The Wilson 6 Chronicles

We had Harper's 1st birthday party on Saturday and had a wonderful time. Our little house was full of friends and family and laughter which is just the way it should be to celebrate such a fun occasion. I baked chocolate chip cupcakes with raspberry buttercream icing (thanks to the Martha Stewart cupcake book for the recipes) and they were yummy yummy yummy. I've got buttercream left over in the fridge and I have to fight the temptation to just dig into it with a spoon which is saying something because I am not really an icing fan. Harper enjoyed her cupcake and really didn't make that big of a mess- she is usually a fairly non-messy eater anyway. And she is not one to waste a bite of food so she keeps the crumbs to a minimum. :) This was before she started eating- right after we sang Happy Birthday and she blew out the candle.And this was after- notice the shiny face- apparently buttercream is an excellent moisturizer.

Then is was time to open presents. Harper was spoiled with lots of fun toys and clothing from everyone. She loved everything and had played with all of the toys since Saturday. It has been fun to watch her because it is as though she knows exactly which toys are hers as opposed to what are Eleanor's. If you notice Alden in the background, he is wearing what he has started calling his "birthday shirt." We bought it for him to wear for his birthday party (partly because it matched the Diego colors) and he insisted on wearing it on Harper's birthday on Tuesday and then again on Saturday for the party. As soon as he took it off on Tuesday, he brought it to me and asked me to wash it for the party. I have such wonderfully weird kids. I love it.

On this day, one year ago, the sweetest, most perfect little baby made an appearance to complete our family. Harper Eliza was an unexpected part of our lives from beginning but has fitted in so wonderfully from the moment she was born. I spent the majority of my pregnancy worried that we might have a repeat performance of Hurricane Eleanor but Harper is such a sweet little piece of happiness. She is squishy and smiley. She loves to eat- she gets great pleasure from eating. Anything. Seriously, there's nothing that she hasn't liked so far. She has an independent streak but still loves her mommy more than anything. She likes to tag along after the bigger kids and always has a giggle ready for her special buddy, Zachary. So far, she and Eleanor get along great but we'll see how that changes when she is big enough to get into Eleanor's stuff. Alden loves to talk to her in his special baby voice. She was worth all of the weeks of uncertainty, the months of morning (all day) sickness, the hardest and longest labor that I ever endured. She was worth every single second of it- she completes our family in a way we never thought was lacking. And she's my sweetest little chunky of love. I love you and hope you have a Happy First Birthday, Harper. Love at first sightSisters (Harper is 2 months old)New Year's Eve with DaddyHarper's first snowSisterly love