A birthday party!

We didn't really do a 1st birthday party for John Paul - I was feeling gross in my first trimester of pregnancy, Andrew was studying for the bar, and we were still living in Williamsburg, too far from anyone we would have invited.  So I was excited to do a "real" birthday party this year.  But at the same time, I realized that anything actual would probably just be overwhelming.  The ultimate decision?  A little time at the playground with family, and then back home for hot dogs and cupcakes.

I think he was super-excited to have (almost) all his family members in one place.  He kept looking around and saying, "Mom!  And.  Dad!  And.  Baby Cee-yah!  And.  Gwamma!  And.  GwandDADdy!  And Uggo Dumtwuck!  And Gwampa!  And Ficky!" over and over again. 

I made multicolored funfetti cupcakes with chocolate icing and star sprinkles.  All he cared about were the stars.  Next year we're getting him sprinkles for his birthday and that's it.

The reason to invite more people to his next birthday party?  A box of cake mix makes minimum 24 cupcakes.  There were only 8 people there who were eating solid foods.  I may or may not have had a cupcake for breakfast.

He LOVED opening his presents.  So did Cecilia.  She chose yesterday to perfect her lunge - she's not yet crawling, but she gets up on her hands and knees and FLINGS herself forward, moving a few inches at a time. 



We ended up with so much excitement that naptime didn't happen - too many presents to play with!  So we headed to the pool as our last exciting act of the day.  That kid LOVES the pool.  As soon as I told him we were going he ran to the door saying, "Big pool!  And.  Little pool!  And.  Big pool!  And.  Little pool!"  In the bathtub every night he tells me he's in the little pool.  If only it weren't so ridiculously hot all the time, we might go a little more often.  And it's also rather a lot of work to take TWO kids to the pool.

We came home and played doctor for a while (a gift from his godfather).  We're practicing for his appointment on Monday - he hasn't gotten shots in a year (we are negligent parents...) and I'm not looking forward to how that goes!  The toy syringe is one of his favorite parts - he keeps stabbing himself in the leg yelling, "Shot!  Shot!"

And of course, the aftermath was our little lunging baby's dream - small chewable toys all over the floor!