MERRY CHRISTMAS! this was the first year wren understood santa. she couldn’t sleep the night before, calling out to us from her bed while we wrapped presents, asking if santa was outside. santa brought her a little kitchen with pots, pans and lots of play food. her expression coming into the living room in the morning was priceless…complete shock to see a stove just her size. she makes christmas SO MUCH FUN! next christmas cannot come soon enough.

THIS MIGHT BE AN ONGOING TRADITION in the sanchez house. do you remember lady liberty from last year?

ON THE DAY WREN TURNED ONE i sent ohdeedoh pictures and a small write up for their birthday shout-out section. it wasn’t posted the day-of {why in the world did i assume it would be?!} but it’s finally up today! you can view it here. i confessed to tommy this morning that i had been wanting to do this for YEARS. yes, way before i was even pregnant with wren. there was just something irresistibly cute about all the little birthday boys and girls being featured, and how proud their parents must be to see their adorable offspring featured on a very cool site. i’m a proud mom today.

p.s. photo credit to the awesome jason paige who took this picture as a test shot back in december. this is a test shot! he’s very talented, and it’s such a great story that it deserves its own post.

THE FIRST PHOTO WAS A MOMENT I DIDN’T WANT TO FORGET. ’stop! i need to grab the camera!’ i said it many times on saturday. it was one of THOSE days. pleasant, sweet, lovely, nice, perfect. i don’t want to forget this.

tommy woke up with wren and let me sleep until 10am. i treasure him! i cannot even tell you the last time i slept that long. a year and a half? two years maybe? he then made me breakfast – cheesy eggs with parsley, toast, coffee, delicious. i adore him! then came presents. a beautiful shirt and the most divine candle that has filled our entire home {now a scent memory, a sweet reminder of the day}. i am blessed by him! next, phone calls full of love and happy day wishes, the fun yellow dress with the birthday necklace, and an hour long back-and-forth whether to heed the tsunami warnings and stay away from the beach. hesitant, then with disregard, we went. imagine this for one moment: driving through the mountains, pouring rain, sun peaking just enough to bedazzle the atmosphere with rainbows, and the Sundays play on the radio. serious? come on. this was made for movies. pizza for lunch {pleasure pizza, my friends, pleasure!}, a stroll in capitola, admiration of the miracle of large waves, mr. toot’s for coffee, and sushi for dinner. a rarity. overindulgence. a special, special day. i love him! and most importantly, HIM for blessing, after blessing, after blessing. another year HE has me on this earth.

SATURDAY WAS A TREAT. more to come later, but for now, birthday flowers – tommy continued the tradition, buying enough flowers to fill every vase we own.

TOMORROW I TURN 31. thirty one! when did i turn thirty? last year was whisked away by a gusty baby wind. i do remember waking up a year ago today with a very high fever and intense, searing pain in both breasts. thinking it was the flu, i tried plugging along carrying for my 3 week old baby. as the day progressed, and breastfeeding became near impossible, i made an appointment to see my doctor the following day, my birthday, to find out i had mastitis. happy birthday! that was misery and i almost quit nursing at that point, but kept plugging along {my motto last year}. tommy made the most of my mastitis birthday by working from home, changing all of wrennie’s diapers, treating me to in-n-out and rockbottom brewery take-out, AND buying me 10+ bouquets of flowers {no exaggeration, our home was filled with floral arrangements in every corner}. i felt like a very special girl despite the pain, tears, so many tears, and reoccurring bouts of postpartum depression.

lesson learned from last year’s birthday: it can always be worse + your birthday is as special as you make it {unless you’re married to tommy or have my mumcakes as a mom, and it’s always, always, always special}. here’s to my thirty first year tomorrow. happy birthday to me!

oh, anthropologie sent me that birthday candle necklace along with an enticing discount…which led to this overwhelming decision. i’m definitely wearing my birthday dress tomorrow with the necklace.

LITTLE MISS DID NOT EAT an ounce of cake! that’s okay though…mom and dad enjoyed it later that day.

THE TURNOUT FOR THE PARTY was overwhelming and an absolute blast! little wren had no clue what was going on but enjoyed every minute. such a gracious little hostess, she was a delight and riot, even missing her afternoon nap without a fuss. we had so much fun and cannot wait to do it again next year – who knew throwing kid birthday parties would be so much fun?!

I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN BEFORE AND AFTER PICTURES because the transformation of that dark and dated clubhouse was a miracle. tommy and i were up well into the early morning hours decorating with paper birds, colorful paper chains, and my favorite piece, the happy birthday banner. my mom even joined in and quickly made a ridiculous amount of paper chains when we realized that we hadn’t made enough. i wish i had a picture of her doing it, she’s so cute and nimble. i also wish there were more pictures of the setup, but too much was going on before the party for me to capture all of our hard work.

if you couldn’t already tell, the theme is BIRDS, of course! if there was more time i was going hang paper birds from the ceiling, but i’m only human and that idea died at 3am when i could no longer keep my eyes open while sticking pictures of wren’s first year on the wall. we had so much fun decorating with the paper chains that i’m thinking of keeping up with the tradition every year. i spent five dollars on a stack of construction paper and was able to use it for all the paper birds, the chains, the flower arrangement covers, and the happy birthday banner.

wren’s party was a huge group effort, friends and family pitched in, making it special and very fun. one family let us borrow their large, round kid table. a friend went out of her way across town just to bring all the balloons. two other friends made two cakes the night before. the grandmas brought tons of food and prepared all my food when i realized there wasn’t enough time for me to get it all done! wren’s grandpa brought eight costco pizzas {and carried them by himself – his poor back – have you ever tried carrying just one?}. everyone loves wren and this party shows it!