ONE YEAR OLD!!!

January 1st: Happy New Year!!! Happy FIRST Birthday Blakely!!!
After 51 weekly updates, Blakely is finally 52 weeks old.... as in 1 YEAR OLD!!!! So, so, so crazy that the little bundle we brought home from the hospital 1 year ago is now a Pre-Toddler!! I am so proud of my big girl!! She is beyond amazing. This whole year has been BEYOND amazing. Thank you Lord Jesus for our sweet, sweet little girl.

Since having Blakely, I feel like life has significantly sped up. Time flies by so much faster now that I am a mom. In residency, there was a saying that "The days last forever, but the years fly by"... This is totally also true of Motherhood. Some days, some phases feel like they will last forever... and then you blink and an entire year has gone by. So glad I kept a record, so I could look back and remember.

Birthday Girl!!! Awake and ready to party!!

Highlights of the Year:
- Hearing... then seeing Blakely for the first time. Kissing her face, but not being able to hold her yet.
- Rolling down the hall of the hospital.... KNOWING that I had the most BEAUTIFUL baby and feeling like all the nurses and doctors thought so too.
- Cuddling, drinking coffee and watching the Today Show together during my maternity leave.
- The first time she smiled for me, the first time she laughed...
- Watching Blakely learn new things, and seeing how proud she was of herself.
- Watching Blakely reach, laugh and go crazy every time she sees her Gigi and PopPop.
- Seeing Blakely sitting in her Daddy's lap as he reads her books and spends cuddle time with her.
- The time she threw up on the cat... HA!
- Seeing her smiling face first thing in the morning.... happiest baby in the morning!
- Seeing Blakely's super proud face as she pulled to stand on her book box. Loved to stand up!!
- Watching her hold and love her baby. Hearing the jingle of her baby on the monitor, followed by her sweet voice talking to her baby.
- Watching her smash her smash cake on her birthday.... covered in Black and Blue icing.

Picture Highlight from Blakely's First Birthday:

Gigi came up with the theme for the party, which I thought was genius, Winter ONE-derland!! So cute and creative!! Thank you for this brilliant idea, Gigi!!!

 

Since Blakely was born in January, we decided to do a snowman themed party. Needless to say, we hit up Pintrest and borrowed a ton of ADORABLE ideas. I love that being crafty is in style right now!

All the cut-outs and signs are from a program I downloaded off of Etsy. Loved this one girls site "Parties by Amanda." She even personalized everything for Blakely for no additional cost! Loved the colors.

Had planned to make all the snowmen for the party.... I even collected a whole cart FULL of supplies at Michaels, but as I was headed for the checkout I noticed a display of Christmas decor at 80% off!! The crazy part is that on the shelf they were selling tons of stuffed snowmen dressed in teal, pink and limey green... the EXACT colors of Blakely's party!! So crazy!! I couldn't make the snowmen for as cheap as they were selling them, so I snagged every last one they had. This is my favorite one, because it is wearing a party hat and holding a cupcake... its like it was made for Blakely's party!! So perfect. 

GrandAnnie made these "Snowball" cupcakes for the party. Yummy!

These toppers were the only painful part of the process... I had to cut every circle, snowman and #1 out by hand! It took forever, but the end effect was adorable!

 

"I am 1!" bunting on Blakely's highchair.

Thanks to Pintrest, Gigi transformed our front door into a snowman! Love it.

The Spread

 

Blakely's Smash Cake!! Warning, the nose is an ice cream cone filled with BLACK icing. Who does something like that?

 

At my first Birthday, my mom had a little book where all the people who attended could write a note of hopes and wishes for me. I still treasure it today. So my mom had the brilliant idea of doing something similar for Blakely's party. We found this mailbox and Snowflake stationary (also 80% off), and had all the guests write Blakely a note and then place it in the mail. I know someday, Blakely will treasure these words of love, encouragement and prayer! Thank you family for giving Blakely a beautiful gift!

 

Another one of Gigi's brilliant ideas... have I mentioned my mom is like a decorating/party genius? She had the great idea of leaving the Christmas tree out, and leaving it as a winter tree. I added some fake snow and leftover party decor, and VIOLA! insta-party tree!!

Center piece

Hot Cocoa bar: my favorite part was the cups that Gigi made (also from Pintrest).



I had seen this idea on Pintrest before Blakely was even born, and I knew that I HAD to do this for her party. It is a chronological banner of Blakely's first year with a monthly picture on it. Loved it so much, it is STILL up in dinning room. I just love marveling at how much she has grown and changed in her first year!!

 

Party Favors

 

Aunt Kelly and Banks... watch out, he spits!

GrandAnnie hard at work in the kitchen helping prepare for the party!! Thank you so much for all your help and support!!

Left to Right: Olivia (Ryan's Girlfriend), Alyssa, Gigi, Banks and Me

Left to Right: Matt, Ryan and PopPop... Love that cup of cocoa PopPop!

GrandAnnie and GrandPop in the Alps! HA!
So I had the idea of turning our little backyard into a winter wonderland, too. I spent the week "stealing" Christmas trees off the curb (they were technically trash) and decking them out with fake snow and snowflakes. We also had a real fire pit as well. It wasn't even cold that day, but it felt like we were all on a ski vacation!

Mommy and Daddy with the birthday girl!!

Gigi and PopPop with their favorite grandbabies!!

The WHOLE Tober family!!

In keeping with the winter theme, we had a Chili bar and corn muffins for lunch.

Blakely had Chicken and carrots instead.... much more baby friendly.

My sweet, little BIRTHDAY GIRL!!!

I'm ONE!!

As always, Blakely LOVES her Uncle Matt... they are totally BESTIES!!

Blakely is so much fun to watch opening her gifts... she gets SOOOO excited about ANYTHING with a face!

 

You can't see it very well in this picture, but PopPop made her a beautiful, red kid sized picnic table!! I can't wait for picnics on the patio this spring!!! Thank you PopPop!!

Only hazard with gift opening, Blakely likes to eat paper more than she likes to rip it.

Blakely LOVED the Mermaid her Dad and I got her!! All day, she would crawl around with it clutched in her fist. She would not put it down!! Such a sweet girl, who loves her babies!!

 

Cutest thing ever!! Alyssa had us all close our eyes.... and then we opened them, Banks was rolling out in a new Cozy Coup!! Did not know Banks could drive!!

These two cousins are going to have WAY too much fun together!! Love that the new Cozy Coup has a removable floor board, locking door and a face!! Great updates! Per Rich, Matt bough Blakely her first car at one, so he is responsible for buying her 2nd one at 16. HA! We will see how that plays out...

The Cogdill crew got Blakely a COZY COUP!!! Alyssa, Ryan and I had one growing up, and it was always SO MUCH fun!! So excited for Blakely and Banks to have their own adventures in this one!! Thanks Cogdills!!

 

Gigi made Blakely the most BEAUTIFUL outfits ever!! The owl is literally my FAVORITE thing Gigi has ever made!! Cannot wait to see it on her!! Absolutely, TOO stinking cute!! Thank you, thank you, thank you Gigi!!

The Monk's got Blakely a Pewi YBike!!! For those Moms that don't know what this is... go google it right now! It was toy of the year, and it is totally awesome!! Blakely can walk with it, crawl with it and ride on it... and it NEVER tips over. Thank you so much GrandAnnie and GrandPop!! This will have her walking in no time!!

 

Blakely and her smash cake!!

 

Loved touching the frosting and making a HUGE mess...

The paparazzi... there were a "few" cameras.

Auntie warned me in advance... no blue or black icing, and what did I do... I got BOTH!! Oops!

She really started eating the cake, too!

So glad it was warm enough to do this outside!

HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BEAUTIFUL GIRL!! Hope your Birthday was super special and full of memories to last a life time!! Someday you are going to LOVE looking at these pictures, and I hope that when you look at them you know how much you are truly and deeply LOVED my your family!!! Love you Little!!