'Sophia' the first

     First, I have to share how happy I am to be staying in a place with other families and such a 'home-like' atmosphere.   This place and the people here are simply wonderful.

    J received her very first invitation yesterday.  An actual paper invitation on our door to her very first birthday party.  A First birthday party for one of our new friends from downstairs.  J's new friend Sophia, who's parents are incredible people and I'm sure we will be keeping in touch throughout our girl's lives, gets to celebrate her first birthday with her family!  Birthdays are so exciting and it's so special that Sophia's parents get to have this celebration with their new daughter. 
   We were super excited to be invited to the birthday bash and also get to share in the experience of celebrating a first birthday.  J and Sophia are a few years apart chronologically, but developmentally are pretty similar and they are the only girls here right now.  I have had the pleasure of getting to chat with the birthday girl's parents quite a bit and they are such amazing people.  (We all actually went to the market yesterday and enjoyed a 3 hour 'dinner' with some great story sharing.)  I love that within this whole adoption process you get to meet some great people who really understand. 

   Anyway, we spent the morning playing and then walked to the mall (our favorite place!) for some tastey Ajaico soup for lunch and to pick out a present for the birthday girl.  Josie wanted to play, touch, poke, pick-up, squeeze, etc. EVERY toy that she could while we were hunting for just the right gift.  I knew the theme of the party was princessy.  Princes Sofia to be exact....how fitting is that.  Sofia the first for "Sophia's first".  Her mom must have had a great time choosing those decorations!  We also know that the birthday girl loves bubbles and she and Josie have a lot of similarities in their play and choice of toys.  So, we picked out a pretty fantastic princess bubble gun.  And then I chose 4 toys that I thought the birthday girl would really like and let J choose.  She picked a teddy bear taggie type blanket.  Perfect for the little thing that loves to put everything in her mouth!  (I think J thought it was for her as she pulled the bag onto her arm and carried it around the rest of the store!)
   We took a short (and I mean very short) nap before party time (no grumps allowed at a birthday party!).  And then after changing into party clothes, we headed downstairs for the festivities.  Such fun decorations, all set up for a sweet girl's first birthday. All of the families staying here now were invited, so all of the kiddos had a great time playing.  The birthday girl's Mama has family here and so a few of the cousins also came.  The owner of this hotel (who is also pretty great!) had gotten a cake and also had a gentleman who brought a harp to play for the party.  It was so neat to have the traditional music and the birthday girl LOVED watching and listening to him play.  There was dancing and balloon animals, cake and juice, princess balloons, party hats, pizza and presents, and more music and dancing.  The kids all seemed to have a great time and it was fun for the parents to all get to hang out together as well.

 

    Josie loved the music.  She played with the littler kiddos for a bit and then wanted to dance!  She had her first taste of pizza (the cheese and soft crust were a hit....but no crunchiness and NO meat or veggies!  I guess she's a bit like her Mama...plain cheese is the way to go!) and her first piece of birthday cake.  Which she devoured. 

My sweet girl loved playing balloons with the birthday girl and some of the older kids (who were very sweet with the littler ones) played 'catch' and danced a bit, too.  J tends to hang back and take things in.  She really enjoys watching the bigger kids from the safety of Mama's lap (or hands if the music is playing and there is dancing to be done!)   She loves playing with Sophia and another younger little guy here who are bit quieter and move at about the same pace.  She really does enjoy her buddy Diego as well, but Diego is a busy little guy and wanted to be right in the action with the bigger kids!  (It's so fun to watch them all get to experience so many new things!!)  I loved watching my girl take in all that was going on around her and get to enjoy her first birthday party with her first group of friends.




   It was such a fun experience, getting to be a part of this darling baby's first birthday celebration.  I know we will have this memory for a lifetime and hopefully these new friends for a lifetime, as well!