Our Joel Riley turned 1 on Wednesday! It is incredible to look at the last year and realize how much our lives have changed. This little man brings us so much joy, even amidst the frustrations of parenthood. We had a blast celebrating Joel's birthday.
The day started out not so birthday-like. Joel had his 12-month doctor's checkup, including his shots. My mom thought I was crazy to schedule his immunizations on his birthday, fearing he would be cranky and feeling unwell for his party. But, like all his past times getting his shots, he did totally fine. He cried monstrously when it happened, fell asleep in the car on the way home, slept for a couple of hours, and when he woke up, he was our happy birthday boy!
We invited our families over Wednesday evening. The weather conspired against us (we decided that Joel must have wished for snow for his birthday) and so out of necessity we held the party inside. It was a little crowded (James has lots of siblings!) but it worked all right. James and I were actually quite surprised by how many of our family members came. It was wonderful to see how loved our Joel-baby is by our family.
I made a couple of ice cream cakes, as well as a pan of cupcakes. I wanted Joel to be able to have a cake smash, but a cupcake just seemed more reasonable to me! So, after everyone had arrived, we sang happy birthday to him, lit the candle (which he tried to touch) and Daddy helped him blow it out.
He went after his cupcake with gusto, although his enjoyment of said cake was slightly more questionable...
"Not sure about this, Mama..."
After everyone had cake, we settled down for present-opening. I have to confess, I was surprised at the number of gifts that Joel received. James and I only got him a couple of things, ourselves. Our goal is to always keep birthdays fairly low-key for our children. This birthday definitely did not fit that mold! But that was all right. This is probably the only birthday where we'll be near family, so it made us really happy.
Joel loved going through the bags, although he seemed more interested in the tags than the presents at first! And of course, had to munch on some wrapping paper.
He was pretty studious about examining each of the gifts. Joel's a very curious little boy, and he was fascinated by several of his presents.
Joel got totally spoiled! Yesterday, we got all his new things out of the boxes and left them in our living room. He had a blast playing with everything off and on all day. I suppose eventually I'll get it all put away, but right now it's fun to watch him explore and experiment.
Here's to the next year! Can't wait to see what adventures this little man has in store!
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