One in a Heartbeat Party

Okay, brace yourselves...I'm about to throw a whole-lotta pictures and details from Ada's first birthday party at you! (And I promise, after this post, I will stop being the gushy "my baby is one" momma and will refrain from putting anything sparkly, pink or "sweet" on here for at least a week.)

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

First, I want to thank Allison and Serena at Cardome in Georgetown, KY. They helped us find a perfect big, open space to accommodate our friends, family and all of the little-bitties that were running around. If you are in central Kentucky and need a place for your gathering, I recommend visiting Cardome to check out their options! Okay, on with the details...

The Concept (Yeah, I had it together enough for once to have a concept...)
When I started planning the party, I couldn't get over how quickly the year had passed, which is what led to the theme "one in a heartbeat." Seriously, I blinked and our baby was one. Okay, trying not to tear up. Anyway...because her birthday is a week before Valentine's Day and I'm one of those suckers who LOVES Valentine's Day, it all clicked. The details all revolved around a vintage-Valentine theme with red, aqua and pink details.

The Memory Table:
I wanted to create a place to display sweet mementos from Ada's first year. The memory table featured photos, "then and now" diapers (a newborn diaper next to a size 4 diaper,) her hospital bracelet and some of our favorite books to read together. I left hand-written tags to explain special items, like the sleeper my mom had bought for a shower gift when I was in middle school. I loved it so much, I made her keep it and get something different for her friend, just in case I ever had a daughter of my own. The banner said "One in a Heartbeat." It was a last minute detail I made at like 4 a.m. the morning before the party because my Cricut machine wasn't cooperating. The pink garland was actually yarn and I used it to embellish the cake stand, too.

Photos by Stephanie Deffinger

Time Capsule for 18th Birthday:
On the memory table, we had a sign that explained we were making a time capsule for Ada to open on her 18th birthday. The sign was made from dry erase boards I got off the dollar rack at Target.

My friend Jenny created beautiful cards for the guests to fill out. Each table was decorated with mailboxes (also from the glorious dollar rack at Target) where guests could deposit notes to Ada. You can't tell from the photo but one of the mailboxes was displayed on a candlestick holder. It was cute; trust me ;) For the photo booth (oh, yes...there was a photo booth) we had another dry erase board with the words "When you are 18.." that guests could write a message on and hold in the photo. All of this went into a box for Ada with copies of the photo booth pictures.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

These were really fun to read. My favorite was from my friend, Jessica. It said, "My name is Jessica and I am your fairy godmother." It is true.

Party Hat Garland:
I created all of the party hats using scrapbooking paper, yarn, ribbon and other embellishments. The hats were displayed on yarn to create a functional garland. Guests loved picking out their hats!

Photos by Stephanie Deffinger

Entertainment:
For the kiddies, we had a lovely box house and some DIY games. I cheated a little on the house. I went to our local Walgreens to pick up boxes to build something like this. The guy at the register asked why I needed so many boxes and when I explained what I was doing, he said, "We had box house kits at Christmas. They are on clearance now!" So, I bought the kit and painted it with acrylic paint with the help of my friend, Cynthia. It also had some sweet details like daisies, a dog leash and sparkly butterflies. The basket out front was a "Pick Your Own Flowers" basket with flower headbands for the little girls. The cute cupcake mat was really a placemat from Kohl's.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

And the DIY games, which entertained kids of all ages...

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

The Birthday Throne:
Okay, this was one of my FAVORITE details. I bought the high chair at a yard sale before Ada could even eat solid food, knowing that I'd refinish it for her birthday. After a good scrubbing, several coats of spray paint and a new chair cover (I cut up a table cloth so it would be easy to clean), the chair really shined. The bunting was made of scrapbooking paper and photos of Ada throughout the year. The medallion was made by my mother-in-law, Connie. Once Ada started eating the cake, we used another plastic tablecloth (the same print as the upholstery) underneath. It was round and huge so it worked perfectly. You can get them here, at Kohl's.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

The Dessert Bar:

We served cake batter dip with Teddy Grahams in these sweet, little totes (Target dollar rack.) For the cake batter dip, I used a Valentine's Funfetti mix, one large container of vanilla yogurt and one tub of Cool Whip. We filled the plastic containers with the dip then added some extra sprinkles on top for some additional color.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Red velvet whoopie pies and strawberries/angel food cake kabobs drizzled in chocolate...

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Cupcakes...

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

I have to admit, I cheated on the cupcakes. Those were from Kroger's and they tasted amazing! I was inspired by this cake and actually made Ada's giant cupcake using a William Sonoma pan. I even got brave and made the candle with fondant and the cupcake liner with candy melts using this awesome tutorial.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Other food details...

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

 From the left: Pink popcorn, cotton candy, marshmallows and chocolate pretzels in jars; chocolate-dipped cereal  treats; water bottles embellished with pink polka-dot duct tape; sweets!

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

DIY Sippy Cups:
I looked all over for sippy cups for the kids but couldn't find anything cute and affordable. I thought about using mason jars but kids and glass don't mix. As if I have to tell you that, right? Anyway, I spent an entire Friday night searching for plastic jars and ended up coming across a website that sold commercial bottles. We fell in love with the honey bottles but, alas, it was going to be like $25 for shipping AND you had to pay a extra fee for a small order. Not exactly affordable. But then I remembered that Kentucky is awesome and found a local beekeeping supply store where I was able to buy the honey bears for a song! I purchased the heart straws here. After I did some browsing online to see if I was the only crazy person to use honey bears for drinks, I discovered I was not. This one is adorable as is this one. We filled the sippy cups with Walmart-brand cherry limeade and sparkling pink lemonade.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

The Photo Booth:
I am SO grateful to my friend, Stephanie, for her help in creating this amazing photo booth. Seriously, I showed up with the shower curtain, the frame (which my husband built out of PVC pipes,) the bunting and a few props. Then Stephanie arrived with boxes and boxes of props. AMAZING props. And then she even took the photos. She rocks.

I loved the photo booth for a first birthday party for many reasons; The biggest reason was that first birthday parties have an odd mix of ages and this entertained everyone. Second, it was a blast. Third, it captured so many memories. And also, It. Was. A. Blast.

You can view the entire gallery and download pictures from the day here.

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Okay, do you have a cavity yet? Nope. Okay, here is some more sweetness for you then...

Photo by Stephanie Deffinger

Thank You's:
Special thanks to my momma for using every off day she had from December to February to help me shop, search and create the details for this party and for staying up all night the night before to help out. Thanks to my mother-in-law, Connie, for her kitchen prowess and mad sewing skills. Thanks to Stephanie and Izzy for all of their help setting up and to my husband for building frames, filling dip containers, holding Ada while I hot-glued and for letting me be as crazy as I want to be. And of course, to my friends and family...a huge thanks for coming to celebrate our girl! Love you all!

I'm linking up to these parties:

Celebrating Ada's First Birthday with Purpose

A few days after our first visit with an infertility specialist, I had a dream that I was a block of wood and I was being carved by an old man into a figurine with a big, pregnant belly. I wrote about it here. I thought of that dream many times during my pregnancy as I watched my body grow around a growing person and now that she is here, I realize I will spend the rest of my life growing so she can grow, too. I will become so she can become.

Photos by Wes and Stacey Battoclette

I am not a perfect wife and mother. My husband often threatens me with a swear jar, I am scattered and messy and some days, I submerge myself under water in the tub just to find a few moments of peace. I will never be as comfortable praising God from a pew as I am worshiping behind the wheel of my car on a country road, singing Miranda Lambert's "Heart Like Mine." Though I am rough around the edges and broken in many places, I believe in God because I feel like I've seen evidence of His love in my life too many times to not believe. I don't pretend that everyone believes like I do but I do feel it's important to teach our daughter that the God we serve is a God of love; unconditional love for all people. Just like I pull Ada up in my lap even though her nose is running because she's thrown a tantrum in the floor and she fights me to get her way, I know at the end of the day He does the same with me. He accepts that I'm stubborn and that I make the same mistake fifteen times before I learn; that I foolishly turn to Diet Coke to be revitalized more often than I turn to Him. And I have learned that just like motherhood is nothing like those Rice Krispie commercials where the mom is making treats with her kids and the kitchen is perfect and the mixture is in the pan instead of sticking to the spoon and their fingers and the dog, a relationship with God doesn't have anything to do with tucked-in shirts and pressed Khakis. It's more bruised knees than white dresses and my mission as Ada's momma is to teach her that being honest about who she is, broken places and all, is okay because she wasn't born finished. Every day she is alive, she is becoming who God created her to be.  And if she understands that she isn't finished, she'll understand that other people aren't finished either. She will grow to be patient, kind, humble and accepting.

To celebrate Ada's first birthday, we spent the day committing small acts of kindness both as an expression of gratitude for the many blessings we've received this year and to be "watering cans." It may be silly, even cheesy, but that is something I pray for often, that God will make me a watering can so I can take the blessings He gives me and pour them out so something beautiful will grow. If we can raise our daughter to be secure enough in who she is to give what she has today instead of waiting until she has more time, money or whatever it is she believes she is lacking, then we will have succeeded. For that reason, we spent the day giving small gifts with lots of heart and looking back on all of the places we traveled and people we met, I can't think of a better way to have celebrated Ada's first year of life. Our baby is HERE, healthy, growing and has so much of her momma's spunk ;)
I believe God is good and I want to tell everyone I meet that if this momma with the messy house and paint in her hair can be used to bring something so beautiful as Ada into the world despite a diagnosis of infertility, then anyone can be used as His watering can.

This is how we celebrated Ada's first birthday:

We started the day by dropping off craft supplies at Hope Hill Children's Home. Instead of gifts, we had asked friends and family to bring paint, brushes, scrapbooking supplies and other craft items to Ada's birthday party for the girls at Hope Hill and they did not hold back. The girls are going to have so much fun with this stuff!

After our trip to Hope Hill, we surprised Ada's great-grandmother, Dottie, with a picnic and framed photo of the two of them. Dottie was tickled pink to see Ada on her big day.

We printed photos of our favorite moments throughout the year and wrote messages on the back to deliver throughout the day. We gave this photo of Ada playing in her baby pool and a yellow rose bush to the doctor who delivered her.

And we packed a special snack basket for the labor and delivery nurses who took care of us at the hospital...

When we dropped off the basket of goodies for the nurses, we also took a new package of diapers to be given to a family who delivered a baby today because we were grateful whenever someone came to our house with free diapers!

And without trying, we ended up at the hospital at the exact time Ada was born but this time when we left, our girl walked out holding her daddy's hand instead of being bundled up in her momma's lap.

Travis says his favorite moment was when we took a batch of cupcakes to the nurses and doctors at Bluegrass Fertility Center. Their support and guidance made it possible for us to have this day with our girl so they certainly deserved cake! We attached a photo of Ada with a note that explained we had named her after feeling her move for the first time. I didn't know where I ended and she began, which made us realize that Ada (the beginning and ending of Amanda) was the perfect name for her.

And we left flowers with notes on random cars in the parking lot wishing people a good day...

One of our favorite moments was handing out gift cards for free pizzas to families. Because so many people had delivered us a meal those first weeks of Ada's life, we really wanted to return the favor so we stopped at Goodwill and found a mother with her three children shopping. When we gave her the card she exclaimed, "Today is my son's 9th birthday!" We went next door to the Dollar Tree and chose another family and were amazed when she smiled and said, "That is so funny! Today is my birthday!"

After a wonderful dinner at Red Lobster (we had been saving a gift card for months,) we surprised a family with free desserts which was a lot of fun!

Then we went to a local Walmart and passed out more gift cards for free pizzas...

and we surprised a busy mother shopping for groceries with a $50 gift certificate to a local spa!

We made so many precious memories together today...

(Scout eating the bits of cake that fell off Ada as she was getting into the tub)

and we started our baby's second year teaching her that in life, you get what you give so you can't wait until you have more money, time or resources to start living. You have to live the day you have as the person you are, giving what you have, knowing that you aren't finished; knowing that as long as your heart is beating, you are becoming.

I am so grateful for all of you who have helped us see to it that Ada becomes who she was created to be. Thank you for praying for her before she was conceived, as she grew in my belly and as she outgrows every pair of pajamas we bring into this house. And I hope in some small way, the three of us can do something to help you become, too.

Love Amanda, Travis and Ada