Well, hello there! It has been quite a while since I blogged and I have SO much to catch you up on, but first a recap of celebrating Jude's first year of life. Becoming a mom has been a tough transition for me, despite how it may look on social media, and in result, I took a big step back from the blog. But I'm finally at a place where I feel ready to dive back in (almost) full force.   So let's catch up, shall we...

May was a BIG month for us! It was our wedding anniversary, Mother's Day, Casa de Fallon Beauty anniversary, and SO MANY BIRTHDAYS (Mom, sister and sister-in-law to name a few), but above all is our Jude's First Birthday! I still can't believe I have a two (almost three) year old and a one year old.  I mean, we all know that the older you get the faster time seems to fly by, but it sure does accelerate the minute you have kids (emphasis on the S).  In so many ways I still feel like I JUST became a mother and here I am with two toddlers–seriously, how did that happen??

Leading up to Jude's first birthday, I became the stereotypical second time parent.  With Jayden I had planned out his 1st birthday shoot  Where the Wild Things Are Cake Smash months in advance and here I was just weeks from Jude's first birthday and I had nothing planned–no photoshoot and no part...I felt awful!

But after some pinterest surfing and an afternoon watching Coco, I decided a fiesta would be perfect for our little Jude.  I even planned a very last minute birthday shoot for Jude, secured a photographer, ordered the decor, locked in the location and... it didn't happen! Long story short, I should've planned better, but I didn't.  Typically I would've let this get me down and cancelled everything, but I had to pull it together for my son, he deserved to be celebrated and so did I.  I mean, I did just survive one year with two under two years old and that deserves major props!

I admit, I had a moment where I felt bad about not giving Jude the exact same things I had given to Jayden, but then I realized, just as they are two completely different people, there life experiences will be different as well.  Not everything has to be exactly the same for them to know how much they are loved.  My goal as a parent is to love each of my boys for who they are and help them to become the best versions of themselves, as they grow into young men.  I never want my boys to keep score–my hope is that they grow up helping and supporting each other, not competing.

With days to plan, I pulled together the most perfect 1st Birthday for Jude. The most important part of any celebrating is having those that you love near and while we were missing a few, the love sure was felt for miles and miles.  My mom even got to fly out from California to celebrate Jude.

I was able to order a cake last minute from Pink Canary Desserts, the mini cupcakes I made myself. All of the decor came from either Target, Amazon or was a DIY. I found  the coolest Taco Truck from Michael's Crafts and spent hours decorating it, which Jayden destroyed in minutes before Jude even got to see it... (thankfully we have photos to prove it existed). We had Chipotle cater the party and my BFF brought the margaritas. I couldn't have been happier with how it turned out!

Oh and how could I forget... Jude got his Cake Smash and I got my photos to document it. Thanks Kim Max Photography

We had a strawberry cake with passion fruit filling, which I heard was incredible (it wasn't gluten free, so I didn't try it...) and gluten free funfetti cupcakes.  As you can see from the photos below, Jude loved it all–a lot!

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[one-half-first][/one-half-first] [one-half] [/one-half]My shirt is from The Bee & The Fox and my skirt, earrings, bracelet and bag are from Rent the Runway Unlimited (sign up using this link to get $30 off your first order). 

It's been two month since my baby turned ONE and I still can't believe it... I am so lucky to be Jude Axton's mamacita and my one prayer is that he grows up knowing how much he is cherished and loved.

Thank you for stopping by, see you next week... promise!