Tractors and Tutus: Planning Liam's First Birthday

The one year birthday. A dreaded but exciting holiday in my little lovie’s not so distant future, lurking right around the corner. Exciting because my little man has been here a year, beating all the odds placed up against him from day one, living a happy, beautiful, and blessed first year of life. Dreaded because this historic holiday means my little man is no longer my sweet baby boy but my sweet TODDLER, or as my husband has decided to call him our sweet baby toddler. J The past few weeks if you were one of the many who asked me “have you started planning Liam’s first birthday party yet?” or “so what is the theme for Liam’s birthday party?” I apologize for biting your head of with my various responses. Until this past week I had refused to even think less alone talk about my baby turning 1.

But, my mother in law has taken the liberty of easing me into it all with quick mentions here and there, then dropping it rapidly to wait for another chance a few days later to drop a line about it again.

“I know you won’t want to discuss this right now but I’m planting the seed that in a few weeks I’ll begin dropping ideas about Liam’s first birthday, just fair warning”, and then continuing days later with, “found a few cake pans and themes I want to show you in the next week or so,” quickly adding, “when your ready.” Another week would pass and I would hear nothing from her end and then, “saw a great party supply store in Little Rock I may try and swing by there in the next week or so and see what they have…anything you want me to look for?”

So eventually I buckled and I decided on a Cookie Monster theme (since that has been the only thing Liam has really ever had a deep attachment to other than his kangaroo stuffed animal because he doesn’t watch TV yet.) and I began researching Cookie Monster party supplies.

(For a little bit of a back story on the Cookie Monster, when Liam was 3-6 months old the only toy he really liked, due to its ability to light up and sing songs, was an old cookie monster toy which hung from his car seat handle. He did not like the Elmo one but the Cookie Monster became his favorite. It always calmed him when he was upset and put him to sleep when he was tired and fighting sleep. Eventually we discovered that it was due to its bright orange coloring (its shirt) and its light up frog that Cookie Monster is holding. With his vision being what it is, they told us light up toys with bright colors would capture his attention the best which explained the obsession with Cookie Monster. We ended up having to purchase on Ebay several of the same Cookie Monster toys to have as back ups and an extra for our sitter. So for a while everything we bought was a sort of Cookie Monster toy. His taste has branched out now and he is much more accepting of other toys but he still likes to play with Cookie Monster occasionally.)

Anyway, it turns out once I started researching Cookie Monster party supplies I could not stop. I found cake ideas, cakepop ideas, napkins, plates, decoration, balloons, everything in Cookie Monster. The more I found the more slightly excited I became. When we set the date on our calendars in dark blue ink and picked out the cutes invitations, it suddenly all became so real and for once I was okay with it.

It’s going to be an extravaganza, a celebration of my baby boy’s blessed life!

So on Saturday, May 19^th (I’m slightly choked up just thinking about it!) we will be hosting Liam’s 1 year birthday party. I do not promise I will not cry, but I promise to enjoy and take in every minute of it.

Incase you need to know what Cookie Monster party supplies are out there, here is a small glimpse into our party planning ideas for my sweet baby toddler. (VIA Google)