Post-party review

Lilah's birthday party, though almost a month early, was a huge success. I did a little baking all week so as not to be stressed the day of the party. There were 6 dozen mini-muffins of the raspberry and blueberry persuasions, skewers of fruits, veggie sticks and humus, tuna salad on whole wheat triangles, banana chocolate chip bread, Irish soda bread, raspberry lemonade, tropical fruit tea, and a green teapot-shaped chocolate cake with raspberry cream cheese frosting and marshmallow fondant with pink and yellow fondant buttons. The cake alone made me sweat gave me several sleepless nights due to nightmares it didn't turn out or it was gorgeous and I dropped it. It turned out nearly perfect (I had never fondanted before so there were flaws, but I covered them all up with decorative buttons) and I received many ooohs and aaahs. I insisted on being the only one to transport and carry the cake for fear of wrecking it and I held my breath until it was safely at its final destination. Here's a photo of the finished product
 
Lilah began teething the day before her party and her nerves were on edge anyway because her cousins (almost 6 and almost 3) were visiting. My child's perfectly constructed world would apparently crumble to pieces any time a small boy cousin squealed in play or tackled the other. Zeddicus (the almost 6 year old) was very conscientious of her, taking the time out of his play to make sure she had a toy or explain what he was doing to her. He is a born oldest child. Ephraim (the almost 3 year old) experiences life at 100 mph with the volume on high. He's almost always going and shouting a narrative of his actions to whoever happened to be within earshot. He would never be purposefully mean to Lilah, but he wasn't quite as attentive as his older brother and once or twice "needed" the toy Lilah was playing with. I have no issue with this, as Lilah will not always be a coddled little angel and needs to grow a thicker skin if she's ever going to have playmates. Every time Ephraim would take a toy, laugh too loudly, or look at her wrong, Lilah would burst into hysterical tears and look at me as if to say, "Mama! How can you let this happen to me?!" I just smiled back at her and let her deal with the trauma on her own. By the day of her party, she was much more adjusted to the noise and activity level of her cousins, but I still worried for her mood.

The morning of her party, she was rather a crab and clearly woke up on the wrong side of the crib. I gave her Motrin for teething pain and gathered things for the party while Dano fed her breakfast. The plan was to allow her to have her morning nap at home while I went to his parents' house to set up for the party. Then I would pick them up at 10:45 and be back at the party by 11:00 when it started. I dressed in a pretty new purple and brown dress. Several people throughout the day remarked that Lilah and I matched, which made me smile because I'm an idiot about matching. Her birthday outfit was a purple corduroy dress with purple and blue butterflies over a lilac long-sleeved onesie with a hideous embroidered collar I removed from the equation. The dress came to her knees and underneath she had grey, purple, blue, and green striped leggings. For warmth she had a lilac sweater with blue and green flowers. Lilah looks excellent in purple.

I arrived to Ann's and Larry's house to find oatmeal on the stove, Ethiopian coffee steeping in the French press, and a flurry of cleaning going on while two little boys played tag. I set Max up with decorations and he did an incredible job. There were purple tulle bows in the corners of the party room, pale yellow balloons in clusters here and there (the boys and Kazyz the dog graciously popped the extras), and pink streamers twisted from the chandelier to the four corners of the room. In the center of the table, I set up a floral garden teapot with 6 beautiful white roses Dano bought for Lilah (ruefully reminding myself my husband has never brought me flowers. I told him when we were dating that I would rather receive a live flowering plant than cut flowers that would die. Manlike, he understood this to mean, "Don't ever get me flowers.") with a flowering purple lily in the center. On the buffet table, I set up party favors - everyone would receive a teacup and saucer filled with a fudge-dipped spoon, an organic local honey stick, and a pocket-sized anti-bacterial sanitizer from Bath and Body Works. Dano said this was a nerdy, nursey thing to do. I thought it was very practical and dismissed this. The table was laden with food as it was prepared. Kim was very helpful in helping me assemble things. Ann was even more helpful by suggesting we all take a more-than-generous shot of Baileys in our coffee. I was shaky from a combination of nervousness (why, I couldn't begin to say), stress, unease that Lilah would be a bear to everyone, being intermittently chilly from running out to the car for supplies, and low blood sugar. The Baileys seemed to help all of these. I ended up sending Larry to fetch Dano and Lilah, as guests started to arrive early. 4 people came from church, 2 friends from work, and 2 friends from NMU. Dano was gentlemanly and served drinks on a tray. Brightly colored piles of presents started to form on a high-backed chair. Lilah and her cousins eyed these with interest.

Food was served buffet-style and everyone greatly enjoyed it. Lilah herself ate 2 tuna triangles, a plate of fruit, carrot sticks with humus, and several muffins. She ate daintily with the grace of a buffalo but was in excellent spirits after consuming large amounts of food. The 2 from work had to leave early and go to work, and after they left Ann served coffee (sans Baileys) and I nursed Lilah. She's been wanting to nurse more since she's teething. This is probably her last little "hurrah" of breastfeeding before weaning completely, so I'm letting her nurse as she desires it.

Ephraim helped assemble all of Lilah's presents in front of her at my feet and her eyes lit up with all the colored paper. When I gave the word (since they were such well-behaved and patient children), Zedd and Ephraim helped Lilah tear into them all. What followed was a flurry of tissue paper, squeals, and much excitement. If a bag contained clothes, they were flung at me and the troupe moved on to the next bag in search of toys. Books were hastily skimmed through and tossed to me as well. Cards were rescued by helpful adults (children have no use for cards. They are not toys. Clothes are nice, but they are not toys. Books are entertaining, but you need an adult to work them for the most part. Toys are toys.) and Ann tried to keep track of who gave what. She got a new coat, many adorable spring and summer outfits, a pile over a foot high of new books, a musical learning tea set that made tea-pouring sounds and taught "please", "thank you", and counting, a set of refrigerator magnet letters, a gift card to Target which we used to buy her Up!, two Mellissa and Doug wooden food sets, and stackable pink and yellow cars that play songs.

When the excitement died down, we served the cake. Part of me physically hurt to see it sliced. Lilah stared confusedly at her candle while we sang to her, and Zedd helped her blow it out. By helped, I mean he blew it out. She just looked at it. Dano was in charge of scooping ice cream (everyone complained at his stingy scoops). Lilah's plate was placed in front of her and she looked at me in askance. I smiled at her and she proceeded to beat the slice into submissive and bite-sized pieces with the palms of her hands. She shoveled it into her mouth with minimal assistance and made short work of the whole experience. She had never encountered cake before. She was a fan.

After this, the guests disbursed and Lilah and Ephraim took long naps. When the door closed behind the last party-goer and Lilah was sound asleep in the pack-and-play, I started to shake again and realized the Baileys had worn off and I hadn't eaten anything yet. I ate a large plate of food and felt better. I didn't get a slice of cake until the next day. All in all, it was a tremendous success, and one she will never remember. I kept congratulating myself throughout the day on keeping it intimate and low-key. The dining room looked like a spring garden and God gave us a beautiful sunny day for the occasion. We spent the rest of the day eating leftovers, snacking on fudge spoons and honey sticks, and playing Rock Band. Lilah has since finished teething and has two more teeth to call her own making for a grand total of 6.