Decisions, Decisions

This is a big week around our house.  Skip will be turning 34 on Tuesday and much more excitedly, Baby A will be a year old on the same day!  I’ve had a blast (and several minor panic attacks) over planning her birthday party.  I never realized there were so many decisions to be made!  Should we do a two-for-one and celebrate Skip’s birthday at the same time and location?  Should we have the party at our house or at the park?  How many is too many people to invite?  Who should take her one-year-old pictures? (This is a very tricky decision because of Skip’s relationships with so many great photographers.) On what day and at what time should the party be and what should we serve to eat?  There is/was so much to consider, but I had a lot of fun with it.

I pinned an adorable invitation and had Skip begin to recreate it for me in Photoshop.  When he casually mentioned the cost of printing and mailing the number of invites I was planning to send out, I scraped that idea and decided on Evites and a Face.book event.  Skip got prices from several of his photographer friends and although their work is amazing and I am sure worth their fees, we opted to have Skip take them instead.  I am so unsure of how Baby A will act during her first photoshoot, especially if the photographer is male, and I know how easy it is for Da-Da to get her to smile. Plus, he’s got a fancy-schmancy camera and doesn’t charge a sitting fee!  I priced a shelter at the Village Park and tickets to the Splash Pad and Train ride, and although it is really a super deal, it wasn’t free, so we’re having the party at home.  I won’t have to lug everything in and out of the park, and I’ll be forced to give my house a good cleaning before school starts back.

I hate to sound cheap (although if you know me, you know that I SO TOTALLY AM), but I never realized how expensive parties could be!  And I know she’s a baby and won’t remember this party or the next few to come, but I will.  And, if we get to keep her forever (you’re praying for that with me, right?) I never ever want her to look at things we (will hopefully) do for her little sister and wonder why it wasn’t done for her in a similar fashion.  I’ve also realized why other baby loss mamas have shared about the emotional toll that planning birthday parties after loss can be.  It’s been super fun, but some parts have just been sad.  Do you have any idea how many cute birthday party themes there are out there for little boys?  About a zillion.  And this is the time of year that I should be planning my first little boy birthday party.  I am so thankful and blessed to have one to plan at all, but it’s just not the one I should be planning, and that sucks. 

Choosing gifts and sweet baby girl wrapping paper has not sucked and has gotten me over the sadness humps when the come.  I shopped Craigslist and found a Cozy Coupe (the toddler smart car looking thing) for a steal.  Then, I found a Little Tykes climber with slide on Craigslist for another great deal.  I ordered her some books with African American children in them and her first Bible on Amazon.  My other gift ideas- a crawling tunnel, a monogrammed suitcase, and shoes- I farmed out to mama.  I’ve been really looking forward to giving them to her.  When we picked her up from her weekend visitation (that I survived like a champ!) we also ended up picking up a brand-new pink and white Cozy Coupe.  It was half assembled and part of that was done incorrectly but it was a nice present-nicer than anything I assumed she’d get.  Her (biological) father had apparently gotten it for her but they couldn’t get it put together properly.  Just as I suspected, she LOVES it and she and Skip spent the evening driving it around.  Skip only knows one speed, so she had to hang on tight, but she loved it.  I plan to try to re-sell the one I purchased from Craigslist after the party, so I’m not even bummed they ripped off my present idea. 

So anyway, we’re partying at home and my fabulous friend, Kimberly, is crafting an adorable smash cake and making cupcakes.  I’m also gonna serve hot ham and cheese sandwiches, fruit, and the goldfish’s cost effective first cousin-Aldi brand “penguins.” Skip’s parents are coming up from Atlanta and Nana Lou has made her an adorable onesie/dress that says “I’m one” and Christi let me borrow Paisley’s birthday outfit complete with a tu-tu.  I actually planned the party colors around the tu-tu, so like the diva she is, she’ll have a wardrobe change mid party!  I was worried no one would come, but now I think it’s just gonna be great!  And, if the birthday girl will either nap early or troop through a morning without a nap, it’ll be even better!