Orion’s Cake Smash | Colorado Springs Photographer
I can’t believe my baby is ONE! It is hard to believe that almost exactly a year ago, I held him for the first time. From the moment he arrived, he looked exactly like his Daddy. He has the Laramee nose through and through. As he’s gotten a bit older, he is still maintaining some Laramee features but he is starting to become his own person. He is as chill as a cucumber and is very ticklish. He has a fantastic appetite and is a great travel companion. He’s perfect in every way. Except, he doesn’t like to smash cakes.
We celebrated his birthday with a cake smash session several weeks ago while his grandparents were in town. The cake that I had commissioned by Cakes, Cookies, and More by Marisela Ortiz was absolutely amazing! A vanilla cake with blue frosting, white chocolate drip and edible stars was exactly what I had in mind for his cake smash session. I was so happy with the final product and couldn’t wait to watch my little man dive right in!
Except there was one problem: he didn’t want to touch his cake, much less EAT it. I had my camera prepped and ready to snap a million photos of him digging in. I knew I had one chance to get a series of photos of him enjoying his cake. I was ready. However, when his grandmother plopped him down in front of his cake, he just stared. He seemed confused as to the purpose of what we were doing. To encourage him, we brought it closer and tried putting a taste of icing in his mouth. Yet still he just stared. We tried placing it in front of him, taking it off the cake stand, giving him a star topper, and putting a smaller slice on a plate for him. Nothing worked. He just kept crawling away or playing with other items, like his shoes or the now empty cake stand. Ughhhh, how frustrating!
At least he was happy the whole time and rather enjoyed himself. It was a beautiful day at a park near our house. We had brought several items from home to arrange around a blanket for him to enjoy his cake. Everything was perfectly placed to prepare for the big ‘smash’ moment. We brought an extra set of clothes, plenty of napkins and baby wipes because of course I was expecting a mess. And… I didn’t need any of it. He refused to get his hands dirty!
Eventually, after what felt like forever coaxing and encouraging him to eat cake without any success, we gave up and decided to start splitting the cake amongst ourselves. In the park, there were some green picnic tables spread around the perimeter. We all gathered around to continue Orion’s early birthday celebration. Savannah helped hand out plates and Grandma (“Gah”) started cutting up slices for everyone to enjoy.
And that is finally when the magic happened! He couldn’t wait to get his hands on a slice of cake! Orion was so content sitting in his grandma’s lap stuffing fistfuls of cake into his mouth. He loved it! I was so happy to watch him enjoy every bite of his birthday cake, even if it hadn’t aligned with my original plans. And of course the cake was absolutely delicious. I was ready for seconds and even thirds!
After eating his fill of cake, his grandparents continued celebrating his birthday by playing with him and his big sister on the playground. Savannah enjoys the swings and going down the slides with her stuffed animals. Orion’s favorite playground activity however is being on the swings and feeling the gentle breeze. He is always so relaxed and happy just swinging back and forth. He likes to kick his legs to express his happiness, and today on the swings he was doing plenty of that. My little man was having a wonderful intimate first birthday party!
As I mentioned before, the cake smash session did not go according to plan, but took a perfect turn instead. Although Orion did not dive into a whole cake by himself, he instead enjoyed sitting with his family and tasting smaller bites followed by some playtime on the swings. I am happy that all turned out well. I still feel bittersweet about having my sweet baby hit a major milestone of completing one trip around the sun. He is expected to be my last baby, so part of me is sad that I will never again get to feel the first kicks inside the womb, watch a first social smile, or witness the first crawl. The other part of me is happy to see him accomplish so much like his first word (“uh-oh!” Just like big sis!) and taking his first independent steps. He has been such a blessing and although he’s still small, he offers so much to our family. I am excited to watch him grown and learn and I am looking forward to the day when he and his big sister play together. He is the perfect addition and made our family complete almost exactly one year ago with his arrival. I am so proud of the little man he is becoming and look forward to many future celebrations with him! Happy birthday Orion!
September 16, 2020
Be the first to comment