Elise's First Birthday Party

So we've completed another major benchmark; Not only in this deployment, but in our journey as parents. Our daughter is now one year old.

I had lots of typical set backs for kids birthday parties that I had to deal with at the last minute. I botched her cake for one thing. This was something I've looked forward to doing for a long time, and if you know me, you know I love to bake and I am not a fan of store bought birthday cakes. So this setback hit me right in the gut. Then shortly after, my plans for photos and video quickly fell through. My initial response was to panic. But I kept hearing my husband's voice in my head telling me that's NOT what this day is about and to take deep breaths and enjoy this milestone celebration. So that's what I did. Luckily, I have the best sisters the world has ever known and one took up my camera and began shooting pictures (great ones too) and the other began taking video of the gifts being opened and us singing happy birthday. The pictures and video aren't professional, but they are special and more importantly, they exist.

This was just a family event. I suppose I could've invited everyone I know that has a kid and made it really huge. But we had about 20 people as it was and I thought that was plenty for Elise to deal with after not having napped at all that day.

Speaking of, Elise did really well. She was happy and energetic and attacked her birthday cake. She was all smiles pretty much the entire time. I'm so proud of her I don't even know how to express it. I'm proud of us as a family. These last 12 months (especially the last 4) haven't been easy on any of us. But we managed to navigate through it together with minimal fuss.

It was really hard on my husband and I that he couldn't be there. More than I could've imagined. We got to FaceTime with him after everyone left and Elise had napped. Holding back tears is something we've both become good at. Sometimes! I actually did really well, only cried once while talking to him and only for a little bit. Small victories!

Afterwards, I wanted to cry again simply because I was relieved it was all over. It was an incredibly bittersweet day for me and I've been looking forward/dreading it for months. It was also the last hard day we have to endure separately on this deployment. So now we feel like we are on the downhill slope. It's almost time to leave Sand Springs for good and we are only a few weeks away from moving back into our home and getting ready to welcome home my best friend and Elise's daddy.

Happy Birthday Elise Barbara! We can't wait to do it again next year TOGETHER!