Eli's First Birthday ONEsie Party

I had a realization the other day. When you count, you literally don't say anything before the number one. You just breathe. Inhale. Get ready. And that's what we've been doing for the last year: just breathing. Beginning the biggest journey, with the best yet to come. Sure, Eli's baby days were full of joy and I loved every single second. Seriously. But they were just that first breath. And now? Now, we count: One.

 I'm still wrapping my mind around the fact that we have a one year old. Every day I'm reminded that he's more of a toddler now than a baby (Check out the February Recap for his 12 month update). He's putting blocks together, playing the drums, and loving visits to the park. I just knew that I wanted to make his first birthday a pretty special celebration.  I mean, let's be real, part of a first birthday celebration is just acknowledging that fact that you kept a little human alive for 12 whole months, am I right?! We played around with a variety of fun and cheesy themes, and landed on throwing Eli a onesie party: which meant wearing either onesies or pajamas, serving breakfast for dinner, and playing on all things "E", since that's what we often call our little man.

After a fun birthday off prepping food and taking E to see the trains at Union Station and Fritz's, we threw on our onesies and opened our doors for a party! I was inspired by a borrowed ribbon banner that a friend had made (see above), and went with simple decorations in navy, gold, and silver. A few cute gold balloons from Target, some streamers, and some printed signs I designed rounded out the thrifty decor. And of course, my personal favorite, the photo banners with Eli's monthly photos in both his chair and his crib. It's so fun seeing how he's grown this year!! These were just made out of simple twine and mini clothespins I already had.

Our food was all "E" themed: crisp-E bacon, biscuits and grav-E, strawberr-Es, and chees-E breakfast casserole. Dessert included Eli's very own pancake cake, cook-Es (which were harder to make than expected), and Che-Esecake. I'm a nerd, but it was fun to see people E-at up while in their jammies. And Aaron is an awesome cook!! I failed to take any pictures of the kitchen and other photo banner, because I was in the moment! Eli sure did love his first cake and especially the bacon! 

One of my very favorite things we did at Eli's birthday was a time capsule. This time capsule will be opened when he turns 18. We had people bring or send things to represent the year: maybe a photo, receipts, something meaningful. Then people also filled out info predicting what Eli would be like: what he would love, what he'd be good at, and more. (See my sheet below). We're adding some of our own items, along with party decor. It will be so fun to show him when he turns 18, which will be here sooner than I think. 

My other favorite thing at the party was compiling ALL of the "one second every day" videos I had taken all year for Eli. I do have longer versions of the videos that I'll put together to round out his one year video, but I love these little snippets of one second from every day of Eli's first year. It's crazy to see all of the wonderful memories and be transported back to those moments that went so quickly. We loved having a big unveiling of this video with all the folks who've seen Eli daily and been there to support us in his first year. Here it is! 

It was a perfect first birthday for Eli. It was so special to have so many friends and family around to celebrate him. Even though he won't remember it, I am so glad to have documented his first year with videos and photos, and I love knowing he'll look at this time capsule when he's older. What a joy and blessing it is to see him grow and to get to be a part of it! He is better than we could have ever dreamed, and we love him so very much. 

I think we only have one group photo someone snapped during the video premiere. Oh well! We've got good pancake eating video and lots of fun memories. If you'd like any help planning your onesie party, time capsule, or one second every day, let me know! Follow along on Facebook and Instagram for more, or pin the image below! Happy first birthday, Eli. You are prized and precious. 

Currently,

Kelsie