We had Hudson's 1st Birthday Party on Sunday, August 25th. It was such a wonderful day!! We had the party at our community center and the theme was all of Hudson's favorite things (which all happened to start with the letter B): Balls, Bubbles, Balloons,and Bowties.
Here are some of the details:
I made a guestbook showcasing highlights from the past year with space for guests to write Hudson a message (I used the wedding guestbook template on Shutterfly, then changed it up to make it work for a 1st Birthday Party)
I printed out Hudson's weekly photos and hung them to the shutters above the welcome table using clothespins I had dyed blue, green and yellow.
I made bowties for all the guests to wear.
We had a photo booth with tons of fun props for kids and adults.
We had a ball pit, which was a huge hit with the kids!
We had a bubble pool with tons of wands for the kids to play with. I think the big kids enjoyed this one more than the little kids. :)
We had a bubbly bar for the adults. ;) I bought the buckets from Joanns and added a "shelf" to two of them so I could stack mason jars.I tied ribbons around each jar and bought straws from shop sweet lulu to make them more festive. We served lemonade, iced tea, water bottles with wet your whiskers labels on them, champagne and juices for making mimosas.
For food we had: manwhiches (sandwiches from Subway), fruit cups, bowtie pasta, veggie cups and puffs.
I made personalized labels for the water bottles, food cups and made toothpics for the sandwiches. I also made the ONE sign, the bubbly bar sign and the 12 month photo banner.
Cakegoodness created an amazing dessert bar consisting of tons of candy, cake pops, mini cupcakes, #1 rice krispie treats and Hudson's gorgeous vegan cake. I made the banner and treat bags and ordered bowtie and #1 cookies.
For the centerpieces, I bought buckets from Party City, Filled them with hydrangeas from Costco, and stuck homemade bowtie sticks in them. For a last minute centerpiece idea, I thought they came out looking really cute.
For favors, each kid took home a bottle of bubbles.
I also found Hudson's vintage highchair, sanded it, then Nic spray painted it. I made the ONE banner and ordered the hat from Etsy.
It was a lot of work, but I enjoyed painting all the frames, making all the signs and labels, and I especially enjoyed seeing it all come together on the day! Susan gave Hudson a water table, my parents gave Hud a slide and we gave Hudson a truck! Hud loved all the gifts and they all provided great activities for the guests to enjoy. :)
We sang Hudson Happy Birthday and watched him dig into his cake.
The best part of the day though was sharing it with all of our favorite people. Our families and friends helped us get through this challenging and extremely rewarding year and it was so fun to celebrate Hudson's big day with everyone. We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives.
On Friday, May 23rd, we went to a character breakfast at Goofy's Kitchen. The boys had so much fun meeting characters. We noticed though that Hudson was not a fan of any that looked like people (such as the Mad Hatter and the Fairy Godmother). They also had tons of cute Mickey shaped food and we were thrilled to discover that they were able to make Hudson allergy free Mickey shaped pancakes so he didn't miss out on the fun!!
Susan took Oliver to the bathroom and poor Oliver slipped and fell, hitting his head hard. He had a huge egg on his forehead and ended up being seen my medical staff.
At one point I asked about meeting Mickey and was disappointed to learn that Mickey wouldn't be at our breakfast! I had told the Disney staff when making my reservation that Mickey was Hudson's favorite so you can imagine my disappointment when I realized the birthday boy wouldn't get to meet him. Someone kindly mentioned that the Paradise Pier hotel had a Mickey and Friends breakfast and suggested we run over before it ended to see if we could get a photo with Mickey. Of course I immediately jumped up, packed up and dashed over there. I was going to do whatever it took to get my little boy and Mickey to meet. The people at the Mickey and Friends brunch were so nice! They welcomed us into the room to get our photo with Mickey! Hudson was thrilled. They even have dance parties with all the characters and Hud got to dance with Mickey! It was one of the cutest things and I so wish we had gotten it on video. Hudson also got autographs and cuddles from tons of other characters. Aside from Mickey, I think Daisy was his favorite. She gave him so much attention and he just loved it! Oliver made it over too and meeting Mickey made his day as well. I was so relieved and thanked the staff at the brunch numerous times for making our day. I even teared up a little because it was so special to me to see the joy Mickey brought both Hudson and Oliver!
After the breakfast, we checked out of our room, then went to the pool. Hudson had so much fun playing in the water. Susan, Lauren and Oliver did a little shopping while we were at the pool and bought Hudson his Mickey Ears! I had planned to buy them at the very beginning of the trip, but we were so busy the entire time, I just didn't. I was so happy that he got his first ears and now he will treasure them! What a great gift!
After all the pool fun, we decided to head home. Everyone was pretty tired from the busy and exciting time we had.
On August 22nd, Hudson turned 12 months old! He weighs 19 pounds 9 ounces. He is walking quite a bit now and says bye bye and night night. He gets very cuddly when he is tired and he gives hugs now.
I just adore this little boy so much and have really enjoyed watching him grow over the past 12 months.
I cannot believe my little boy is already one! This year has flown by. It has been such an amazing journey filled with a few downs, but so many ups. We had a few challenges such as jaundice, weight loss, reflux, allergies, eczema and way too many doctors appointments, but even with those challenges, it was a great year. From all the normal milestones and "firsts": first bath, swim, smile, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, crawl, solids, and first time walking to some not so normal experiences: two trips to Maui, first time at the beach, a trip to New York, flying in Opa's plane, a trip to Vegas, visiting Phoenix, first Lakers game, first Kings game, flying in Opa's helicopter, first trip to the zoo, first trip to Legoland, first trip to Sea World and Disneyland! Hudson had a pretty amazing first year of life! Part of me looks at Hudson and wishes I could freeze time and keep him little forever. The other part of me loves watching him grow. It seems like each day he changes a little and I constantly find myself saying this is my favorite age only to find myself saying the same thing again a week later. It just keeps getting better and better and although I didn't think it was possible to love him anymore, my love for this sweet little boy continues to grow every day. Happy 1st Birthday Little Man! Mama and Dada love you with all our hearts!!
