Reagan's First Birthday Party!

On Saturday, July 23rd, we celebrated Reagan's first birthday!  We started the day with a nice walk to a local playground, where Grandpa pushed Reagan in the swing.  Then we got home and Reagan got to open some gifts from family and friends.  She loved tearing into the paper.  Her Uncle Geoffrey got her the coolest gift...baby Tom's shoes:

Seriously...how cute are these?!

After fun with presents, Reagan took a short nap and then got up to play with some of her new toys.  Around 1:30, Grandpa and I left to go pick up the BBQ and sides from Dixie Bones.  While we were out, I received a call from Jason.  Unfortunately, the call was dropped and I was more than disappointed (and probably driving Grandpa crazy with my complaining).  Luckily, when we got home, he was on the phone with Grandma and listening to Reagan chatter away saying "dadada!"  Perfect timing!  We all got to talk to him for a bit, even Great Grandma and Great Grandpa Campbell and Gray Mike.  He sounded great, but was disappointed to be missing his baby's birthday.  

People started arriving around 3, and we set out the food (of which there was an enormous amount) and enjoyed the company.  Reagan was on her best behavior and seems to have overcome her separation anxiety...thank goodness!  Everyone ate BBQ and drank some delicious frozen drinks that Grandma made the previous night.  Once the food was packed away for everyone to take home, Reagan and Grandpa pulled the ribbon hanging from the middle of the living room ceiling, releasing 75 balloons that Grandpa had blown up and secured with garbage bags.  I think the adults had more fun with the balloons than Reagan did:) At some point during the party, we let Reagan open her gifts.  She loved that part!  The highlight of the present opening was a gift bag from her Uncle Keith.  The card read "It's never too early to start training for a future profession."  The bag included a manicure kit, massage oil, and a packet of Tide laundry detergent:)  That got quite a laugh from the Campbells & Goodales!  After that, I stripped Reagan down to her new Huggies Jean Diaper (courtesy of Grandpa) and let her go to town on her own "smash" cake.  The night before, we made a panda bear cake for Reagan and a number 1 cake for everyone else.  Reagan wasn't sure what to do at first, but after a bit of "guidance" from mommy, she got the hang of it:

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

By the end, she had eaten about half of it and was nearly in hysterics when I tried to remove her from the table.  At Great Grandma Linda's suggestion, I removed the leftover cake to a different plate and convinced Reagan that it was all gone.  We took her straight to the bathtub and cleaned her up.  

We waited until Reagan's "official" birthday at 7:58 pm and sang Happy Birthday again.  She was thoroughly exhausted and went down quite easily.  It was a wonderful day and though we missed Daddy, he was with us in spirit.  

Some of the decorations and food, Reagan's "smash" cake, the balloon drop, and Reagan's birthday dress which Grandma bought before Reagan was even born!

Thanks to everyone who came to help us celebrate Reagan's birthday!  It was truly memorable and we couldn't have had a better day.