I have to preface this by saying how disappointed Jason was with the way I approached Eli's first Christmas and that he has repeatedly expressed his concern regarding the way I might celebrate Eli's first birthday. I keep arguing the fact that I think it's silly to make a big deal and especially waste money on something he won't even remember. However, Jason was very persistent and in the end I adopted an "if you can't beat em', join em'" philosophy and, for my husband's sake, decided I would be as enthusiastic as possible about Eli's big day. After all, it may be his birthday but we actually survived our first year as parents! Doesn't that deserve a little celebrating as well? Anyway, once I embraced the idea of celebrating, I really let myself get out of hand! We bought all sorts of decorations and presents, planned a special breakfast, lunch and dinner catered just to Eli's liking, made a cake, etc. I have to admit, embracing the celebration sure was fun! Even if he won't remember... As I said, I got a little out of hand and decided it would be a good idea to document absolutely every single aspect of the day from the moment Eli woke up, so this post may get a bit lengthy...
Daddy was a bit sweaty from his morning run
Eli's two favorite foods are chocolate and bananas, so we made him chocolate chip banana pancakes for breakfast. No, we didn't actually give him that whole plate, just for the pictures.
It was cow appreciation day at Chick-Fil-A. Eli loves going for walks in his stroller so we decided to walk there for lunch and then put spots on our clothes to get free meals. He loved his chicken nuggets and chocolate milk.
Present time!
Eli's Grandma Glover was very insistent that we give him a box of Kleenex for one of his presents, he loved it!
He played with his new car for just a minute before he was back to the tissues.
That present wasn't supposed to be opened until later! I guess he got impatient.
Both of our babies, Kyah at 6 months (gestation, obviously) and Eli at 1 year.
Honestly, what's better than Funfetti cake? Nothing. We also made homemade ice cream- YUM!
As pretty much our only remaining family in town, we were glad the Sargent's (Jason's Aunt, Uncle and cousins Kimbo and Camille) freed up their Friday night to come celebrate with us.
A bit hesitant to dig in at first.
He started to get the hang of it though.
I'd say he did a pretty good job.
Time for a bath!
Patty Cake.
Time for more presents! The Sargent's got him Just a Little Critter book...
And some really cool cars.
Eli loves to eat M&M's when we go to the pool, so we decided to get him some.
And back to the Kleenex!
'
He was so excited by all his toys he didn't want to go to bed, but he was too tired to even hold his head up. It was a fun day for the little guy. We can't wait for what year two has in store!
