Our Little Monster turned 1!!!!

The past week has been CrAzY!!! I have some other stuff to share about it over the next few days, but I thought I would start with the major highlight of the week....Olivia Kate's 1st Birthday!!!!

I've debated on how to go about posting it. Nicole was in charge of taking pictures and she came through with taking over 170!!! I promise I won't post all. So far I've narrowed it down to around 40, but that still makes for a long post. Plus, I feel like some words are needed to be said, so that would make for a really long post. I'm going to post the "words" part tonight and you'll have to come back for the pictures tomorrow.

So.....I started debating a few months ago on what exactly I wanted to do for her birthday. I pretty much have had the theme set in stone since May, but I debated on how big we wanted to go. I was afraid of hurting peoples feelings for not inviting them, but when it came down to it, small was the way to go for us. For the record...I have nothing against big birthday parties...if they are your cup of tea, go for it...I personally, do not enjoy them (especially when we're talking about kids parties). It was quickly realized at just a couple of months of age, that Olivia Kate shared her momma's dislike for big parties. I've on several occasions mentioned that she does not do well in large crowds, especially large crowds where she is the center of attention. So, after adding up first the number of family members coming, we decided to invite only family, the Pope's, and the Benefields. We kept the guest list pretty much to people she see's on a daily or weekly basis, that way she wouldn't be so freaked out.

It worked perfectly!!! She was in the best mood she could have been for the entire party. It helped that her everyday playmates Josie, Matalie, and Baby V were there. The girls played together the entire time and it kept her distracted from all the people who were there to see her. I'm serious...we were all pretty concerned about it. She only had one little meltdown when we started eating dinner, but after we set Matalie next to her to eat too, she was okay. Other than that, she was in a great mood until later that night (more on that later).

Since we were having family (and due to David's schedule), I decided to provide dinner for everyone. I somehow got the idea I wanted to do tacos, but after thinking about it (and getting about 5 different opinions), I decided to go with spaghetti. It's also one of Olivia Kate's favorite meals, so it seemed fitting. I've learned whenever throwing a bigger event like that, it's always best to do as much as possible the night before. I did pretty much everything but ice the cupcakes and cook the noodles the night before, so the actual day of the party went stress free.

I would love to say that all the decor ideas were my own original ones, but that was not of course the case. Back in May, I came across this post about a cute monster party and I knew instantly that was perfect for Olivia. She always has this opened mouth smile that reminded me of the smiles on the monster's faces. I sent a link to Nicole asking if she thought people would think I was crazy for doing a monster party for a little girl and she told me that it was too Olivia to not do. I cannot tell you though how many people looked at me like I had lost it when I said it was a monster party. I'm so glad I went with it because it was so cute. I basically just did everything that came from the original post. I just didn't go all out because we were having a small party.

Olivia was blessed with plenty of gifts. I honestly was worried that she was going to get a ton of toys, but she actually got more clothes than anything. It worked out perfectly because she needed some for fall. I guess it's still hard to stay away from those cute girl clothes. Plus, she got a bunch of books.

My only complaint about the party was that I felt like I didn't get to talk to anyone. This afternoon, David and I were talking about how we thought it went and he referenced a couple of conversations he had with a few guest and I didn't have a chance to sit and talk with anyone. I just hate when that occurs. I did though make sure to take time out to hold the newest member of our family baby Travis (whose less than a month old) and I now have some major baby fever.

I think it's safe to say that the party was a success. Though, I wish I could say the same about the after party, but we ended up having a horrible night. I guess the overwhelming of it all finally caught up with her after she had went to bed. She woke up at around 10:30pm and honestly did not stop crying till after 4 am. It was a loooonnnnggg night!!! We were all so tired for from the day and I hate to say it, tensions were high and did not help the situation. The only way we could get her to stop crying was holding her and walking around the house. As soon as she would fall asleep, we would try to lay her down and she would start screaming again. We could not figure out what was wrong because she was acting like she was more scared than anything. We think it was a combination of a tummy ache and the excitement of the party. When she woke up around 8:30 this morning, she was fine and back to her normal self. So, who knows? She has another exciting day tomorrow, so I'm praying for a better night tonight.

Pictures to come in the morning!!!!