And now, he’s one!

A year or so ago, a good friend gushed about how much her first born’s birthday meant to her. To her, it was a major milestone in life and in her motherhood experience. To me, it was important to celebrate the day, but before this conversation, I had never even considered how w’s birthdays would go. No pressure then! 😉

When I was very young, my mom always made a cake. She’d taken a Wilton decorating course and is a good cook, so the cake was beautiful and delicious…and we were always surrounded by family and showered with gifts. It was an excuse to have people over and we always had fun with our cousins and grandparents around. That it was a family event made sense because with two large families of 20+ members each on both my mom’s and dad’s sides, every Saturday night and Sunday lunch was spent at my grandparents’ house.Our family were our closest friends. 

Having grown up on a farm with mountain views and nature galore and with a summer birth date, I guess I also subconsciously believed that birthdays should be spent outside, taking in lovely views, fresh air and nature. 

So. Pondering this in February and consulting g for his expectations (none aside from including his mom and dad), we came up with a plan. Go to the coast, hike and have a picnic with cupcakes to fit the theme (whatever theme that would be). 

So, we researched. I wanted to stay in a lighthouse on the southcoast, but they didn’t allow children. So, we began to dig deeper and found a lovely little area by the sea called East Dean. They have high, white chalky cliffs, are just off the South Down’s Way (a hiking trail), are an hour’s train ride from London, have a sheep centre open to visitors and a pub with rooms and an award-winning restaurant. Voila!

We traveled down on the train on a Thursday after work, got up the next morning to blue skies and sunny weather and went about our birthday festivities. W made friends with at least 4 dogs on our hike, licked a few salty rocks on the shore, fed a lamb its bottle and made friends with some locals. We ate sheep cupcakes lovingly prepared by us (W and I).  Nature. Scenic views. Extended family. And a bit of fresh air. 

It was a day for our memory book and all that we hoped it would be. We feel blessed to have little w in our lives…now onto month 13 and beyond! Every day is a little photo-filled celebration…ahhh, life as the first born.