Mila is one!

If you are here to view incredibly beautiful first birthday photos of my dear Mila Marie, YOU are in the right place! Of course, that does not come without my sweet (sappy?) reflection of the past year. Because, wow. It's over. She is officially being measured in YEARS and not weeks or months! OMG I need a tissue!

Meeting her sisters for the first time!

Meeting her sisters for the first time!

The "Birth Story"

Mila was three days late, which I am guessing is a trend with each Smith girl we add to our squad. I went into labor around 2am on February 11th on my own, the first time I was not induced. 

This was terrible. My contractions were less than 4 minutes apart, but everything else was just not progressing. I (literally) screamed in agony for HOURS without any medications to relief ... to which I still wonder why. "The doctor will be here soon!" is all I heard, hour after hour.

Time after that is hazy. I remember the anesthesiologist coming in to give my epidural, but my contractions were so close together that I was stiff the entire time. HOLY FREAKING OUCH. 

The rest is too graphic. But, she arrived at 11:06am just under eight pounds and appeared to be the sweetest little bundle ever. 

Until we got home. Because anyone who is a mama knows that shit hits the fan the moment you walk in the door and put that carrier down, amiright?

Love Mila. But then, she was anything but sweet for nearly 6 months of her life. 

Rachel Mummert Photography

Rachel Mummert Photography

She slept 2-4 hours total a day, and she picked what hours (minutes) they would be. When she was awake, she. just. screamed. Endless doctors visits, remedies, diets and formula trials later, nothing. "She just has colic" they told me, as if that were supposed to being me some optimism.

That's neither here nor there. I am pretty sure that I blacked most of that out, I mean, wouldn't you if you were awake non stop then expected to go to work and teach ~80 students a day? 

The Now Story

Now, sweet Mila really is sweet as can be. She mimics saying "I love you", blows kisses every chance she gets, and just loves her family more than anything in the world. Oh, and ironically enough, she LOVES sleep. Shes probably awake for 2-3 hours at a time!

And as for cake, well, she is still warming up to that ;)

The Invitations

Being my winter baby, and with my love of winter, I just had to design her invitations (and cake smash!) to be filled with snow. I used a pocket for the base layer of the invitation, and then used die cut pieces to separate that layer from clear film. In between those layers I stuff in snow confetti and little rhinestones so that when the invitation moved, it snowed! 

The Cake

I am so blessed to have a former-cheer-mom-turned-friend who has the incredibly artistic talent to make cakes as breathtaking as this! 

And it's not her full time job. Right?

She is incredibly sweet, and even though I may be vague when I ask her to make something, she magically just knows what I want.

The Cake Smash!

God bless Rachel, from Rachel Mummert Photography. If I were her, I would have told me to take my kid and come back another time because of *all the tears*.  Actually, I may not have been that nice - I probably would have left out the "another time" part. 

So, why hire a photographer? Because even with a bawling baby, you get pictures like these! 
*Disclaimer: Yes, I did request the images of her bawling. What parent wouldn't?

Thats a wrap!

Watching the cake smash was so hard because of my husband and I doing Whole30 (FOUR more days of this, if you are familiar!). But I realized that if I could watch someone pick at and eat the delectable buttercream frosting without sharing, then I was good to go.

What happened to half the cake that went relatively unsmashed?

Let's just say some of my high school students went home on a sugar high :)

 
 
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