Koa’s First Birthday Cake

What a wild experience the first year of motherhood is! I would say the biggest way my life has changed is that I have learned to appreciate the present moment and a slower pace of life, a lot more than I ever did in the past. I have always been a very busy, on-the-go, active woman. And this past year has helped me learn to slow down to really marvel in all the small moments of watching a baby learn and grow. To be honest, it’s been a very challenging process for me to still balance my career as a professional snowboarder, which has required a lot of International travel. So that meant we brought Koa to 5 countries, in the past year! But looking back, I’m so grateful we did all of that with him. It just showed me that when you have a baby you don’t have to stop living the life you always had! It takes more effort, and there’s a lot more exhaustion but it’s worth it in the end.

Motherhood has been so incredible, and so hard at the same time! I am in awe of all mothers because of how much sacrifice it takes to nurture a baby. All of your energy goes into taking care of them, but at the same time they give you so much energy and love. The love between a mother and baby is unlike any other love. But I never realized how exhausting being a mom could be. The sleepless nights and feeding schedules seemed daunting for a long time. Now that Koa is a 1 year-old, I look back and it feels like it flew by, but maybe that’s because he’s sleeping with only one feeding at night now, in comparison to the 3-4 he did for 11 months.

Koa has been all over the world in just his first year, traveling to Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and Costa Rica all before his first birthday! Traveling with a baby requires a lot more gear and a different level of patience. I have had to re-prioritize my schedule to accommodate nursing and sleep schedules, but to watch Koa light up at sights all over the world has been magical. He got to wake up to monkeys in Costa Rica, see penguins in New Zealand, Kangaroos in Australia, and ski attached to Chris in Japan. All of these experiences make all the hard travel days worth it!

I have not given Koa sugar yet because I don’t think it’s necessary for a baby to have sugar before they know what it is. Once he comprehends what sweet treats are, then we can have a discussion about how to manage sugar intake. Don’t get me wrong, Chris and I have a very big sweet tooth! But I want Koa to learn what sugar is and realize that it’s something special to eat. But, of course I still wanted him to have cake on this special birthday. We celebrated Koa’s first birthday with close friends and family. So, I made him a very low sugar birthday cake with simple ingredients that you probably have in your own kitchen!

I even went a step further and decorated it with fresh blueberries and raspberries in the shape of a 1. And Koa went nuts! You can see in some of the photos that he got so worked up when I took the cake away! Definitely a child of Chris and me, as we both love food so much.

I am sharing the recipe below for my easy low sugar birthday cake for your little one. Enjoy!