She's Already One?! Finally!

So hard for me to believe that Sophie's one!  Just look at her!!  Such a beautiful and mischievous little girl!  Seems like much less than a year since she entered our lives and brightened our days, and yet by watching her today you could tell (or at least I can imagine) that she thought this day would never come.  It's like she's been waiting for and looking forward to her first birthday for a very very very long time and finally made it.  Finally!  So many things to look forward to.  She wants to eat everything she sees anyone else eating.  She thinks she can safely climb onto everything and nothing unfortunate will happen.  She's fearless and invincible.  Right?  She watches her sister and it's clear that she thinks she should be able to do everything that Lydia does and then some.  I've been looking forward to this milestone simply because of all the scares she's given us through the year and am so happy she's made it!!

Sophie got to watch me make her cake.  Not once, but twice.  And in fact it was actually the third attempt to get our little darling's cake just right before things really worked out, but I'll get to that later.  I'm pretty sure she would have preferred to be a little more hands on.  That's how this one rolls, but despite not being more involved I think that just seeing her cake was exciting for her.  I'd also like to think that she sensed something magical in the air and that perhaps that was the reason it was so challenging to get her to nap this afternoon.  We really wanted her rested up for the festivities, and I wasn't succeeding at getting her to cooperate so Jon (The Baby Whisperer) stepped in and that was that.

She woke up just as the first guests arrived so we dolled her up a bit and she was the life of the party!  Not really so much into opening her gifts, but she did kind of get the hang of it by the last one. She had lots of love and support from both sides of the family and we really loved having everyone over!

When everyone sang she was adorable and kind of shy.  She kept turning her head, but didn't full on try to hide.  She didn't seem to be loving the spotlight, and yet definitely wasn't hating it!!  And then the cake.  Oh the cake!  She didn't even hesitate.  She got right into it. Started squeezing the cake and really got a feel for the spongy texture.  Like I said, she's hands on, this girl!  Then she licked her fingers and it didn't take long for her to start downing that anxiously awaited piece of precious cake.  I honestly thought she'd be timid like Lydia had been with her first cake, but Sophie is Sophie, not Lydia and I shouldn't have been surprised at all to see her dive into it!  She was wearing that cake all over her face.  Oh yah, and on her chest too, despite the bib.  We even found it under her legs.  She wasn't messing around, this one.  We probably would have done better to hose her down at the end of the evening, but the sponge bath worked well enough.  She ended the day by taking a couple of steps on her own.  Something she's done a few times, but a little more confidently tonight.  It won't be long till she's running around with her big sister!  We love our little fire cracker and look forward to another year full of growth and excitement.  She certainly keeps us on our toes!

We had to document her height on her beautiful growth chart and she did her best to hold still for just a second, but then she was done.  So much to see and do and explore.

As for the cake and the many failed attempts.... Let me tell you about them... In deciding what cake to make for little Soph we knew that we wanted to make her a bear.  She's in love with this pink bear and since she can't tell us what she wants, a bear seemed the perfect fit.  We stumbled across a 3D bear cake mold that Jon's Mom had used to make her girls cakes when they were young and that amazingly enough, she still had.  So cool!  Jon suggested I test it out in advance just to make sure I didn't run into any bumps in the process.  Good thing I listened!  First attempt spilled out horribly and our bear was missing his tummy.  Looked like he was wearing bell bottoms.  It also made the house smell like burnt chocolate for a couple of days.  Not fantastic.  Oh, and it left me with a hideous burn on my wrist.  Not that I can blame the cake for that.

Attempt number two would have been wonderful but in my eagerness I hastily opened the bear before it had cooled and split him in half.  That delicious carrot cake was still delicious, but I'd lost all my presentation points and really wanted Soph to have her bear cake.  I'm pretty sure she was counting on it to look just right! ;) 

Finally, on the third attempt the bear turned out beautifully.  Just beautifully!  But it didn't have enough batter and so the bear paws weren't filled in all the way to the bottom so that when I turned the cake right side up it wasn't touching the cake platter, it was only resting on the stand and hovering about an inch above where it should have sat.  And as you might have been able to predict, gravity took over just as I was finishing the final touches of frosting, despite my best efforts to support this lovely bear's legs with Nilla Wafers and marshmallows.  Cracks everywhere.  Boo.  At that point we called it good.  Pretty sure Sophie wasn't too upset about it.  :) That's our girl!

We love you Sophie!!  Happy first birthday!!