Birthday Party!!!

Today was a very special day! My parents and brother arrived about 12:30pm and were here for several hours. Paul's parents, grandmother, nephew, brother, and sister-in-law left about 6:30pm so we had a fun family filled day! I had hung one birthday banner in the kitchen and one in between the living room and dining room. After Nadia woke up from her afternoon nap and had a little oatmeal, it was time to open presents! She had fun ripping some of the paper, but she hasn't totally grasped the concept of unwrapping presents yet. Everyone was happy to help her out a little. :-) She got many wonderful presents, but her favorite thing to play with the rest of the day was one of the balloons we had blown up as a decoration. The bag of 25 balloons cost $1 - so her favorite gift cost 4 cents. :-) I have to say that it's an AMAZING balloon. She has scratched it, bitten it, landed on top of it, and even poked a hole in part of the end used to tie the knot (with her teeth) - and it's still in one piece! We kept waiting for it to pop.

In time I am sure she'll love her other presents as well. She got a little magnetic train that spells out her name and a touch & feel book from her Great Grandma, an Elmo hand puppet/book from Shawn (cousin), and from the two sets of grandparents she got a lawn mower that blows bubbles, a Little People farm set, summer pajamas, and a latch puzzle. Her Aunt Yvonne & Uncle Joe gave her a Veggie Tale VHS tape. Her Aunt Millie & Uncle Al got her a patriotic outfit (I'll definitely have her wear it on July 4th!) and a little Precious Moment figurine for a June birthday. Finally, her parents got her a stackable dog puzzle, doll stroller, little tikes toddler slide, LeapFrog farm puzzle for the refrigerator, and one of those Fisher Price toys where you push a button (or pull a lever, etc.) and a little animal pops up (not sure what it's called but it's a toy that's been around many years). I think she made out like a bandit! :-)

Millie brought some cookies (some in the shape of butterflies and other in the shape of the number one) and a delicious mandarin orange cake. As you can see, Nadia had a lot of fun feeding herself the cake! Daddy and Uncle Maurice didn't approve of this "barbaric" activity, but everyone else enjoyed watching her make a mess. I took her straight from the highchair to the bathtub of course!

She got a bath three days in a row since Paul gave her one Thursday night and I gave her one last night after she threw up. Yes, I experienced another rite of passage as a mom yesterday - one I had NOT been looking forward to, but I handled better than expected (usually the smell of vomit makes me very sick to my stomach). I gave her a bath, took a shower myself, and threw our clothes into the washing machine and promptly did my 3rd load of wash for the day. Thankfully she was feeling a lot better today for her party. :-)