One Year Down

I can't believe our little Claire Bear is one. While it seems like just yesterday we were bringing Claire home from the hospital, I also can't remember my life not revolving around her.

A week before Claire's birthday we had her first birthday party. The weather was beautiful and we were so blessed to be able to share this special day with friends and family.

Most birthdays involve cake and Chris wanted to have a smash cake for Claire. Now I am by no means a baker, but my mom always made my birthday cakes growing up so I wanted to do the same for my daughter. However, I'm not above using a box mix, so I'd like to thank miss Betty Crocker for her assistance. The bake of the cake was fine, but that's the easy part...decorating is where things start to look bad for me. I decided not to get fancy and just did a simple frosting job topped with a penguin cake topper that my mom made. Claire didn't seem too interested in her cake and it didn't really get smashed - I think Chris and I ate more of it than she did.

My sister-in-law makes amazing cupcakes so I take full advantage of her wonderful talent whenever I can. For Claire's party she made two different flavors, a chocolate and a cookies & cream; she even made the chocolate decoration. Everyone loved them and they were way better than my little box cake!

Throughout the week we had a great time using and playing with all our new birthday gifts. Grandma & Grandpa Mann gave Claire a beautiful rocking horse. She seemed unsure of it at first, but it won't be long before cowgirl Claire is rocking away.

I don't think there are too many babies who don't look adorable dressed up as an animal; we've had a few animal towels and thanks to Great-Grandma Shaffer Claire got another animal to add to her towel pack - a colorful unicorn!

Claire loves music and dancing; her godparents, Dana & Danielle gave her a super fun light up music dance mat. It makes all kinds of crazy noises and lights up when she presses the mat - it's like DDR for babies.

We always get hot summer days here in the midwest, so when we're not at the pool Grandma & Grandpa Sprengeler gave Claire a cool water station to used outside - so much fun!

My fashion has gone down since my focus has shifted to Claire, so she is the fashionable one in our family now. She got a bunch of new outfits to continue building her wardrobe.

"Dook" is Claire language for "book", which she loves. It's usually the first thing she says when we walk in her room and she sees the bookshelf. She loves turning the pages and looking at the pictures. So of course she got new "dooks" for her birthday which she already enjoys reading.

And what would a birthday be without toys?! Uncle Caleb & Aunt Allison got her a toy bus; she loves taking the people out and putting them back in, and making the bus make noise. Uncle Aaron gave her magnetic blocks - which I think Chris will have just as much fun playing with as Claire will.

Chris and I didn't go overboard with gifts. We got everything from Amazon - who doesn't love easy shopping? Claire loves her tent/tunnel set, she plays with it probably every day and it's so easy to set up and take down and all packs up super easy in a travel case for fun at home or on the go. My parents even got plastic balls to turn the tent into a small ball pit. We also found this adorable personalized name puzzle from South Bend Woodworks on Amazon. It turned out so cute and Claire love playing with the letters (especially the R) - it will be a great teaching tool to help her learn to spell her name.

On Claire's actual birthday she and I stopped by the hospital where she was born to say hi to the doctor and nurses who delivered her. I design a first year highlights sheet that I gave to them with a little thank you note, so they could see what's she's been up to and know how thankful we are for all they do!

This past year has been such a blessing. I never imagined just how much I would love this little girl and how she would change our lives in so many amazing ways.