Indiana's first birthday party!

On Saturday we celebrated Indiana's birthday! I had no idea what a first birthday party entailed aside from a baby eating some cake, but I think we did an okay job!

We had it at our friends the Brunell's house here in Temple. Have I talked about the Brunell's lately? About how great they are? About how they save our butts and sanity regularly? About how Indiana loses her mind in happiness whenever BB comes over? Anyway, the Brunells are our Fairy Godfamily and we are so lucky they have let us into their lives. They're much more like family than friends at this point. We love them.

Anyway they were nice enough to let us use their casa for the party. We went with a cat theme because Indiana LOVES cats. I mean, what else do you do for a first birthday? We were like, uhhh what does Indiana like? Food? Chewing on things? CATS! She likes cats! I found some cat stuff online and then cut up out all the cat faces from last years calendar and hung them up. She loved it, everyone looked cute in their cat ears, I think it was a success.

YEAH, putting those monthly photos to work!

Cats, everywhere.

I never seem to get over the fact that our family and friends are willing to travel so far to celebrate with us. So many folks traveled to be with us and it means so much. I tried to take lots of photos but when it's your kid's party and you're trying to take pictures, it just doesn't happen the way you want. I see why people who have the means pay folks to photograph these sorta things! But I snagged a few shots! Terribly candid mostly, but that's how I roll.

Can you tell they're related? SAME HAIR.

I baked thirty-six cupcakes. All while Indiana was wreaking havoc in the kitchen. I'm telling you this because IT WAS HARD AND I AM PROUD. HA! Also, look at those cat cups! Cats in party hats! The internet is an amazing place.

I also made Indiana's cake, which is a "mom" cake. Like, a banana oat flour maple syrup cake. No cane sugar. Also it's four layers? I am a huge weirdo, I know. It wasn't that pretty or yummy. She mostly just ate the icing and the blackberries. The best part was when she tried to flip it off the plate onto the floor.

Muchos gracias to Brendon's boss who suggested that maybe we should get in a picture with her. THANK YOU. Otherwise there would not have been a single photo of us together, much less any of me.

Cake selfies! Gah I love them. Best friends' offspring together, even if they're six years apart, is the greatest. Shoulda done it sooner, sorry y'all! ;) Also why is Dallas so far?

I know babies are supposed to just "smash" their first cake, but she's really into forks and was much happier when it appeared. She's a classy lady like that.

First party down, 18 to go! Haha. Let us hope when Indiana is a teenager she still lets us throw her parties! We had a really wonderful time. She was spoiled rotten with love and gifts and I just always feel so overwhelmed after things like this. I feel undeserving, but so thankful. I'm so so glad we are raising our baby surrounded by good people. People who love and adore her. She is in the best company, as are we. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who came. It was such a good day and you guys are why. Well, y'all and that baby. ;)

ONE YEAR

OH MY GOSH. We are done with these photos! Haha. But more importantly, Indiana is ONE YEAR OLD. What what what!

I obviously am full of lots of feelings about this. I will try to keep it "brief". But truly, I am just really excited. I'm a bit nostalgic, but I'm not really sad. I want her to be my baby forever, but I'm not sad that she's growing up. I'm more very proud of her and us and excited for what's to come. Every stage gets more and more fun!

And contrary to the faces she's making in these photos, this is a very fun stage and she was actually having a blast taking these photos. I was not! She thought it was a game; eat the letters, move every time mama tries to take a photo. You know. I just seemed to capture the serious moments, no doubt contemplating her next move.

Indiana has been learning all sorts of stuff lately. She has been "using" silverware, fetching things we ask for (when she's in the mood to listen), waving to people, standing for a few seconds unsupported (!!!), and daddy swears her first word is "cat". I've heard it, and it does sound like cat! But I've heard her say it to a ball so I don't know. She looks to the window and door whenever I say, "Dada's home!" or "BB is here!" She follows me around the apartment like a puppy, but she also ventures off on her own. No fear in this little girl.

I think we're slowly transitioning to losing her morning nap, which is sad for me because less free time, but also yay because that will give us a BIG chunk of time to do things in the morning! However in the mean time, nap times are a mess and very much hit or miss. Which makes evenings sometimes a little rough. But I know as all things are with babies, it's just a phase. This too shall pass. And something else crazy will take its place.

She's got five teeth and her sixth looks like it's about to pop through! We're still very far from walking, but I am in no hurry. Still a pretty good eater, I think her favorite food right now is cheese. If she even hears a bag of cheese open she starts pointing and grunting. Babies are so much like cats and dogs it's crazy. We've done a whole year of breastfeeding and have no plans to stop! She still nurses quite a bit, but she recently dropped her late afternoon feed. So we're slowwwly slowing down, but I'm in no hurry to quit.

Being Indiana's mama is the best job I've ever had. She is funny and silly and so happy and fierce and brave. She is observant and curious of the world around her and she makes me slow down and see the little things. She is an excellent teacher, I am learning so much from her. She is not an introvert. I don't know how I ended up with such an outgoing baby (ahem... Brendon), but she makes me talk to strangers every time we go out. She smiles and waves and flirts with everyone and conversations inevitably happen which are 100% outside of my comfort zone, but that's such a good thing. She makes me better. And she's ever watching and learning from us, so I've gotta be on my good human game! Being her mom makes me be better. It makes me look at the world differently, see things differently. And it gives me a much lower threshold for unnecessary BS.

But truly, this year has been so good. My first year of motherhood has been an adventure. An eyeopening and humbling experience. And not nearly as bad as some people make it out to be! I swear the way some people talk it's like, "JUST SURVIVE THE FIRST YEAR" and I mean, there's something to that I guess. There are hard parts, so much sacrifice, and I can see how the adjustment of having your first baby could be extreme, but I just really didn't find it that bad. Maybe because I expected motherhood to not come naturally to me and so many folks told me it was going to be rough so I prepared for the worst and was pleasantly surprised? Maybe because I was fully prepared to lay it all down for this little one? But I loved this last year. It was a year of learning and bonding and not much sleep, but who needs sleep! Maybe that's it. I've never been a good sleeper so maybe that helped ease me in. Who knows. But if you're about to be a parent or if you're in the newborn days, or if you're thinking about starting a family; do not let anyone scare you. It is as bad as you want to make it. Of course it is NOT easy, I meant it when I said sacrifice, but it is also fantastic. And fun. And just soak it and enjoy it! Even the crazy nights and the crying fits and the blow outs. These are good things. It means you are a parent. And you have your baby. And you care. And that is such a gift.

Blurry, but booya, I got a year of photos of her laying on her back. GOD, that was the hardest photo to get. She thought it was such a fun game. BUH, so glad we're done with these photos.

Farewell first year of babyhood! You were a good one. I don't know how much I'll miss you, but we sure had fun and we made all the memories. Bring on the toddler years. Although, we gotta learn to toddle first I guess.

And now it's complete. THE WHOLE YEAR!

Farewell 2016

2016 was a wild year for the Hogans. Obviously. Indiana was born! So this will always and forever be the year we became parents. The baby year. Looking back on it has me feeling all sorts of things and I could talk forever about how crazy and wonderful and scary and year of new parenthood has been for us, but I think I'll just get rolling with the photos. Which are almost entirely Indiana.

LOL SO TIRED.

Every year I say that this year was the best ever, but truly, no matter how exhausting or stressful or whatever this year was, it was the best. It brought us Indiana and she has changed our lives in every way imaginable and it's been wonderful.

2016, you may have been a real bee-otch generally, but specifically to our family, you were stellar. Ready to see what 2017 brings us, I have no doubt it will be GOOD.

Scamper down memory lane with previous year summaries.

Christmas 2016

Indiana's first Christmas! Woooo! I think it was a success. A crazy crazy day, but she had a good time! We stayed in Temple again this year, as traveling with a baby is hard and traveling with a baby, PLUS doing multiple Christmases (the blessing and curse of your whole family living in one town) was just a little too much. So my family was kind enough to come to us! I'm really glad we stayed at home. We got to have Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with just the three of us and it was really really nice. We haven't spent a Christmas Eve or morning alone in practically our whole relationship and I have to say, it was awesome. Especially because it was Indiana's first, it made it really special. Christmas Eve was spent listening to Christmas music nonstop and I spent almost all day cooking. Happy place!

On Christmas morning Indiana woke us up and we got all ready to do the dang thing. We put her on the floor and let her go, and she went straight to her new piano! It was the sweetest thing and I tried (really I did!) to get it on video, but I didn't hit record. BAHHH, story of my life. I will forever be beating myself up about that. Oh well! Mental memory will have to do.

Indiana didn't NEED much of anything for Christmas, but I really wanted her to have a piano. A real one, not some plastic thing. And Santa brought her one! It's a real tiny piano and it makes the cutest toy piano plinks! She's excellent at banging on it. The cats hate it.

Sophie loves Christmas as much as any kid.

These two! Indiana and Sophie have recently gotten "closer" and I love it.

Indiana was mostly much more into the paper and bags and boxes than she was the actual presents, but I think she still had a lot of fun!

After Indiana's morning nap we had Christmas round two! And this is the only group shot we got of the whole day, because boy do photos go out the window when you have a baby on Christmas!

After Indiana's afternoon nap we did Christmas round THREE, which I got basically no photos of. Fail! At this point I was pretty tired. Between cooking, cleaning, wrangling Indiana, and hosting lots of company I was beat. I'm a big time introvert and we had A LOT of people come to our tiny apartment, so by the end of the day my head was about to blow up. Luckily Indiana is the opposite, she loves people and looooves being the center of attention. I wonder where she got that from.... (ahem, Dr. Hogan...)

Christmas dinner! My dad and step mom brought over a big folding table that we set up in the middle of our tiny living room so we could all actually sit together for dinner. One day we will have a bigger place. Our mini-apartment is great for the three of us at this stage, but goodness whenever anyone comes over it gets so crowded! Not to mention we are busting at the seams with baby stuff.

And this is the only photo I got of round three. Everyone looks SO THRILLED to be there, huh?

I swear we were having a good time! ;)

It was a good day. An exhausting day, but a good one. I was super glad that Brendon had Monday off so we could recover!

Indiana had a great first Christmas I think. She was spoiled rotten by people who love her (as were we) and got to play in piles of paper and boxes. I'm trying not to think about all the paper she ate, but hey it's just fiber right? Christmas with a baby was everything I hoped it would be and more and I think every year it will get better. I can't wait until she knows whats going on, haha. I think we've still got a couple more years for that, but I am so ready! Baking cookies for Santa, writing Christmas lists! Eeee! Bring it all on!