Rafael's First Birthday Party!

Thank you all so much for your lovely birthday greetings! 

We celebrated on Sunday, with Raffi's friends and family members. It was gorgeous weather....sunny and crisp. Perfect! The theme for the party was woodland animals and autumn. There was chocolate cake (and a little smash cake for Rafael that he loved), a blow up pool with colorful balls to play with, thoughtful gifts, party favors tucked into handmade acorns and moss, and poached apples for the babies to enjoy. Sunflowers, pumpkins, wreaths of dried flowers, and benches on the terrace made comfy with pillows and quilts. 

I had planned on serving cream of mushroom soup and warm roast vegetable salad, but learned the hard way that you can't plan much when you have a toddler. He screamed and cried all morning, while I tried to clean and decorate. I almost cancelled the whole thing. But as soon as the first guests arrived, he turned into a cheerful, sunny boy. Thank goodness!

Nights have been rough, and the days are a mix of clapping and calling out 'BRAVO!' when Rafael stands on his own, and pure exhaustion because Raffi refuses to nap. But Ramon and I agree that he has never been as fun as he is now! He says so many things: 'hat,' 'up,' 'nein' ('no'), 'auto' ('car'), 'Papa,' 'Mama,' 'Oma' ('grandma'); and a bunch of animal sounds; and the most exciting thing is, if you ask him 'Where is Rafael,' he points at himself! 

I know I should do a proper update, and I will soon. But I am so incredibly tired right now.....I'm headed off to bed!

Thanks again for all of your sweet words!

xoxo