YEJIN's POV
Time indeed flies by so quick when you have a baby. In the blink of an eye, Ji eun is turning one years old.
Emotional, Happy, Excited and Sad. I never thought it was even remotely possible to feel all these emotions all at once.
It hit me like a truck that my baby is no longer a baby anymore.
One year ago, I fought hard to bring her into the world and since then, I have never looked back.
For Ji eun's first birthday, we held a huge party in our vacation home 1 hour away from the hustle and bustle of Seoul.
We decked out the house in pink and gold balloons, to be fair not we but the people we hired to decorate the house. The theme of the party was disney princesses. Ji eun has been absolutely obsessed with disney princesses for months now so we decided it was so apt for her first birthday party to be a princess party!
We hired private chefs to serve delicious food of different cuisines, there was Korean, Western and Japanese food and of course many desserts. We even went as far to hire a few real life disney princesses to entertain the children.
Arriving 2 hours before guests are due to arrive, Bin and I made sure that everything was going as planned and in order while Ji eun took a nap upstairs.
We specifically thought our vacation home was the perfect spot to hold the party as there was going to be many guests coming, so for the sake of our privacy, we decided to hold it here. Besides, how nice would it be to be able to return to our cozy and clean home after the party.
An hour and a half later, Ji eun was up from her afternoon nap and ready to start the party!
Ji eun was dressed in a pink princess dress with beautiful white shoes. She looked like the most beautiful baby princess.
Soon, guests started to stream in. My cinderella friend group came first, bearing so many gifts and with their children as well. Bin's friends also arrived shortly. Not forgetting, we invited our close friends from the cast of The Negotiation and Crash Landing On You.
All of the guests came with so many gifts and were all so excited to meet Ji eun. Some of them were meeting her for the first time.
"Ji eun looks absolutely the cutest today! She looks so much like her appa." Director Lee Jongsuk said as he carried Ji eun in his arms.
"Right! It's crazy how alike Ji eun is to Bin. To think that I thought having a daughter was like having a mini me."
"Gwenchana, they say boys look like their eomma. You guys still have many chances to make Yejin's mini me!" Director Lee Jongsuk joked.
Laughter filled the room as we had a small catch up with Director Lee Jongsuk, it is truly thanks to him that Bin and I got together back in 2018 during The Negotiation Era.
The party went incredibly well, Ji eun and the kids loved the real life princesses that we hired to perform for them.
Of course, Bin being a natural with children, attracted all of the kids as they played in the bouncy castle in the backyard. All of our guests' children loved Bin to bits, wanting to play with him and get his attention.
All the kids fighting over Bin was definitely a sight, I would forever remember. He was so sweet to all the children, no doubt that's why all of them wanted to play with him.
I brought Ji eun over to the backyard so that she could also have a turn in the bouncy castle. She was so excited and happy until something caught her eye, It was Bin carrying another baby girl who was slightly older than Ji eun.
Bin was carrying her and helping her get into the bouncy castle. Upon seeing her appa hold another baby whom she didn't know, Ji eun immediately broke down and cried.
"Ji eun-ah, why are you crying? Appa is just helping her." I said as I swayed her in my arms, in a desperate attempt to comfort her.
Seeing Ji eun cry, Bin immediately rushed over to see what's wrong. Initially, he thought she hurt herself because of the sounds of her loud cries.
"She's jealous that you were carrying another baby" I said in between my laughs.
"Aigoo, Ji eun-ah. Appa was just being helpful, you don't like me carrying another baby? Arraseo arraseo, I won't do it again." Bin said emphatically as he took Ji eun from me.
"Appaa.." Ji eun continued to whine as she wrapped her arms around Bin's neck tight.
I chuckled at the sight of my jealous baby.
This incident reminded me of the time, I played with Yoona's son and Ji eun started to cry out of nowhere and only stopped until I gave her my attention.
A clingy and jealous baby, this little one is.
After the cake cutting, it was time for the Korean tradition, Doljabi.
Doljabi is a tradition to celebrate a baby's first birthday. We laid out a Stethoscope, Books, Microphone, Test tube and a Gavel.
All of our guests gathered in our main living room and watched this very precious moment take place.
We placed Ji eun in front of all the objects and waited for her to crawl and wobble her way to the objects.
Truth to be told, Bin and I talked about this and placed our bets before hand on what object we thought she would gravitate towards.
In a desperate attempt to get Ji eun to start moving, Bin and I stood behind the objects and asked her to come over.
"Ji eun-ah, come on. Pick which one you want baby!" I exclaimed as I clapped my hands together.
"Ji eun-ie, over here sweetheart!" Bin called out.
What happened next made everyone cackle.
"Ji eun-ah, not here baby!" Bin called out.
Ji eun crawled halfway towards the objects then suddenly, she got up and wobbled her way and crashed into Yejin's and Bin's arms.
Everyone burst out laughing at how Ji eun choose her eomma and appa, not even glancing a look at the new objects in front of her.
Yejin grabbed Ji eun and hugged her tight.
"Ji eun-ah, my sweet sweet baby."
Eventually, after a second try, Ji eun finally decided to pick one of the objects in front of her.
It was the stethoscope.
After the party, we grabbed all of our stuff and all the presents which barely fitted in our BMW but eventually after much squeezing, everything was loaded into the car.
"Let's go home, you must be very tired." Yejin said as she picked Ji eun up and planted a kiss on her chubby cheek.
On the way home, Ji eun very quickly drifted to sleep. Looking back at Ji eun sleeping, Bin and I chuckled.
"I just got a call that the playhouse has arrived, do you think she'll like it?" Bin asked as he took a peek at Ji eun sleeping at the back.
"I think she'll love it, she likes everything that we buy for her." Yejin added
Upon reaching home, I gently unbuckled the sleeping Ji eun from the car seat and carried her in.
All the jostling and sounds of the gate and the door eventually woke Ji eun up. She definitely was not happy to be up this way.
"Ji eun-ah. look what appa and eomma bought for you." I said as I switched the lights on in her nursery
There stood the most beautiful and magical princess playhouse. It was a customised princess playhouse decked out in pink and silver.
It was even fascinating just looking at it, to say the least.
Saying that Ji eun excited is an understatement
She immediately tried to pry her way out of my arms. Yejin and I watched in amusement as she crawled into her new princess playhouse.
After a few minutes of exploring and many squeals of excitement later, she finally turned her head to look at us and flashed the brightest smile we have ever seen on her face. Not as bright as the one she flashed when she saw Bin after 2 weeks but you get it.
Slowly, Yejin and I decided to have a turn in the playhouse with Ji eun. Turning my head to look at Yejin, it was safe to say that Yejin looked almost as excited as Ji eun when we first entered the playhouse.
We spent almost an hour in the playhouse with Ji eun, setting it up with blankets and throw pillows, taking pictures in it and of course cuddling in our new favourite spot in our home.
A very happy and unforgettable first birthday it was, Happy First Birthday Sweetheart.
AUTHORS NOTE
hey guys! many apologies for the lack of updates :( i've been incredibly busy these past few weeks! anyways, i hope you guys enjoyed the adventure that was Ji Eun's first birthday! also, i hope everyone is doing well and is healthy amidst this pandemic craziness, let's hope it will all get better soon!
see you in my next chapter xx