Baby Steps

Any day now. Could be today after his nap. Or next week when he turns 13 months. But the camera is always within arm's reach because any day now Connor could be walking!

And when he does, this little man is going to be so busy. I can't wait!

He's ready to take off walking!

ONE Little Monster's Birthday!

He's a year old and there's nothing I can do about it! I can't stop time and I can't go back and relive all of our sweet "firsts" of this past year. I just have to live in the moment and soak up every day with our ONE year old! So, I have to stop being in denial that my baby is ONE!

I wanted his birthday party to be a celebration of him! I chose the monster theme to carry out the theme from his nursery, and then I could close the door on the monsters. I felt like going from the nursery to the first birthday party carried us full circle for the year. It just made sense. 

So, every great party starts with a great invitation. I chose this invite. I loved the saying and the bright happy colors. And who doesn't love chevron? I used these four colors - red, yellow, blue & green - as a basis for the entire party. I also had coloring sheets printed that matched the invite, thank you cards, stickers for the favor boxes & centerpieces and even the print on his birthday shirt! See, I like a good theme carried through an event!

The invitations.

This was an original design (which I now see all over Pinterest). I wanted a visual way for guests to look back on our year. The younger pictures of him are at the top, working up to the older pictures toward the base of the "1". This was stuck onto the downstairs closet door. In between the living room and dining room, so it was a stopping point between rooms. I wanted to make sure there were reflections of Connor in each party space.

Centerpiece on the table. Bright colored toys for little ones to play with and gum balls for the adults to enjoy. 

With a monster themed nursery, we also collected lots of monster clothes his first year. I put them on a clothesline to display at the party. It was meaningful because these were little outfits he wore and we could reflect on fun memories of him wearing them. It's all about the details!

Festive balloons showed guests that the party was here! The giraffe bike was his gift from us, and it looked fun on the porch.

I made a wreath! So proud of myself. It's a balloon wreath with some spiraled pipe cleaners coming out of it. FUN!

Favor boxes in the party colors with the chevron monster stickers on them. Everyone took home a monster squeaky toy.  The sign on the table says "Thank you from our little monster" This was a bistro table I had at the front door so guests couldn't miss their favors.

We had lots of kids at the party and we knew they wouldn't all fit in the house. So we set up bubbles, balls, kazoos and sidewalk chalk outside for them to enjoy!

His high chair corner all set up for the smash cake and singing! I wanted to make sure that the area would look good in a picture, so the "Happy Birthday" banner is just above the high chair.

His up to date baby book, monthly photos and monster birth announcement.

Photos from his one year photo shoot.

Ya'll, even his onesie is in the party theme!

Happy first birthday to our little monster. We love you more than we could ever have imagined. You are our world! 

He's ONE!

Warning: Prepare for a Connor overload as I recap his birthday celebration(s)!.

I still cannot believe that our baby is a year old. The fastest year of my life, hands down. A few weeks before the big day, we had his one year photo shoot. My favorite part was the smash cake - he went to town on the cake. At one point, he even propped his foot up on the cake stand and continued eating. He LOVED the cake!

On his actual birthday, we had a small celebration at school with mini cupcakes (he devoured two) and balloons. (Side note - I am pretty sure balloons are his new favorite thing. He loves to say "boon" and hit the balloon over and over!). It was really sweet. His teacher Mogee (pictured below) decorated the classroom and had happy birthday music playing when we came in that morning. Cue the first round of tears.

On his birthday evening I had to work (BOO) so when I got home, he was asleep. I went and picked him up and snuggled him at his actual birth time - 9:43 PM and just cried and prayed over him. I rejoiced for the perfect miracle that he is. I thanked God for his sweet life. I prayed that He would grow to know Jesus as his personal Lord and Savior and seek to have a close relationship with Him. It was a sweet tradition that I plan to repeat as long as I can, though realizing one day I won't be able to physically hold him!

That weekend we had his official birthday party, which after months of planning, was a huge success. I'll post much more on that later!