Time certainly has flown around our house ( even though thats no excuse for my very very bad lack of blogging!) and last week our little smiley Ivy turned One - oh my in a blink of the eye her first year has gone and Ivy has gone from a beautiful little bundle to a beautiful big bundle (with the occasional temper tantrum - oh yes already!!) She has slotted into our family like a missing jigsaw piece and the loving relationship i see growing between her and Ava is truly heart melting (oh how i hope this will last)
Along with a second child comes the guilt of not spending the same wondrous quality time as i did with Ava, of not going to all those baby groups, and endless trips to the park, of not letting her have a good sleep without being woken to rush off for a pick up or a drop off and of delaying letting her use her own spoon because its so much easier and quicker for mommy to do it - and we always have somewhere to be!! Having said all of this Ivy seems to be getting on just fine and the things she may have missed out on are far outweighed by the joy of having a doting older sister - someone who makes her squeal with delight daily.
We celebrated Ivy's first birthday with a lovely family gathering at home and although i may have let some things slip i was determined that i was going to put as much - if not more effort into Ivy's birthday cake as i did for Ava. I trawled (and drooled) over endless cake pics on the web and decided i was going to do a Fairy Toadstool cake. Having never baked in glass bowls before it was indeed a leap of faith as far as my baking skills go - but it was a success and i just loved loved loved decorating this little house (the Interior Designer coming out in me!).
Yes it would have been easier ( and cheaper!) to buy a supermarket cake, yes i wouldn't have been so stressed (or up till the early hours rolling icing two nights before her Birthday!) and no Ivy wouldn't have noticed if i'd stuck a candle in a fairy cake but i wanted a cake that Ivy would look back on in years to come ( when she asks why there aren't as many photos of her or why her baby book is not as updated as her sisters - ahem!) and know that her first birthday was so so special and that she is truly loved beyond words.
Happy birthday little Ivy you make our hearts sing xxx