Last Month Was Such a Special One, Birthday Time For Andrew

I know everyone always says they can't believe their baby is one, so I won't say it. I can't believe my baby is 13 months old! The first year always flies by, but Andrew's first year was not really a whole year, I swear. One day Gary and I had this crazy idea to have another baby, and we didn't think much past him being born. And that was yesterday. However, somehow I have this hilarious chubby boy running around, and the calendar said to have a birthday party, so a month ago, we did.

Andrew loves pancakes and waffles - he downed two waffles once while Josh and Noah lingered over their one. So of course we had to make him blueberry pancakes for breakfast on his big day. Josh heard me saying I was going to try to make Andrew's party The Bomb, so of course he assumed the theme of the party would be bombs. He had a lot of questions about that until I put the blueberries in the pancakes, then he said, "Oh, I know, the blueberries can be the bombs." Exactly.

Josh had been planning a cake for a long while, and so had I. My version was from scratch, gourmet, and adorable. Due to all of the things we had going on that week, I was trying to enact my plan at the last minute, and was frantically searching for the perfect recipe when Josh brought me a chocolate cake mix from the pantry. We went with his plan. He actually "made" the cake while I chatted with my visiting teachers (and supervised). His vision had included sprinkles all over the sides, which he attempted to apply one by one before I showed him an easier way. Josh was pretty proud of what he'd done for his brother.

Since it hadn't been too long since we'd gotten together with family, and Andrew isn't real tight with kids his age, we didn't have a party exactly planned. However, I just had to have some people over to make things festive for my baby Andrew, and luckily we have the perfect neighbors for the occasion. They haven't lived here long, but my children just adore them. They have teenagers, so it's fun for them to be around little kids, and were up for our last-minute invite. I was so glad they came, they totally got in on the adoring Andrew thing, and having them there made it a party. I should have gotten an adorable group shot, but I feel pretty good about getting some of the birthday boy. And as you can see, he did enjoy himself.



Classic Andrew, "Oh!" He says it for many occasions.




Being the center of attention is a little awkward . . .

Right before Noah blew out the candle. We told him to help, and after he did he exclaimed, "It's not even my birthday."



Josh is making Andrew smile.



Andrew's present was immediately popular with everyone. Even me - after the kids went to bed that night, I figured out how to use the abacus to add numbers up to 999,999. Don't worry, Andrew's gotten plenty of chances with it since.



At Andrew's 12 month doctor visit he was 25 lbs, 6 oz., and 30.75 inches. He started walking just after turning eleven months, and is quite the climber. He even climbs onto the couch and drops himself off of the arm of the couch into his exersaucer. He is hilarious - always laughing. He loves peek-a-boo, chasing, tickling, playing cars, singing, and snuggling. Well, when he's tired he's a great snuggler, otherwise, he has to get up and go. He imitates everything we do. He'll put pretend to put on backpacks, brush his hair, put on a shirt, fight with a lightsaber . . . and get excited about all of them. This kid really melts my heart, he's such a sweet boy. Hey Andrew - love ya, kiddo!