Ellie's First Birthday - Šťastné Narozeniny!

It's amazing to think that one year ago, Ellie Maria Haberkern came into the world at 4:48 p.m. Incredible.
So to celebrate this very important day, we spent it as a family, just the three of us. We started the day like every other - playing with Ellie's favorite morning time toy, Snugglepuppy. (We didn't name him, Sandra Boynton did.) She started asking for "Pup" in the morning. I guess she was bound to shorten his name!

At breakfast, she got a few of her favorite Czech snacks, pškoty. They are similar to Nilla wafers, but less sweet. She thinks these are the greatest EVER. The picture below is her typical, joyous reaction to pškoty:

Then it was time for cards and presents. The cards were just as exciting as the presents, and she loved opening Uncle Jonathan and Aunt Katherine's very sweet birthday card. Let's just say that she was covered in glitter by the end of "opening" the card.

Of course we had to get her a few Czech toys to commemorate her first birthday in Prague.

There is a Czech cartoon from the 1940's called Krtek, the Little Mole. We got her a book, Krtek a kamaradi and matching animal flashcards. Both the book and the cards have all the animals in Czech and English. The illustrations are cute, and the Czech names for the animals are, ummm, challenging? (Personal favs include squirrel = veverka, bear = medved) Most importantly, Ellie really likes them and has particularly enjoyed the flashcards.


With all this newfound animal-related Czech, we headed to the Praha Zoo! It was a beautiful day, and the zoo was a 40 minute walk across Stromovka Park. Ellie loved the polar bears who were performing for the crowd, and the monkeys.

After lunch at the zoo and a solid afternoon nap, more present awaited the birthday girl! Padrino sent a very special Ellie-phant onesie for his ahijada (goddaughter). Thank goodness the Czech Posta delivered it with impressive timing. Thank you, Padrino, we love you!

Our last stop of the day was to a special birthday dinner. Ellie wanted to get in on the celebrating with some Pilsner Urquell, but really just enjoyed chewing on the glass.

Since Ellie is a great eater, we think the highlight of her day was the pizza she wolfed down. Our girl really likes food of all kinds, but her mushroom, spinach, and egg pizza seemed to say "Happy Birthday Ellie!" Czech style:)

We took a last few pictures at the park before heading home. We read On The Day You Were Born, (mama's personal favorite) before putting an exhausted Ellie to sleep. It was a day to remember the miracle that came into our lives a year ago and to celebrate all that is to come.