makes me feel so sad! #bestandworst

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  6. I always over make sandwiches by approx 1000 too! Happy Bday little lady! #bestandworst

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  7. Happy Birthday Elarna!! Ah these photos are gorgeous and that cake from Tesco is superb!! So impressed. I love her party dress too - so chic!!!! #bestandworst

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  8. What a fantastic birthday celebration. It looks like you all had a great time. And it's always fab to be relaxed when hosting a party.

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  9. Happy Birthday Elarna! LOVE the look of those cakes - yum! #bestandworst

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  10. Aw beautiful pics! Looks like she had a wonderful time. We did the same with our second little one and just had a nice low key family day. We put ourselves under so much pressure to make a fuss of our eldest's first birthday that it ended up being quite traumatic for us all! Happy belated birthday to your little cutie xx
    Thanks for hosting #bestandworst

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  11. Aw lovely!!! Looks like you had a fab weekend of celebrations...now for lots more birthday with lots more toys involved :-) #bestandworst

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  12. Your pictures are so lovely. By the time my youngest turned one the only snap I remembered to take was one of him covered in chocolate cake.... #bestandworst

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  13. Aw looks lovely. I am loving her new wheels ;) #bestandworst xx

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  14. HAPPY BIRTHDAY little lady! I love the tutu and sounds like a lovely day for a 1 year old. I too struggled with going from buying for a boy to buying for a girl, but as she gets older she has no hesitation telling me what she wants for her birthday haha!
    Enjoy another year x #bestandworst

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  15. Aw Happy Birthday Elarna! Looks like she and you all had a lovely few days celebrating. Time flies eh? Xxx

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  16. Awww my eldest is 4 in September and my boy is 6 months old today. I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I have it the other way round where I've had a pink house for so long and now it feels strange buying boy stuff! Her dress is beautiful by the way!

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  17. Aw I absolutely love her dress it's very adorable. It look like you all had a fantastic day celebrating Elarna's first birthday! Great pictures #BestAndWorst

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  18. My youngest was two 8n January and I still can't believe it. It goes WAY too fast. At least Elarna looks like happier than my little one did on her birthday lol. My daughter was miserable the whole day. You've got some really lovely photos there too.

    #best&worst

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  19. Happy birthday Elarna! Looks a great first birthday with lots of presents and attention. Elarna is a lucky girl! Thanks for sharing such precious photos and moment with us. x

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  20. Looks like you had a fab time the photos are beautiful #bestandworst

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  21. She looks very happy in her car and a beautiful cake
    #blokpodcomp

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  22. Happy first birthday Elarna! I cant believe how quickly she has grown up. Its been lovely reading all of these updates and hearing about all of her little milestones like this one. It looks like she had a lovely day, and I think the way you celebrated it was perfect. We went pretty big for our little ladys first birthday and she just ended up being really overwhelemed by it all. So for our second baby I think we'll keep it much more low key like you have done. It great for them, and great for us parents too :-) Thanks for linking up to #MarvMondays. Emily

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  23. Happy times...first birthdays, all the milestones you have to look forward to - but especially those extraordinary, ordinary moments together. #bestandworst

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  24. Happy Birthday! What a lovely blog post. Our little girl recently turned 2.
    Time goes too fast. I really enjoy reading your blogs. Keep up the great work!
    #blokpodcomp

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  25. Looks like a perfect birthday and I love her outfit, so adorable!!! #blokpodcomp

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