Birthday Part 2

So we made it through the first year.  In some ways it seems like the year really flew by, but at the same time it seems like forever ago when we were in the hospital!  But I'm sure that the next few years will fly by even more quickly, and before I know it she'll be all grown up. :(
But I don't want to think about that yet!  So, back to her birthday.  The poor girl has been consistently sick for the past 7 weeks or so.  Because of that, I've barely let her leave the house.  She is definitely a social person and I think she was going a little stir crazy being at home all of the time.  But she had no problem at all being bombarded and overwhelmed with a bunch of people in the house for her birthday!  She loved all of the attention, loved the commotion and noise, and wasn't too thrilled when it went back to being just the three of us.
Growing up, we always had a present and balloons on the table when we got up in the morning, so that's what I wanted to have for her.  So as soon as she woke up, we whisked her out of bed, threw on a party shirt and party hat, brought her downstairs to Nana & Pap Pap, balloons and really excited parents.  Luckily she's a morning person, so she was excited about all of it, even if she had no clue what was going on.  It was good to ease her into it, though, because when she woke up from her morning nap the house was pretty full of people.  She loved having all of the people to play with and smile at.
Of course, what's a first birthday party without cake?!  I had borrowed one of those giant cupcake pans from a friend with the intention of making her a giant cupcake.  The first one I made was a disaster, but I tried again and it turned out great.  The cake, that is.  I wasn't sure I wanted Kera to have to much icing, so I decided to use cool whip for the top part "icing" of the cupcake.  Bad idea... it ran EVERYWHERE in the first five minutes.  So, the pictures were kind of a disaster, but it was much less messy when Kera got her hands on it.
Kera is a messy eater, and she has no qualms with getting her hands into her food.  I had no doubt that she would make a mess of the cake, but the best part was when she put her arms around the cake, pulled it to her, and stuck her mouth right into it!!!  It was perfect and she looked so innocent looking up at all of us laughing at her.  She ate and ate, and we eventually took it away, worried about her eating too much and getting sick.
Overall a great weekend!  Got to see lots of family, Kera got some great gifts, and we have wonderful memories (and video) of our celebration!