Happy Birthday to You!!

My baby is one! Taryn's birthday was yesterday and we had a great celebration in her honor. Braden's parents came down on Thursday to spend a few days with us beforehand and to get in a long-overdue visit.

On Sunday, I wanted the day to be all about Taryn. She acted like she could tell it was a special day. She was in such a fun mood all morning and was absolutely adorable all day long. That evening, Stacey's family joined us for dinner. Stacey's baby, Asia, is 6 weeks older than Taryn and they have discovered each other in the last few weeks. They are a lot of fun!

(Note that Braden is holding Asia and Stacey is holding Taryn)

We started with a meal with Taryn's favorite foods: sloppy joes, corn, oranges, bananas, and pears. Grandma wanted carrots and potato chips too, and Taryn enjoyed them as well.

Then we played Taryn's favorite games: dancing, tag, hide-and-seek, and duck duck goose. Everyone played and we had a lot of fun. Caden and Kyle (Stacey's boys) enjoyed being able to run around and hide everywhere in the house. It was so fun to have them here. Taryn just grinned the entire time and loved every minute.

Then, we pulled out the cake. Okay, here was both our greatest dilemma and greatest acheivement. Taryn is allergic to eggs and milk. Most cakes have either or both in them, but we have our ways so the cake wasn't really an issue. I tried 2 recipes to experiement and liked both, though one was much more moist than the other. But, how do you make an allergic baby's cake exciting when she can't have frosting? Okay, I realize I could have made her a frosting with margarine or shortening and it would have been milkless, but I refuse to cover my baby's birthday cake in hydrogenated oils and lard. Plus, I refuse to eat it. Hence, the dilemma.

I LOVE the idea of giving a baby their own birthday cake so they can devour it without grossing everyone else out. So, we decided to frost one and leave the other pretty plain. It worked out well and Taryn didn't care that hers wasn't as pretty as everyone else's. Here's Taryn's cake:

The gel frosting tubes I had kind of ran together, so they're not so pretty. My family has a (cruel) tradition where the 1-year-old birthday kid has to chase their cake in order to get it. Sometimes, it fails miserably. Other times, it's a success. Keara didn't care at all about her cake (who can blame her? It was hideous!) but we had faith Taryn would be the opposite. Thank you Taryn for being determined to get it! At first she was confused as to why it kept moving away from her, but then she buckled down and caught it. Once she had it, though, she wasn't sure if she was allowed to eat it. It didn't take long for her to dig in.

After that, we made her stop eating and we pulled out our masterpiece. I know, it's not perfect, but each time, these cakes are at least getting prettier! And this one tasted good too, though it was VERY rich.

It was Braden's idea to do it in the shape of a cupcake. I think it turned out really well. We played a fun game of hot potato where Taryn was the "potato". She got passed around the circle and when the music stopped, whoever was holding her was out. It went until there was one person left and that person got the honor of helping Taryn blow out her candles. Since it was a little lame that Braden won, he gave the honor to his dad who came in second.

After that, we served it up and Taryn got her cake back. She thoroughly enjoyed it!

Stacey gave a generous gift of toy pots and pans to Taryn, an instant hit. We gave her a train and one of those toys with the beads on the metal "tracks" that you move around. Yeah, that made no sense. Anyway, she enjoyed opening the presents and then playing with her toys. So did Keara.

Unfortunately, Taryn now is very interested in the presents under the tree. Oh well. Only 10 more days!

A few things about Taryn at age one:

-She has such a fun personality. She is almost always happy and content.

-She loves to play, by herself or with other people.

-She is very social and will go to anyone, smile at everyone, and play with everyone.

-She is SUPER BUSY! This child NEVER stops moving. It's been funny to us to have both sets of grandparents discover how busy she is by going to church with us. We enjoy it because they hold her during Sacrament meeting, and we just laugh. She is active. Happy, and active.

-She loves food. She has a great appetite and so far loves almost everything. Surprisingly, she did not like Thanksgiving dinner. I served it to her 4 times and she never ate it.

-She is a great sleeper. Lately, she has been sleeping from 8 at night until 8:30 or 9 in the morning. She still takes 2 naps during the day.

-She loves to play with her dad.

-She doesn't like being left out of anything and thinks she can do anything.

-She can stand on her own, but doesn't really realize she's doing it. Keara was the same way. I'm sure Taryn will just take off walking one day, but right now, she has no interest.

-I am in love with my baby. She is my absolute delight and joy and I am SO grateful for her! She is such a light in our family!!

-She is 18-20 pounds and we've moved her to a front facing carseat. She LOVES it!

We love our baby and cannot believe she is a year old! Happy birthday baby girl!