My little monkey (Mi monilla).

Happy sunday!

Oh, and the best present of all:

Iben came to visit!

(Oh, and please notice the beautiful sweater that Olivia is wearing.  It was made by her great grandmother.  Isn't it amazing!! We love it!  Perfect color: coral!  Tusen takk Momo, vi er glade i deg.)

Photo taken by Nicca.

The birthday partieS!

We had two parties.  One on Saturday and one on Sunday.  On both we have lots of lovely friends and family, we had a very nice time, ate cake and opened presents.  We said that since Olivia already had everything she needed we would like people to give her a little something for an 18 year old girl instead, then we would pack everything and give her today on her 18th birthday.  It was so much fun!  People got very creative and got her all kinds of funny and very cool things!  She got magazines from these days, very nice books, a New York map, a hammer and a level (it is around this age that kids move into their first apartments), fun jewelry and accessories, a bottle of wine, an olive tree (that we promise to try to keep alive for the next 17 years), anyways, everything was so nice and I can't wait to see what she thinks when she grows up.  We are going to pack it all again with the newspaper from the 16th of April.  Anyways, it couldn't have gone better.  Homemade cake, homemade food, lovely company and a happy baby. 

One year ago at this time I was waiting for you.

And then, I held you for the first time.

Tomorrow at this time, you will be 1 year old.

I love you Olivia.

Curls

Pling!

This was Jonas' trolley from when he was small.  We had to put in the heaviest book we have so she doesn't fall back and Jonas pimped it up with a bicycle bell that she now knows how to ring!  She's the BEST!  Look at her go!

A year in a week.

Homemade crown for the birthday girl.

 In only one week Olivia will be one year old.  Even though this is a very hectic time of the year for me (moving, selling the apartment, planning an exhibition, end of a semester, etc, etc, etc) I realize how important it is for me to do this on my own (of course, Jonas as well, he is all in!). 

We're having a few friends and family come over to our apartment, if the sun is shining, we'll grill some sausages and have cake later on; if it rains, we'll have some finger food indoors and cake of course.  But the most important thing is to celebrate Olivia with the people that love her.  It's a day to make her feel special and a day to create a new tradition.  I will bake her a cake every year.  Maybe the same one, maybe one she chooses.  We'll have a few friends over, decorate with balloons and garlands, have music, play games (when she gets older, for now, I guess just making her laugh is enough) and enjoy the day.  Nothing fancy, just special.


Planning my daughter's first birthday takes me back to my own childhood.  I remember all these parties with my cousins.  Every year there was a new theme (one year Ms. Piggy, other year Snow White, my brother had Alf!) where we had a piñata, some goody bags, played games all day and went home exhausted at six o'clock.  It was simple and memorable.  It was pure effort from the parents to make a special day.  Later on, the parties started to move to Mc Donalds or Burger King where you could hire everything from the food to the cake and the kids would play in the playground.  To be honest, I might have had a good time then, but now, all I remember was a generic party with no personality whatsoever.  Now things have gone to an extreme in my country that parents go overboard hiring a place, catering the food, ordering a fully decorated cake (full of colors and cartoon characters that isn't appetizing at all), clowns, music, you name it!  It's too much! 

I hope I can say this still in ten years, but I hope that from now on, Jonas and I can manage to celebrate birthdays in a more simple way.  With friends and family, at home, with a homemade cake and lots of games.   We want to create memories, and with a bit of extra effort, we can do something special for our children, not going overboard and just making them feel special and loved.  Creating realistic expectations and appreciation for what they have.