I now have a toddler!

I couldn’t believe that one year have passed and my daughter is already a toddler! Yep, you read that right, the little baby I’ve been blogging for the past few months is now an official toddler. Gone were the days when she’d just lay on her back, look straight in to my eyes and whimper whenever she wants to ask for milk. But now that she’s a toddler, she can already express her feelings more and more each day.

From lying on our bed, to lifting her head, to crawling and sitting and now she’s already walking. I tell you; toddlers spend half of their time roaming around the house, trying to do what you don’t want them to do as soon as they learn how to walk. How much more if she can run? I couldn’t imagine myself chasing her to and fro.

From the day she turned 1 year old until today, I have noticed so many things about her. She’s continually changing and developing day by day.

She loves watching videos that are lively. She prefers “real person” dancing on screen like Hi-5. Cartoon shows don’t pique her interest that much, though she enjoys watching the mini movies of Minions (which I am kinda against of) .  

This is Milly while watching Despicable Me 😍😍😍

A video posted by @kc_alcantara on Jul 20, 2015 at 6:03am PDT

She loves dancing whenever she hears the song “If you’re happy and you know”, London Bridge is falling down and Head, Shoulders Knees and Toes. Nothing would stop her from dancing the moment she hears these songs.

Milly's signature dance moves 😆

A video posted by @kc_alcantara on Jun 25, 2015 at 10:21pm PDT

Whenever she starts to cry (out of nowhere, ugh) one way to pacify her is to count slowly from numbers 1 to 10.

She learned to call our dog Princess than saying the word “mama” or “papa”. Whenever she sees our dog, she’d say “Tssesss! Tsessss!”

She enjoys scribbling. She really got amazed when she discovered the wonders of a white board marker.

She loves to flip each and every pages of her book. 

A lot had changed since she turned 1 year old and in as much as I don’t want to spill this, my daughter’s getting a little stubborn day by day. LOL! But even if she tends to get a cry baby most of the time, nothing could ever replace the happiness she brings to our little family whenever we witness all the things that she does every day.

Milly's first birthday party

Happy Rainy month of July! J

July is the month that will be forever etched in my heart because it’s my daughter’s birth month.  God knows how thankful we are for having her most especially that I am one of the few women who had a difficult time try to conceive a baby.

The apple of our eye just turned 1 last July 6 and I must say it’s one of the best days I ever had. I felt like an uber ulirang nanay during my daughter’s birthday not just because I cooked lots of food, but there’s this feeling, like a combination of joy, contentment, bittersweet which I really don't know the exact term to use to explain how I felt that day. 

IF you’ve been reading my blog, you may have noticed that  I love planning big parties. I started with our wedding, to my friend’s wedding down to my daughter’s baptism. I  had lots of plans too for my daughter’s 1^st birthday celebration. I actually hated myself for booking a lot of suppliers and the money went into the drain because they are no longer refundable. I was glad with our decision and more than happy that a lot of kids have enjoyed Milly’s intimate party.  To share you a piece of my silliness, I paid the downpayment to two birthday venues and some suppliers so I could block Milly’s birthdate. But since I am too fickle minded, we ended up celebrating Milly’s birthday at home because I no longer wanted a big celebration and I wanted to keep the party as simple as it could be. I know my daughter so much, and she would hate me for throwing a big party for her. She hates noise and unfamiliar faces. I’m sure it would be traumatic for her if we followed the original plan.

I’m telling you, nothing beats homemade birthday parties. Remember hotdogs with marshmallows? Paper plates stuffed with spaghetti, pansit, lumpia and puto  on the side! Plus take home handa for the guests. So nostalgic, huh. The way how we celebrated my daughter’s birthday brought back soooo many childhood memories. Most parents nowadays are so fixated preparing for the most unique birthday parties - themes, booths and so much more.  I myself actually got overwhelmed with the themes suggested by party planners, but as my daughter’s birthday comes near, I realized that I wanted to have a party where kids can really enjoy, plus I didn’t want  to undergo the stress of planning and organizing each and every detail of her party. I wanted it to be simple; and so we followed the practical way.

Good bye to over 8K reservation fee (I actually hate myself for this. Hehe), but for Milly’s birthday celebration alone, we only spent 2,500 inclusive of party banner, hats and 6 pieces of balloons. :D We were actually supposed to go to the mall and to the church on the day of her birthday but due to typhoon Egay, we ended up cooking the usual  birthday handa. Due to class suspension, we were able to invite few kids too. Too bad we didn’t have any lootbags for them since the party was really unexpected.

 

Day before Milly's birthday ♥ 

Milly's first tiny steps 

A video posted by @kc_alcantara on Jul 5, 2015 at 7:19pm PDT

So there! :) It may have been a super rainy day on her birthday, but I truly believe that it's a sign of blessing and another bountiful year for Milly love.