Boys' Birthdays - Part 2

I won't start this post off with lots of sad "I can't believe it's been a year since Parker was born" comments... but seriously... can you believe it's been a year?!? 365 days? That's a long time. But it flew by in a flash. All those sleepless nights are over. No more swaddling. The colic is gone. The nursing is done. The tiny little newborn diapers are nowhere in sight. 

Now we spend our days laughing together at his funny expressions and discovering the world around him. I could sit and watch him explore a leaf for 5 minutes. Oh wait, I have sat there and watched him explore a leaf for 5 minutes. It's those moments of development that make me so proud as a mommy, and yet a little part of me wants to stop time and keep him little forever.

Yesterday was a big celebration for us. It was one year ago that God allowed this wonderful baby to enter into the world. There were many times we never thought we would experience the birth of another baby, but we finally did. And the wait was well worth it.

We celebrated Parker's birthday with the grandparents over the weekend and he opened up all of their gifts.

  He loves his elephant ball popper toy. It sure is fun to let the wind blow in your face!

 And he really loved this present...

 Okay, so maybe he just really loved the box that it came in. But I loved this gift. He now has his own matching chair just like Payton's.

After presents and lunch, it was time for cake. And as you know, it's tradition to give the baby a "smash cake" to let them play with. Well, it didn't exactly turn out the way we had hoped.

Payton had to stick Parker's hands into the cake just to get him to touch it...

 This did not go over very well...

 It really didn't go over well...

 Then Payton decided that since the Smash Cake wasn't getting smashed by Parker, he would take matters into his own hands...

This scared Parker even worse and then he was not only unhappy about having icing all over his hands, he was screaming in terror at Payton's face.

Let's just say we were all done with the cake at this point.

Moving on to more happy times...

On Tuesdays, I host a babies playgroup at my house. And since it was Parker's birthday, we turned it into a little birthday playgroup. It was so much fun for him (and me)!

Here he is in his little birthday onesie waiting for his pals to arrive.

Typical Parker squinty smile...

 Typical Parker pirate smile...

 "Okay Mom, I'm over the photo shoot, put the camera away."

 Here he is sharing a little snack with his playgroup buddies:

 Happy boy with his goldfish crackers!

 Later that evening, we gave him his birthday gifts. Which pretty much consisted of Target Dollar Spot items. The kid is obsessed with sports balls, so any kind of ball we could find, he got it.

 

 Payton teaching him how to shoot the ball.

 And of course, Elmo.

 Yet another ball.

 I was in birthday celebration heaven!

 One last note before I end these birthday blog posts. I have to say how completely overwhelmed I was by the outpouring of love we experienced for the boys' birthdays this year. We got gifts from SO many friends (even though we didn't have a birthday party), beautiful cards filled with sweet birthday wishes from so many people...

 and incredible gifts and love from our family. We are truly, truly thankful to all of you. You have made this birthday so very special for all of us. 

We love you all!