birthday

here are the pictures, finally! we celebrated her birthday over a two week span including a birthday party while grammie and pops were here and then a family day gone almost bad on her actual birthday. ahhhh life. i was very thankful that we had planned to have her party two weeks early because she ended up having a repeat of roseola on her actual birthday! {yes it is possible to get roseola twice, we learned.} anyway, here is yet another blog post of mass picture catch up!

the party was a beautiful combination of grandmas and aunties, the united states and moldova. grammie brought over quite a few birthday party necessities from joanns, target, amazon, auntie cacey, auntie dohdoh…you get the idea!

i have been learning a lot about my youngest and her little fire-y personality. but i have also been realizing that she is analytical and pensive. she had four entire birthday guests plus her family members and it was almost too much.

ready and waiting – – we thought maybe a gift would get her interested.

but she was not thrilled.

there is nothing cuter than the red eyed half smile of uncertainty. i think the tissue paper freaked her out at first.

her birthday outfit. i found this fabric on etsy and grammie used one of my vintage patterns. we found these brand new shoes at the second hand for less than $4! the sweater is the present from the pictures above. she was adorable.

birthday cake place of honor. {and amazing birthday crown from auntie whitney.}

one year of monthly pictures.

the cake. gluten free mix from the states (low stress), moldovan-version butter cream frosting (okay technically the second batch), bunting and decorations from dohdoh and mushroom cupcakes by teresa.

the guests (minus liam). do they come any cuter?

another mushroom only this time with a marshmallow and apple. just a little pre-sugar.

presents. the practice present actually helped.

big sister helped too. {addy did amazing and yes, we were a little surprised. i think it helped that pops was next to her the entire time.}

a little sophie the giraffe from big sister.

it’s love.

this was her initial reaction to her cake. in case you can’t tell, she isn’t all that thrilled. we probably should have practiced candles along with presents.

the “is this safe?” look for grammie.

but then surprisingly, she had no hesitations about exploring the cake. i have already noticed that she seems to be very, very tactile!

the “is this okay to eat?” look.

and the taste.

i now introduce you to baby-that-has-officially-consumed-sugar.

victory. this kid has never eaten this much food in one setting. ever. she just kept eating and eating.

and then she was done. she chucked the last few pieces on the ground and asked to get out of her chair.

post cake belly. i know, it’s pretty impressive.

oh look, someone decided to finally crack a smile.

two weeks later…birthday morning. {can you say sick? the past three days mercy had been having a pretty high temperature.}

special gluten free pancake mix from grandma ducky.

and grandma ducky and grandpa jim’s birthday present for mercy. it was a hit.

the candle professional.

yeah that’s right. she is still blowing even though the candle is long gone.

the test…

the look of approval!

addy trying to eat her pancakes like a big girl:

resorting to a much more efficient method!

happy pancake tummy!

oh and maybe a little birthday chocolate milk to wash it down.

addy helping mercy discover her new play telephone…

bath toys from aliana:

then we decided to try and have a special outing. mercy’s fever seemed gone and she seemed fine. it didn’t go so well. it was hot and sticky. mercy did a lot of this move {the mid walking tantrum.}

and gave this look a lot:

and then low and behold she broke out in a rash. we weren’t sure if she was having an allergic reaction, severe heat rash or what so we decided to call it quits and come home.

although this one did get to ride on a {huge} horse for fifty cents!

we got home, napped and regrouped. we put the candle in a chocolate-covered zefir {meringue-type dessert} and it was a hit.

happy one year of life, mercy adoniyah. i can’t wait to see what the second year of your life holds!

today is sissy’s real birthday (even though we had a party a few weeks back).

and suddenly i have no words to convey my thoughts or my love for this amazing little gift the Lord saw fit to give us.

my sister said it best when she told me, “i never expected to be sanctified this much through my children.”

so i guess i owe mercy a few thank yous.

thank you baby girl for teaching me that love doesn’t divide, it multiplies.

thank you baby girl for teaching me that anything and everything has the potential to be dangerous to your well being.

thank you baby girl for teaching me that not all kids are born outgoing and social but some are born more thoughtful and analytical.

thank you baby girl for teaching me to slow down and learn how you need individual quality time.

i can think of so many things to say about my youngest daughter but for now i will just leave you with this – – a little recap from the first year of her life.

we love you so much, mercy adoniyah klein burtt. you are precious to your mama, dada, big sister and a whole lotta family and friends! ♥

p.s. you can check out daddy’s post here

p.p.s. both of the songs in the slideshow are super cool covers, huh? check out this blog called “52.” it’s pretty cool!