Nathan is one!

Well, one of the most happy-sad things that ever happens to a woman has happened to me. My baby (as in last child, not just current youngest child) has turned one! He is no longer a baby, he is a toddler who toddles all over and makes many messes. He is super cute and sweet and really fun to have around. But gosh darn it, what happened to this guy?I need to start making friends with all the pregnant ladies at church so I can get my baby fix.

So, for the first time ever, I was quite successful at keeping the birthday experience from getting out of control. We did have a small party (which I will hopefully blog about soon), but I did a very good job of not overindulging the birthday child! He got some sand toys from us (more because we needed sand toys than anything), a present from each sibling, and a baby swing from Grandma & Grandpa Smith. It was nice!

Katy got Nathan some board books and a bouncy ball at the dollar store. He likes the books (he likes to look at those little board books that are just the right size for his little hands), but he LOVES the ball! He had tested it out before his birthday, so as soon as he got it in his hands he knew what it was!

This was the first time he really unwrapped presents (Christmas was 3 months ago, he couldn't really unwrap then and probably doesn't remember it anyway), so we had to teach him. He started off just taking tiny bits...
Then he got the hang of it a bit better.

There it is! I want that!

And he immediately tried to walk away to play with it! It took some convincing to get him to open any other presents!
David gave him a pretty neat ball that opens and has some different things inside. Okay, that's a horrible explanation. Just trust me, it's a fun toy!

Next it was cupcake time! Since I knew we were doing a party on Saturday, I didn't do anything all that special. Just vanilla cupcakes with blue buttercream frosting. Mmmm!

Now, Nathan has certainly had more sweets than many babies have by their first birthday. But he was still a little uncertain.

Testing the frosting...

Hey, this is pretty good!

Yum!

It wasn't all that much frosting so he didn't get good and messy like a baby is supposed to for their first birthday. Oh well, he didn't seem to mind!

Nathan is such a wonderful, sweet dispositioned little guy. He loves his brothers & sister so much, and is such a joy to have around! Happy Birthday, Nathan! We're glad you're in our family!