Though I find it hard to believe, it's been a full year since this baby grew into the little boy right before your very eyes. It really doesn't seem like that long ago I was propping him up with pillows and Mr. Sock Monkey, trying to get his month-by-month photo shoot accomplished. Soon, getting him to sit up for a photo wasn't the issue. Instead, it was getting him to sit still for 0.2 seconds that became a little more difficult.
Now, here he sits, patiently awaiting the birthday song to be sung so that he can blow out the candle. I was actually quite impressed that he knew what to do when the song ended. I guess he's been paying attention during all the birthday parties we've attended. ;-)
Speaking of which, I didn't realize the faces Little Man was making as he attempted to blow out his candle until I was going back through the photos. He is such a character. You're going to want to click the picture below to see the larger version so you don't miss out on those facial expressions.
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| Waiting....BLOWING!....Why is the fire still there?... {check out that final expression} |
How did we celebrate today? Very simply. About a month ago, I was browsing Pinterest for birthday themes. Since Little Man has favorites now (Curious George, trains and airplanes) I couldn't wait to see what themed party I would come up with. Alas, time got away from me and I failed to put any of those plans into action. All for good reasons, however. My family traveled half way around the world to come visit us and then we all took a trip to Singapore. We didn't return home until two days prior to Little Man's big day and we all had a nasty stomach bug to boot. Plan a party?? NO THANK YOU.
But what kind of mother would I be if I didn't try to make the day special? That's what's important, after all. Obviously, I'm not against a really cute, themed birthday party with a bunch of little sugar-rushed children running about my feet. However, given the circumstances, that just wasn't going to happen this year. But even if your circumstances did allow for a party, having a simple celebration really keeps the budget small and the stress low.
Once Little Man went to bed the night before his birthday, I started hanging up all the decorations. Confession: I used the same buntings that I made for his party last year. Reduce, reuse, recycle :-)
I also decided at the last minute to hang up some of the car postcard photos that I recently bought at IKEA.
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| Enjoying his new train set from Maleigh and Grandaddy (the Mr.'s parents) |
As always, we hung up our cloth birthday banner that was made by my mother-in-love.
My plans were to wake up and sneak into Little Man's room while the Mr. prepared a balloon avalanche to fall down on him when the door was opened. I wanted to be inside the room for the photo-op, naturally.
That was the PLAN. Turns out, that stomach bug wasn't quite finished with Little Man yet. I awoke to the sounds of my poor guy crying after he threw up in his crib. So, the balloon avalanche had to wait until after his nap time.
No worries, he seemed to immediately perk up once he saw his new train set all set up on the floor.
I didn't bake a homemade Martha Stewart cake this year (gasp! no cake??)... but we did have chocolate chip muffins for breakfast. It worked out nicely for all of us, and our stomachs :-)
While I was preparing breakfast, the Mr. sat outside while Little Man swam in his pool. The day before (yes...I was really on top of things this year) I invited over a few of his little buddies to come over for some fun in the sun. Seeing as how I wasn't positive our plague stomach bug was completely gone, the mom and I agreed that we would postpone that swim date for another day.
Once he had enough of the pool, we sang "Happy Birthday", ate our yummy muffins, and opened up the rest of his gifts.
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| A new airplane from Mommy and Daddy |
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| Curious George books from Mimi and Pop (my parents) |
After playing with all his new toys, watching a Curious George movie AND some Thomas the Train episodes, it was finally time to take a nap. THEN, 2 hours later, it was finally time for the balloon avalanche. I'm starting to think I was more excited about it than anyone else in the house...
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| He tried putting them back on the door so it would happen again ;-) |
To end the day, we headed to the mall and let Little Man ride the train they have set up for children. Then, we had dinner at a fast food restaurant so our birthday boy could snack on some french fries.
It turned out to be a very enjoyable day, with only a few setbacks. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Little Man throughout the day and each time we ended the song he would blow out his imaginary candle :-)
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday to you,
happy birthday,
we love you!
happy birthday to you.
::blow::
Oh.My.Goodness!! Can he be any cuter? Thank you Alicia for sharing him with us, from the other side of the world.
ReplyDeleteYou're more than welcome :-) Thank you for comment! Miss you.
DeleteHey there! I was just stopping by to say thanks for the follow on bloglovin'! I am happy to be following you back :o) Hope you're having a great Wednesday!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much! I look forward to following along over at Cropped Stories. Enjoy the rest of your week!
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