Poppy's Birthday Bonanza/Last day of freedom

The party went amazingly well, all the kiddies had a fun time especially Poppy who laughed for hours. Thank goodness for all the help we had from both sides of the family, we would have killed ourselves trying to do everything! She had so many gifts too, a nice mixture of clothing and toys/books.


Her dress looked gorgeous on her (this is her eating a bit of her birthday cake after her afternoon nap)




To celebrate us making it to her 1st birthday without a) going insane b) her getting hurt or ill due to our bad parenting hubby & I opened the champagne we bought for the occasion. At very nice it was too. I opened it to toast the minute she was born, with a big gulp to ward off the bad-birth memories and regrets. I did, however, regret drinking the majority of it - hubby had a bit of a dicky stomach but any excuse - when Poppy proceeded to wake up 3 times during the night then again before 6am. Thank god she went back to sleep for another hour in on our bed, there was no way I could contemplate getting up then.

On an aside from the post topic I'm a little unsure about starting the whole bringing her into our bed thing, but as I never do it during the night, only for the last hour of her sleep, I'm hoping it'll be ok. It makes such a difference having an extra hour in bed, even if it's not deep sleep as she's wriggling about in her sleep next to my head & I'm at risk of being whacked in the face by a flailing arm. Also it's nice having her there next to me, so that when I open my eyes I can see her little face in front of me.

Today has been my Last Ever Day Of Maternity Leave. Nothing much to say about that except it's been fantastic having the time to spend with Poppy over the past year, I don't regret any of it and have loved seeing her change from baby to toddler. I do feel that perhaps I am ready to get some of my pre-baby self back now. Whether I'll still be holding onto that romantic notion by Friday I'll let you know.