Our little International Naber turns ONE!

It truly is amazing how fast time can fly by. Every year since I turned 21 I’ve been saying that….must be this whole “real world” thing…..life just zips on by and if we are not careful, we miss it. Every day we live, THAT is our life. Enjoy it, live it out loud. Savor the memories and live for the moment. Dream about the future and learn from your mistakes. Embrace who you really are, not who you think you ought to be. This is my motto and although its not always easy, it definitely makes living more of an adventure and it’s never been more so than since I gave birth to our littlest International Naber- Ava, this past July.

Earlier this week we celebrated her 1 year birthday. HER ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY PEOPLE!! How amazing is that?! She survived, I survived, David survived, and we had an absolute blast in the process. Becoming a mommy has opened up my eyes to so many things. It’s helped me to be a better person overall. It’s helped me to embrace my positives and work on my negatives. It’s allowed me to be loved by someone with her whole little being. It’s surreal, it’s magical, it’s emotional, it’s like nothing I have ever experienced before and makes me want to do it over and over again! Sure, I’m always tired, even though we have a rockstar of a sleeper; she just runs circles around us daily…..she’s like the freaking energizer bunny. Where does that come from?! It’s quite strange- I feel my body getting older, yet my mind younger…simply by enjoying life through her inquisitive and adventurous eyes.

Warning: Slight bit of mommy/emotional proud boasting ahead:

I am sure every parent says this about their children, especially their first born where everything is new, but she is unbelievably amazing, in every way. She astounds me. David and I have said so may times that literally it’s like when we talk to her, she understands us. It’s weird. Her eyes are the windows to her soul, and what a beautiful one it is. She has such a spark to her, such a spunk, that I am sure one day will give me loads of heartache but for now it makes her so fun and exciting to watch. She’s always got a laugh for us, always wanting to climb the next step, always wanting to do more, be more, & say more,  always wanting to explore and meet new people, and yet at the end of the day, the only place in the whole world she wants to be is sitting right next to David and I. She can be so tender and loving and compassionate at times…..when her mind finally shuts down from the awesomeness of her daily life that is- LOL. Wow, we are truly blessed. God gave us a good one…..I’m speechless every day with her love and her thirst for life.

In the past 12 months, Ava has traveled to 8 countries, been on 35 flights, survived a horrendous accident and bounced back like the champ that she is, explored KL and everywhere else that she goes with zest and enthusiasm, and generally just made my world a better place simply with her life. (You can read all about her adventures by perusing my recent entries here).

Ok, enough sappiness…I want to share with you just a few of her gorgeous 1 year pictures as well as share with you the completely over-the-top 1 year birthday party we threw her here in KL with friends. What a blast. Thank you baby girl for being fabulous YOU!

Ava’s 1 yr photos courtesy of the talented Sarah Grasset Photography.

I know I am the most biased person ever but is she not the cutest darn thing you’ve ever seen?! She melts me.

OK, onto her party. I had this idea, because of the life that we lead, to incorporate world travels with her theme and since I’ve always been a huge reader and lover of Dr. Seuss books, I thought: how perfect would it be to have her theme be from Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, the places you’ll go” ?!?! Perfection. Of course Etsy, as always, steps up the the plate and delivers to me the most amazing party package every. A HUGE shout-out to Meghily’s shop for her simply sweet invite & party package of PDF files me to to print at home and use. I also scored a couple great finds for the party favor bags via Amazon– stress-ball globes, Dr. Seuss bookmarks, globe balloons, and more. Finally, Daiso (equivalent to the dollar store), helped me tie it all up nicely and cheaply to boot- yea me! I also have to note, I purchased from an Etsy shop, a download-able file of a chalkboard-like poster detailing all of Ava’s milestones, accomplishments, and likes, but I cannot endorse that shop as I had a bitch of a time with her. Bummer.

Finally, the icing on the cake so to speak, was that due to the number of invitees, slaving away in the kitchen/BBQ was so out of the question- we really wanted to be in the moment and enjoy our party with our guests and our girl so we outsourced- yup, you heard me. I found an amazing artist- In the Clouds custom cakes for Ava’s “smash cake” as well as cupcakes for everyone else,  plus we contacted one of our favorite restaurants here in KL, Al-Amar Lebanese cuisine, to come cater Chicken Schwarma wraps (YUMMY), and although they typically don’t cater for parties less than 50 adults (we had 28 adults, 13 toddlers, and 10 babies), when the catering manager heard about our request, he couldn’t resist helping us out, since he has an 8 month old daughter himself and knew how exciting this party was for us. How sweet is that?! OK, here is the party, in pictures.

I wish I hung the globe lower so it showed up more in her smash cake pics….oh well, love this idea!

Dr. Seuss HBD Sign and chalkboard poster!

Girly balloons and flowers to match 🙂

Her Chalkboard Poster…with a spelling error- ggrr!! 🙁

The entry table- some pics of Ava, favor bags, a poloroid camera where I took pics of every family who came, and the baby board book version of “Oh, the places you’ll go” for everyone to sign for Ava- how cool is that memory going to be?!

The only “cooking” I did- cutting fruit & veggies & dumping chips into a bowl :).

Drinks!

Custom labels I taped onto water bottles and juice boxes :).

Birthday Girl with the “World in her hands”!

Before the party started!

Our amazing caterers- Al-Amar, thanks guys!!

Outside view

First guests….our neighbor’s girls in their party princess dresses- so sweet!

The STUNNING smash cake and delicious nutella and vanilla cupcakes!

Sing along- Happy Birthday to Ava!

Ok ok, we helped blow our her candle 🙂

At first she’s decidedly hesitant….

But it doesn’t take my girl long to discover how yummy sugar is!!!

Daddy feeding mommy some too 🙂

sloppy icing kisses from my girl!

She loved every bite!

Seriously we had to finally take the cake away- haha

Well, that’s it- what a whirlwind the past few weeks have been between preparations, pictures, and finally the big party. Thank you to Sarah Grasset and to all our KL friends for joining us in celebration….you’ve all become our family out here in SE Asia and we are so fortunate to share this milestone with you! Happy Birthday to our one and only Ava!! We love you infinity!!

Until next time, go all out~

Kimbra