Happy First Birthday, Z!

And now she's officially a toddler! Ang bilisss!!! :)

Okay so rounding up how she's doing so far...parang report card lang ang peg! Hahaha!

Walking - still tottering around and cruising on furniture and our headboard. Sometimes she does let go for a few seconds before she's happy to crawl and climb back up again. She's such an active baby and while we would have been thrilled to have her stand/walk during her birthday celebration, we're okay to wait a little bit more. I'm sure in a few more weeks / months, she'll let us in on this newfound skill :)

Talking - Super YES! Maybe it helps she has a chatterbox for a mom..or that she's always surrounded by family. Or quite possibly our nightly reading habit is really paying off. She's very good at mimicking too and she's doing this funny thing when she overemphasizes some syllables.

    APPLE - Ahhhh (while rounding her mouth) - Pu! (with the lips pursed)

    DOG - Du! or Di!

    MILKIE - Dede (Pinoy na Pinoy!)

    CAT - Meow

    BALL - Bu!

    MOMMY - Papa (hay naku anak, you're sooo funny!)

    and many more!

Gesticulating - okay this is the part that has us all wrapped up in her tiny fingers. She's just tooo cute when she does her actions! She can already do 'BLESS' while reaching out for our hand and putting it to her forehead. She can do her 'AMEN' but sometimes it ends up in 'APPLAUSE'. She likes to show her grandparents her 'KILI-KILI' and can do a sweet 'SLEEP' pose while putting together her hands to one cheek and tilting the rest of her tiny head. She can't quite follow us with the 'YES' but her 'NO' is so emphatic! She'll continue doing her 'no, no, no, no, no' even if we were actually saying it to her. :p Hay kids these days, sometimes I feel like a grandma, super nakakaaliw talaga si baby :) Oh and before I forget, she can already identify the nose from the mouth and eyes and points at our faces with much gusto!

Okay so a few times she got sick (see here) and I hate it when it happens because she looks like a poor baby, mostly inconsolable when it hits hard; therefore, hardly any sleep for this mommy! And of all the times it had to be on her first birthday? Ayayay...what will the grandparents say?

So on the day of her [actual] birthday, we planned a small salo-salo among her closest family members only. It was supposed to be a no-fuss dinner but I couldn't help but get a few party knick-knacks when I was doing a last minute shopping at the mall. That explains the Sophia the First decors :) And since we had a few other decors from her Baptism day, we used it also for this get-together.

Arch't A, Ninang B and Baby Z a,k.a. styling supervisor hahahaha..

We ordered the cake from Estrel's and we decided to just order our food rather than inconvenience ourselves to do the groceries and cook.  I searched online for reliable and yummy suppliers of party trays, something that would cater to less than 20 people. What I found is ALGO or Almost Gourmet. When I saw their ALGO SALO menu, I knew instantly that I would be ordering from them!

Courtesy of Almost Gourmet's FB page (https://www.facebook.com/almostgourmet)

Daddy A wanted the Mac & Cheese but because we were having mostly adult guests, we changed it to Spinach Lasagna (no meat). I also wanted to try their Beef Salpicao but we decided on the Spicy Beef Caldereta. And finally, a non-negotiable for me was the Creamy Chicken Shiitake. The food was delivered (for a fee) at the appointed time. My only regret is that we should have used chafing dishes to keep the food warm. Because some guests came late, the food was a bit cold na. But all in all, super yummy talaga and I was happy because they were really taste and for the leftovers, (bwahahahaha) which became my baon for the week :)

ALGO Spicy Beef Kaldereta (but not too spicy)

ALGO Spinach Lasagna (no meat)

ALGO Creamy Chicken Shiitake ---- I'm such a mushroom junkie!!

The rest of the food we served came from favorite and suking restos/ihawan :)

Garden Salad, Barbecue all the way from Mandaluyong, Lumpiang Shanghai from Terry's, Hotdog and Mallows on skewers:

My mother in law also kindly provided from UNO Restaurant in Binondo - yummy yummy Kiampong and Spicy Oyster (sisig?)

Brownies from SM's Brownie Station:

Aggy's Mini Cupcakes all the way from BF Paranaque:

Salted Caramel Mini Cupcake

Are you salivating over these yummy goodies yet? Hahaha...in the middle of writing this I'm pulled to the thought of why I'm actually blogging this entry -- food post ba or first birthday? Teehee :D :D

Anyway, perfect attendance from everyone in the family..yahoo! Music was provided by Ninang B and Tito P, photos were taken also by Ninong A and Tito K :)

With Lola, Ninang V and Tita V getting her measurements for her birthday party dress

Over-all it was a fun night! We had her blow the candle on the exact time she was born (errr, yanked from my tummy #tmi). Was it tiring? A bit...at this point I could only imagine that it would probably be x10 of what we will experience on her bigger celebration. 

But the important thing, regardless of how simple this particular celebration was, it was full of love. Flashes of our early days at home come to mind but some of them are hazy now. The days of fear, discouragement, not knowing what the future holds. Being new parents was a new territory we weren't sure we could handle well. But with the help of our loved ones and especially the guidance of Jesus and Mama Mary's intercession, I think we managed fine..don't you think?

Dearest Baby Z, you don't know just how happy you make mommy and daddy. We are very thankful that God gave you to us to take care of. We love you so much, we love every minute of our first 12 months..yes, even the challenging parts of it. We're so excited to see you grow more in beauty and faith and love. May God bless you always and may He help us guide you to reach your full potential. Hugs and kisses and warm cuddles for you our princess. You'll always be our baby, no matter what :)

Photo courtesy of Ninong A

Photo courtesy of Tito K