I feel I should start with post with a disclaimer. There will be photos. Lots and lots and lots of photos.
Your first birthday! It’s finally here!! I will freely admit, the celebration and your party were definitely more for me than for you. You had no idea that October 4 was such a special day.
Before we talk about your birthday, let me mention your one-year photo shoot. We hired a friend of ours and she met us at Bear Creek Park one hot afternoon in early September. I had no idea how you would behave, but you had a blast! Stacie, the photographer, brought some cute little chairs as props. We started you out in the rocking chair and you just started smiling. She got so many great shots of you that day. You were a total cheeser. smile
Besides the chairs, she took some of you in a basket with helium balloons tied to it. You can’t see in the photos, but we had stuffed every blanket we brought into the bottom of that basket so that you would sit at the correct height. You thought it was hilarious. And the balloons only made you smile more.
The final setting was the smash cake. I took your shirt off and put on a cute little tie before sitting you in front of the cake. Prior to this, you had never had cake or frosting. Initially, you were perplexed by the frosting. It got onto your hands and made them sticky, but it only took a few seconds before the first bite went into your month. Once that happened, you dug in. About half way through, you noticed that some frosting had gotten onto your pants. You’re not a fan of messes, so you tried to wipe it off….with your frosting covered hand! You only managed to smear it all over your leg, but we had a good laugh. Hehe!
Once the shoot was done, we cleaned you up and packed up. You barely made it four minutes before you fell asleep in the car. Being cute is hard work!
When I received the photos from Stacie a week later, I was amazed. I had brought a baby to the photo shoot, but the photos I received were of a little boy. You looked so handsome and grown up! I may have cried. A little.
On your birthday weekend, both Grandpa and Grandma, and PaPa and NeNe flew in to celebrate with us. You, my son, had a weekend full of love, hugs, kisses and attention! You absolutely love when your people come to visit you. In fact, you woke up an hour early every morning, just in case you were missing something. Trust me, you weren’t. wink
Your birthday was on a Sunday this year, so the day before, Saturday, we had a firetruck themed party. Besides your grandparents, we invited Uncle Ben, the Graham’s, and a few friends. We held the party in the morning, so you were very happy and social. It didn’t take long before you were down on the ground playing with the other kids and the firetruck toys. After cake, you opened presents and then the party was done. You ate lunch, played with your new toys, and took a nap. We adults did the same. smile
On Sunday, the 4th, we ate more cake (you didn’t #notsorry), and you opened your presents from the grandparents, aunts and uncles. Splitting up the present opening into two parts seemed to work well. It allowed you to play with each set of new toys before opening another set. One week later, you’re still playing with all the new toys, but you seem to be discovering new and different ways to play with them. It’s fun to watch.
Grandpa and Grandma Dendel brought you a child’s place setting from their recent trip to Italy. You absolutely loved the cup and proceeded to hold it the whole time you opened presents. You even took occasional sips from it. LOL!
I’ll go ahead and post some of my other photo shoot favorites below. Enjoy!
