A one-year-old!

On Sunday, we celebrated Eli's first birthday.

We must have sung "happy birthday" to him a dozen times that day. 

The first time was Julian singing as he went to get Eli out of his crib in the morning, happy tears. 

Eli's favorite toy! He stands on this cart and waits for someone to push him around. 

I saw a cute idea on Pinterest where they put balloons over the crib as a surprise. Since the boys wake up before sunrise, we snuck the balloons in during his morning nap, after we enjoyed a pancake breakfast. 

Poor guy, he started crying when he woke up, not the reaction we were hoping for!

He quickly caught on to the excitement though, he absolutely loves balloons. 

Happy Birthday Baby! 

After we got some healthy food in him, we set up a cake smash. 

I thought if ever there was a baby who would enjoy smashing a cake, surely it would be Eli. 

He relishes a good mess. 

We even set up a little backdrop for the pictures. I've always imagined it would take a lot of work  to set up a backdrop like this, but it was actually about 10 minutes of set up with things we already had around, very easy!

However, Eli did not want to smash his cake. 

In fact, he wanted nothing to do with the cake!

So we sent big brother in to show him how it's done. 

We even tried putting some fresh berries on top, one of his favorite foods, but it didn't help. 

Of course, the one time we encourage him to make a big mess, he didn't want to do it!

Proof that cake smashing should really be for two-year-old's:

This kid will eat berries anywhere!

After another nap we made a trip to Maggiano's so Eli could have some of his favorite Rigatoni's. 

I treated myself to another lemon drop, Eli is officially weaned as of Thursday :) 

Good food. Nice ambiance. Our little rigatoni can still put away an adult sized portion of that dish, but he did not want to sit in a booster seat. Our kind waitress correctly described the boys as "ticking time bombs" who went off shortly before dessert arrived. 

So we brought it home. 

We blasted the Lie-la-Lie song, sang happy birthday a few more times, let the boys take turns blowing out that classic 1 candle, and at exactly 5:03 I held my littlest boy and had Julian snap a picture. 

We officially have a 1 and 2-year-old in the household. 

Eli opened his birthday present with delight. 

We try to take the "less is more" approach when it comes to gifts for the little guys; it can be tough to stick to (I grew up in a household with massive amounts of presents!). In honor of Eli's first birthday we opened up college accounts for both boys and set-up monthly contributions. I am also working on something for Eli to give him at his party (hopefully it will be finished).

 Eli, it is hard to believe that an entire year has passed since we first met. 

It seems like just yesterday you were a tiny baby in my arms yet impossible to imagine our family without you. 

Our clown. Our joy. Our littlest boy. 

Happy Birthday!