Happy First Birthday to Our Beautiful Rose

Happy First Birthday to my sweet and precious daughter Rose. What a joy this first year has been.

I'll post a 12 month update soon, but wanted to give a recap of the birthday girl's day.

We started with singing Happy Birthday in bed...

And after a relaxing morning of breakfast, playing at home, and getting dressed/changed, we made our way to Raleigh.  Originally we thought about going to Marbles Kid's Museum, but then remembered that the Raleigh library had the fun storytime on Saturday mornings, so we headed there first. Unfortunately, the guitarist storyteller, Mr. Eric, was not there, but Rose didn't seem to mind. 

After storytime, we walked from the library in Cameron Village to NC State University's campus for lunch.  I wanted to go to Mitch's Tavern, but Colin wanted to try some place new. We ended up going to Player's Retreat, a sports bar with a decent jukebox. While we waited (a long time) for our food, we selected a variety of music to play on the jukebox, some of which brought us back to the birthing center (and our Pandora station) on Rose's birthday.  We were overdue for Rose's nap, but feeding her gave her a second wind. She chowed down on some food we brought from home (fig/nut bars, grapes, apples) and food from our lunches (cheese, mushrooms, bacon, hamburger, and chicken parm).  The girl still loves to eat!

Since the weather was so beautiful, with temperatures in the 50's, a slight cool breeze and mostly sunny skies, we decided to skip the trip to Marbles and head to Pullen Park.  Being on NC State's campus meant we were already very close to the park, so Rose, my parents and I walked there, while Colin walked back to Cameron Village to get the car and drive over to the park. In our haste to make it to storytime, we forgot to bring a stroller or a baby carrier of any kind. Thankfully, there were enough of us to carry our heavy, 20lb girl.  She spent a fair amount of time on Colin and my dad's shoulders, was carried a bit by me and my mom, and she did a little bit of walking on her own.  Yes, Rose is a walking girl and has been for a few weeks. I'll share more details about that on her 12-month update.

Comfortable on daddy's shoulders

Leading the way on her own two feet!

Pullen Park in Raleigh is awesome and I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't more crowded on such a beautiful day. There were lots of people around, but not so many that you couldn't get around or that you had to wait for swings to open up.  Even though she was getting tired (with only a 20 min power nap on the way to storytime), Rose mostly enjoyed all her new and familiar experiences.

We started at the playground with some of her favorites - swings, sand, and a slide.  We got a little bold on the slide and didn't hold on quite as tight, allowing her to move down the slide fairly independently. The girl loved it and would laugh the whole way down.  We got a kick out of her enjoyment.

Enjoying the swings

Loving the fast slide

Then we moved on to the new experiences.  We first went to the carousel and bought tickets before we realized just how fast the ride moved. I think we were all in shock awe at just how fast it went. I kid you not when I say it's probably the fastest carousel I've ever seen or been on.  Rose seemed intrigued even after seeing the ride go around, so we got on.  She enjoyed checking out all the parts of the horse while we waited for the ride to start.  Once the ride really got going, she wasn't sure if she liked it so much. She clinged to me so hard, I had a difficult time keeping her on the horse. We also made the mistake of being on the horse that traveled up and down as the carousel went around.  Since we were moving so fast, I couldn't move her to a different horse during the ride.  She didn't cry, but I don't think we ever got anything close to a smile.  We might have to hold off on that carousel a little longer, or go back to starting with a horse, or the seat that doesn't move while the ride goes around.

Content on the horse before the carousel started moving

From the carousel, we decided to go on one more ride before heading home. Rose was showing signs that she needed a nap.  There is a mini-train that does a circuit around the park, and Rose was fascinated with the train each time she saw it.  We decided to all ride the train, an easy decision since each ticket is only $1.  When the train first started, Rose was a bit nervous and clung to Colin.  Again, she didn't cry, but wasn't entirely thrilled.  Once we got going and the train slowed a bit, she seemed to relax.  She had a pretty serious face the whole trip, but that is likely a result of being tired and not being upset or scared.  

A family selfie on Rose's first birthday on the train at Pullen Park

Millertime selfie on Rose's first birthday

Holding onto daddy during the start of the train ride

A little more relaxed but too tired to smile

After a solid 1.5 hour nap in the car and a snack at the house, Rose was ready for her evening birthday festivities.  We were all tired from being out during the day and while we relaxed, Rose entertained us and played with her toys.

After skyping with some family, it was time for dinner and a birthday cupcake.  We've really limited Rose's intake of sugar and carbohydrates in general during her first year. She mainly eats protein (meat, dairy, eggs, beans, fish), vegetables, and fruit.  We decided to get her a cupcake from Whole Foods for her birthday song, candle, and cake smash. It was mainly a trial run for her big birthday party with friends and family next week. As an aside - since our family can come down for their winter break, we decided to push the party back one week. 

Rose wasn't really sure if she liked the frosting. She made a face that she wasn't thrilled, but went back to try more. Instead of letting her indulge in the cupcake, we swapped it out for her favorite dessert - grapes.  She seemed fairly content, but did keep reaching for my plate. Perhaps that's where she thought she'd find the cupcake.  Darwin had a good time licking Rose's fingers when she finished playing with the cupcake frosting. 

Trying to reach the candle on the cupcake 

Too busy with frosting on her fingers to smile for the camera

Not sure if she liked frosting the first time

Rose preferred playing with the frosting and feeling it on her fingers

Darwin thought the frosting tasted very good!

Although Rose had no idea it was her birthday, or what it means to be her birthday, I think she thoroughly enjoyed her day.  I thought she'd be exhausted, but she managed to stay up a little longer for one last Skyping session with her aunt and cousins.  She even managed to practice a little jumping and we made it through a somewhat lengthy story so close to bed time.

Since we started the post with the first "Happy Birthday" of the day, we'll end with the "official Happy Birthday" of the day.  Sorry it is so dark, we had the lights off and used my camera phone.

To Rose Estelle Miller, I love you so much and am so grateful for our first of what I hope is many years together.  You've taught me so much about being a parent and it's been a joy to see you grow so much in such a short amount of time.  Happy first birthday to my precious little girl.