Hunter's 3rd Birthday - Firetruck Party - DC/ Nova - Newborn/ Child/ Family Photographer

Round 2 - River's 1st Birthday - DC/ NoVa - Newborn/ Child/ Family Photographer

Ok, I know you've probably had enough of all this River's Birthday Party talk, but we just finished up her Second 1st Birthday party today and I am none the more relieved!!!! You can't imagine how I feel, when I say, I'm glad it's over! It was a blast!! We are so blessed to have make such wonderful friendships wherever we go. This time around, I did not have time to be the Photographer. So I eagerly await for my friend's husband to send me the photos he took. But I did have a few minutes to take photos of my creation...of course.

River is ONE!! 1st Birthday - DC/ NOVA - Newborn/ Child/ Family Photographer

Finally, the day has arrived...no more mashing baby food, no more mixing baby formula, no more stressing about food allergies (well, sorta), and hopefully, no more being trapped in the house because of River's two naps a day...well, that will be in the near future.  So, she is on whole milk now and though she is not a fan of it, she drinks it only out of Hunter's cup.  That part cracks me up!  I think it all boils down to River wanting whatever Hunter has.  She has gotten really good at waving hi/ bye, and she says "umma" (mom) quite frequently.  She refuses to eat anything but what is on my plate so before she even turned one, she was already eating salmon, tilapia, steak, pasta, and whatever gourmet dishes I cook up every night.  haha  (jk, I don't cook gourmet meals)  She STILL only has two bottom teeth, which makes me wonder, "How the heck is she chewing all this food?"  That is why God is a Master Creator.  Because even though things sometimes seem impossible, He made it all possible.  And though there are times I worry about her development and wonder why she still has no teeth or hair, I know our Father and Creator knows exactly the amount of hair on River's head and will raise her up to a Beloved Child of God with body parts and all.  

So finally, here is my little princess.  She still can not stand on her own, though she's done it for a few seconds here and there, so I propped her up on a box.  She is a moving target so it worked out well.  She was too afraid to move.  haha  

CAKE SMASH!!  ok so I didn't have an extra cake so we had to use a cupcake.  Her birthday cake was made of fondant so I don't think there would've been much smashing with that one.

Here are photos from her party, which yours truly styled all on my own and spent countless months handmaking all these decorations.  And I wish I could say I'm glad it's all over, but I have a second party planned for her in a week.  I guess I'll be getting good use out of my decorations.

Ok so everyone wants family photos...but instead of posting the usual boring ones, I thought I would post the bloopers.  The shots that no one ever sees because it's not worth paying for.

Ok so I was so busy being mom, party planner, and photographer that I forgot to sing Happy Birthday to River before they cut the cake!!!  I was not happy.  So we lit up a cupcake instead.

The two miracles that God has gifted us with.

Wedding PaeBaek - DC/ Alexandria/ NoVa, Family/ Child/ Newborn Photographer

This was a very busy past week for us. First we drove up to the Pocono Mountains and went on a short ski/ water park family trip with my sisters. The kids absolutely loved it!!! Though I think I may have enjoyed the water park more than my 2 yr old, Hunter. River as always was very compliant with everything that we did; even if it meant being lugged around in my Ergo wrapped up in a puffy infant snowsuit in 30 degree weather. She is seriously my dream baby! Then after that, we celebrated my sister-in-law's wedding. It was quite a celebration. I have to say that even though I didn't know about 95% of the people there, this just might have been favorite wedding. It's all because of this great band named Touch...or The Touch. They were awesome!!! I mean, beyond awesome. Any band who can sing Gangnam Style and can sound exactly like PSY even though they are of a completely different race, is a true talent in my book. So there is this old Korean tradition called a PaeBaek where you get dressed up in traditional Korean garb and do all kinds of silly things like tossing chestnuts and going on piggy back rides and drinking tea. I won't bother explaining b/c it would take up half my post so I'll leave it up to you to google. And since pictures mean a thousand words, I'll let my pictures do the talking. 

 Congratulations Susan and James!!

Hunter's Dohl Party

Thank you to all the wonderful friends who not only came to Hunter's party to celebrate his First Birthday, but to all those friends and family who have helped us in the past year to keep our sanity while learning how to raise a child. It's sad that I went through all this work to organize this party, and Hunter will not remember a single detail of it when he gets older. Thank God for photos!! haha B/c this will probably never happen again!! I have maxed out my creative juices on this one. Now I have to take down all these decorations and bring it with me to NJ this weekend for his 2nd party. yikes!