Today was Eli's first birthday party. I was really excited and really nervous about it, and maybe that rubbed off on Eli because he wouldn't sleep last night. He was up every 2 hours in the beginning and then he just wouldn't go back to sleep. We tried bottles, pain relievers, rocking, bouncing -- nothing worked. We finally brought him back into bed with us and just prayed that he would fall asleep. He did. For about 4 hours and then we had to try a bottle again to get a few extra hours. Oh dear, it did not bode well for a happy birthday party.
Neither did the fact that I baked 24 cupcakes with a carrot cake recipe that was likely missing a key ingredient. The cupcakes collapsed and tasted like really yummy carrot cake batter. Michael and I had to make new cupcakes from an entirely different recipe after Eli went to sleep Friday night.
Anyway, the party was a smashing success. Eli was overwhelmed, but happy. He loved watching Hayden, Journey and Ben (the older kids) playing and running around and laughing. He was just as interested in the balloons as Elliot, Dixon, Alex and Oscar (the younger kids).
The best part: when we sang Eli "Happy Birthday" and he was in his highchair at the table. He was just watching everybody with big eyes sing to him. Then I helped him blow out his candle on his cupcake and I gave it to him to eat. He was tentative at first and then started eating huge mouthfuls of cupcake and smiling really big.
After we opened presents, Eli crashed. He practically wanted to take a nap on my shoulder while everyone was still screaming and playing with toys around him. So I made him a bottle and put him in his crib. He just rolled over and went right to sleep -- for the next 3.5 hours!
It was definitely Eli's best birthday ever!
