Katrina's birthday party was so much fun!
I'm sold on small, directed parties now. I should have been since Day One, since the very first birthday party we attended years ago was one with just 3 other babies (including Gabriel), and it was perfect.
This time, my main goal was to enjoy my baby without dealing with her brothers, and pretty much force that on my friends too, even if it meant risking some grumpy husbands.
We had a very nice group of five babies and moms, including me and Katrina. All the babies except Saul go or went to Tonya's, so Katrina "knows" most of them. Two walkers (Veronica and Saul), one verrry close (Blake), and two crawlers.
I've long since learned that it's very difficult to get good party photos, so I didn't really try all that hard. Here's the best group shot I got:
From left to right: Veronica (15 months), Blake (13 months), Saul (14 months), Dylan (10 months), Katrina (12 months!).
So, we had a nice low-key gathering with just moms and babies. I had a great time preparing food and making the cake, which the party was partly just a fun excuse to do! The babies tried out new foods and old, we moms compared notes on the usual things about babies and sleep, feeding, talking; and juggling work, exercise and keeping up with home life. I was the only mom who doesn't work, so I was particularly interested to hear how the full-time working moms do it all. It's not easy any way you look at it, and that includes for the one part-time working mom too (Betsy).
The babies all got along just fine, and there was enough to do that there weren't any toy conflicts or anything (though toy conflicts at this age seem like nothing after seeing the boys get into a knock-down-drag-out over a footstool!)
Then, of course, the best part: cake time! While Katrina was interested in this strange fiery anacondan face, she would have nothing to do at all with actually eating it.
She stabbed inquisitively at the thing and fussed, perturbed by the feeling of the frosting on her fingers. I had to forcibly smear some on her lips to get her to try it, but once the sweet stuff made contact with her tongue, she was just fine with it -- eating and smearing.
Veronica's mom asked me how I do things differently with the third baby, and the big difference is that it's exactly that sort of thing that I can't do now. In Gabriel's early days, it was much easier to hang out with just us and our babies, with each new thing being an exciting piece of news to share. I'm really glad I got to enjoy that again, and I think the full-time working moms who haven't done a lot of that enjoyed it too.
A great way to start my baby's 2nd year. Thanks Moms!
9/30/07
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