Birthday Party!

So, despite the fact that I never mailed the invitations, we still managed to have a full house for Alex's first birthday! I think we had 26 people in our living room, wow!

We chose some of Alex's favorite foods - mostaciolli, bread, & pears...in green jello, which Alex just LOVED! Grandma S, Aunt Deb, and Aunt Donna helped by bringing salad, jello, and chips. Grandma P made a beautiful cake to match the party decorations.

Alex discovered helium balloons a few weeks ago at CVS, and he's been fascinated with them. We stopped at Hallmark on the day before his party, and filled up Alex's birthday balloon. He just loved it, and he now signs "please" and points to the balloon whenever he wants it. Very cute!


(Typical - my boy never manages to have all of his socks/shoes on at any given time.)

Alex had cake and (soy) ice cream for the first time. He had blood testing for allergies last week Monday, and we're hoping to get the official results on a milk allergy soon. He sure made a mess of his cake, and he seemed to like the cake & ice cream...but he didn't have any amazing response, other than smearing himself with frosting!

He's not blowing out the candle; he's trying to grab the flame! :)

Daddy helped Alex with opening his presents this time. He got spoiled with lots of new clothes for summer/fall/winter...2 pairs of overalls, several cute shirts, a sweatsuit, pants, socks, and a nice warm winter coat for next year. Aunt Diane also sent along a gift card for Gymboree...so we can choose some more fun clothes the next time we go to the mall! Alex also received some very nice practical gifts - a straw cup, fork & spoon, and step stool...all things that we will definitely need!



As for toys, he received a floating road with cars & trucks to drive in the tub, more wooden blocks, a jungle themed ring-stacker made of soft animals, a Build-A-Bear (dressed like Alex!), a musical choo-choo train ("Kuck", as Alex calls it), a BIG slide (which he climbs UP rather than sliding down...), and some money to add to his savings account. Hopefully I didn't leave anything off this list! (Oh, he also received a fun fire truck from mommy's friend Karen before the party...because Karen was a little busy having a new baby girl!!)




We chose to skip Alex's regular morning nap, hoping he'd nap right before the party. It didn't quite work that way, as Alex decided he'd rather not sleep...and ended up with only about 35 minutes of nap. We figured he'd be a CRAB, but he was a good boy the whole time! He sure did crash after everyone went home, though! He took a nice nap in my arms almost as soon as the house was quiet...and still managed to go to bed at his usual time & sleep late the next morning! Poor kid was totally worn out! :)




Thank you for spoiling our baby boy, but mostly thanks to all of you for coming and helping us celebrate how Alex has grown and changed in the past year!



(We're working on thank-you cards...hopefully I will actually MAIL those!)