Happy First Birthday, Ellie-Girl!

Woah.

What happened to my family room?!

I will tell you. We partied like crazy.

Because a year ago, I looked like this...

And then my ginormous baby bump produced the tiniest, most precious little girl we have ever known.

And we fell in love, for the third time.

(You know, first with each other, then with Robbie...)

And that's worth celebrating.

*Sidenote: This picture makes me want 2 things. Long hair again, and another baby. (ha!)

It always brings me to tears to run my cursor over the hundreds (!) of iPhoto squares and watch our life flash before my eyes. As I was sifting through the day-one pictures of Ellie, everything came back to me like it was yesterday.

The smell of her new little body. Her downy soft hair. The way she curled into an impossibly tiny ball those first few days while she was still unraveling and stretching out. The first time Robbie saw his sister.

Then there was also the post-partum hormones. The painful 6 week healing process as a result of having a C-section. The frustration Robbie felt when he realized that I had to hold this new little baby A LOT, and usually instead of him. The numerous times I cried at the littlest things, and how certain I was that life would always be an unmanageable mess. The sleepless nights.

I can't believe we are a year out from it all. To say that we are thankful to God for the blessings AND challenges he has allowed to come our way is an understatement. We have a lot to celebrate in Ellie, and you know me... always up for throwing an all-out party.

So here's a peek into Ellie's big day!

I made her birthday banner with the help of my awesome sister, Kelsey.

One of the World Cup games was ending just as the party started, so we thanked the guys for coming by keeping it on!

Ellie felt so loved by everyone who helped her celebrate her first birthday, even those who couldn't be there with us.

Grammy and Papa flew in for the weekend in honor of Ellie's big day!

Aunt Megan-an

Suzi and Eli

Matt with a hammy-Eli

Heather and Noelle

Riley

Annie

Kris and Molly (and baby #4!)

Grandpa, Aunt Kelsey and Mima

I think this is actually my favorite picture from the entire day...

The day was gorgeous, even though it was pretty hot and fairly humid. The forecast was for thunderstorms with a few being severe, but we were blessed not to see a single raindrop!

Ellie loved digging into her cake. She experienced a second-child moment when both mom and dad left her alone with her cake (with others nearby, don't worry) and came back to find that she had eaten almost 1/2 of the 8 inch round and wasn't slowing down. Impressive.

Ah... after the party we discovered that the baby doll stroller needed 'some assembly'. Grammy and Papa to the rescue.

They might as well have assembled a real stroller. Holy cow.

Playing with a few of the gifts - dolls and pretend bottles.

Um... there are a few things wrong with this picture. Oh well.

Ellie you have been a precious gift to us in this last year and you always will be! We are blessed to be your parents and are so thankful to God for the love and joy you bring to our family. Happy first birthday!