The day before Mirei’s actual birthday, we threw a small, intimate birthday party to celebrate the milestone of her turning one! We were admittedly feeling a little overwhelmed (and a little lazy) about doing a big celebration, but we kept the guest list short and decided we’d just do what we could and that helped ease the pressure and stress on us parents. 😉 My brother Ted and his wife Elisa were gracious enough to reserve the party room at their condo for the celebration. Unfortunately, it snowed the morning of the party and some of our guests couldn’t make it because of the weather, but we still had fun with those who were able to make it, and we stayed warm and cozy as the flurries swirled outside!
First year poster for Mirei
Birthday cake for Mirei… intended to be smashed later in the party.
A tower of birthday cupcakes
Dan and I made these cake toppers — both the “one” atop the cupcakes and the one with her name on the smashcake.
hydrangea cupcakes
The items for erabitori
Cookies to be taken home as party favors.
lollipop party favors
First birthday sugar cookies
Don’t look too closely… it was my first time using gold dusting powder on sugar cookies!
Special thanks to Miwa, Hyo, and Elisa who all helped with getting the party decorations up!
Everyone crowding around the birthday girl!
The adorable kids arriving
The aunties
Cutiepies Mirei and Cara
So glad Nancy and her girls could make it! Welcome back to the States!
The birthday girl walking around
Pat and I with our baby girls. Thanks so much for coming! ♥
Mio with her aunties, posing for our makeshift photobooth.
We had set up our own little “photobooth” with an iPad app, and the kids had so much fun with it! It was really fun to see the collection of pictures at the end of the party:
We felt so blessed to be able to celebrate Mirei’s first birthday with such loving family and friends, and are so thankful that she is such a happy and healthy one year old! More posts to follow with the first birthday activities from the party — stay tuned!
Happy first birthday! I woke up this morning to you smiling up at me and I held you close, thinking of all the ways you’ve brought so much joy into our lives in the past year. We have watched you grow for the last twelve months, and we couldn’t be more proud to call your ours. How quickly you have gone from a tiny bundle of helpless newborn to a toddler who scurries around the house, sneakily grabs things from tabletops, and eagerly imitates our every gesture and sound. You are a sweet, bright little girl with an infectious smile, wide eyes that seem to take in everything (and not miss anything!), and a stubborn streak a mile long. You have such boundless energy and curiosity, and seem fearless in wanting to touch and grab anything and everything you can.
While pregnant with you, I had spent so many nights dreaming of you, wondering what you would look like, worrying about whether you would be healthy and happy… if you would be as perfect as I had imagined time and time again. I was afraid about whether I had enough room left in my heart to love another baby after investing so much love and care into our first. All of those worries and fears melted away on a Saturday morning exactly a year ago when they placed you in my arms and I knew that everything was just as it was meant to be.
Your first few months seemed a blur of constant breastfeeding and pumping, trying to balance caring for both you and your sister, sleeping (or attempting to sleep), and just making sure we were all surviving. This first year with you has flown by seemingly faster than our first year with Mio, but there are definite milestones that stick out, that I know I’ll always remember — your first smiles, your first time rolling over, your first time eating solids, your first attempts at crawling, and your first steps… and of course, memories of firsts as a family of four — our first summer with you, first family trip, first Halloween, first Thanksgiving, first Christmas, and first New Years with you — all made so much more special because you were now a part of it. You’ve enriched our lives so much more by becoming part of our family, and it really so much more complete.
My love for you is immeasurable. Every time I see you and every time I hear your voice, I fall more in love with you and driven to be a better, stronger, and kinder mother. I feel so grateful to be able to love you and your sister in this life. Just knowing you, my life is complete. Thank you for being ours, and for reminding me every day of the extreme blessings I’ve been showered with. For drawing me even closer to the other people I love. For showing me that this is how life is meant to be lived — full of color, emotion, challenges, and messes. I will always love you and be here to support you and listen. That when you are 5 or 16 or 50, you will know that my arms will always be ready to embrace you and that you are loved as you are -– nothing more or less.
We can’t wait for the gift of this next year with you, to see where the road to two will take us next.
Mirei is now one year old! It’s amazing how fast a year flies by, and I feel like it passes even faster with the second child! I can’t believe this is the last of our monthly photo series of you, and it makes me a little sad to see it come to an end, despite how much work it has been. I’m so glad we’ve been able to document your growth like this, though, as you have really grown up so fast in the past year that it’s really been a blur! I know we’ll look back on these photos and updates with fondness and smiles for years to come, just as we have done with your sister’s.
(I’ve been taking photos of Mirei sitting in my white desk chair and wearing her monthly onesie every month until she’s one year old.)
Stats: You now weigh 23 lbs 6 oz, and measure 29.5 inches tall! You have seven teeth now, if you include the new ones that are each almost fully grown in from the top and bottom. Your hair has grown significantly in the past couple months, and we joke that it looks like you’re sporting a mullet! You’ve nearly outgrown the 18 month size in clothes, and we’re moving you up to 24 months now.
Things You’re Doing Now: You are more curious than ever, and we’ll find that you’ll find things from different rooms that you’ve snuck into around the house, and move objects from here and there. Sometimes, we’ll have been looking for a missing item for days, only to find you randomly walking around with it, as if you had found it for us! You love oranges and clementines and if you’re able to get your hands on one, you’ll run off with it and dig your teeth into them, and we often find them lying around after you’ve given up on them with bite marks and missing patches all over the outside peel. You have a voracious appetite and love eating, and are curious and eager to try everything we’re eating. You even picked up a big kid’s juicebox the other day and just started drinking out of it — we were surprised you knew exactly what to do, when you’ve never had a juicebox before! You love to get ahold of my phone and press down the “home” button until voice control comes up — you’ve called several of my contacts by accident this way, much to my chagrin. I can already see that you’ve got a stubborn side to you and when you’re upset, you definitely let us know it by letting out very high-pitched, shrill screams and wails. You repeat sounds (like sighs and scowls), as well as simple words, and you now say “bye-bye” and wave when seeing people leave. We’re concerned because you have been scratching your back and waist area a lot lately (perhaps due to the wintry air drying your skin out), and it’s left some really visible red scratchmarks on your backside — but otherwise, you’re very healthy, and we’re thankful for that. You and Mio have really started doing more things together, and it really warms our hearts to see you both dancing to music together (your dance moves being bopping up and down), chasing each other around screaming, or her doing peekaboo from behind either side of your chair and you giggling your head off! You love everyone in your family so much, and we are always taken by how much love and affection you always want to give — that’s probably why you’ve won so many of other people’s hearts, too!
It’s been so cold lately that I dread taking the girls outside! On days that Mio doesn’t have preschool, she tends to get cabin fever because we stay cooped up indoors. Here are some photos I snapped last Thursday afternoon, when the sunlight poured through the windows despite the wintry temperatures, illuminating Mio’s room where the girls were playing.
Can’t believe this little cutie is going to turn one soon!
Puckering up for the camera!
Mirei pulling hairclips out of Mio’s hair.
Mio loves these animal pop-ons from her grandparents in California, and plays with them all the time, even nearly two years later.
Mirei loves to get into other people’s accessories (Mio’s, mine, and even my sister’s) and she now knows how to put headbands and hats on herself. It’s so funny to see how she accessorizes her outfits!
Mirei being fabulous with her Missoni for Target onesie, fur vest, and glittering gold crown.
Grabbing Auntie’s hat
From cute baby girl…
…to DOPE little lady. (Another hat stolen from Auntie Miwa)
