First

I am getting ready for the baby's first birthday. Today I am baking giant cupcake shaped cakes for smash cakes. I will have one for a photo session this weekend and another for her actual party.  I care what the photo cake looks like a good bit more than the birthday party one, for obvious reasons. At the store, I saw pink velvet cake mix and picked it up. I want a pink cupcake with white icing. I also saw some giant smarties, which I thought would work well as giant sprinkles for the cupcake. Now, to figure out how to soften them a bit.  My good friend James is a skilled baker and she will be helping me decorate the smash cake this weekend before the pictures. I am excited! I hope it will come out awesome.

I had hemmed and hawed and contacted a bunch of sellers on Etsy about her birthday outfit. It was going to be so pricey. But! Then! I decided to just go check on Amazon. Boom, they have darling little outfits. I chose this one:

And if that isn't just the best, I also got matching bloomers:

WITH the tiny darling little hat to go with the ensemble. The hat is so wee, it fits in the palm of my hand:

All this for less than I would have been able to get an outfit on Etsy for. Granted, it is not personalized. But after agonizing for so long, I just decided to make my life easier. I really wanted to do a T-Rex in a Tutu themed party, but it was getting just too complicated. I really had learned the lesson that doing generic, birthday party themed birthdays is really the way to go. You can easily recycle leftover supplies! It is easy to find stuff to match your theme! It is still very festive! I just forgot this lesson because of years of doing all boy stuff: GIRL GIRL GIRL GIRL.

For the most part, I still think that the difference between girl babies and boy babies is largely a difference in accessories. But oh, the accessories. :) It is so fun to dress her everyday and I can't tell you how much I am looking forward to girl toys. I WANT to play with girl toys. My boys never really had a huge interest in dolls or stuffed animals or kitcheny things. I guess the baby might not either...but I still get to BUY them. Right?

The walls of the house are still bare for the most part due to the painters. I really need to get a move on, but it seems like I can only do stuff when the kids are napping and when the kids are napping? No pounding on walls or someone will D I E. So, I have to figure out this conundrum and soon. I am sure it is a matter of scheduling and waiting for another adult to be around.

School ends this week and our cram packed summer begins! Excitement.