Cole's First Birthday

I can't believe Cole is one year old! He was and is such a good baby. He would sleep 10-12 hours a night from the time he was three or four months old. He doesn't fuss about much either. I feel so blessed and lucky. He has been picking up things so quickly the past month or so pointing at everything saying, "dat". I've been telling him what everything is called. Sometimes when he points, it's because he wants "dat". He also has been doing a great job of undoing everything I do; I put away his toys, he gets them out again, I fold things, he throws them on the floor...he's a great help unloading the groceries!! I have to be careful, though, because he'll run off with something that needs to be refrigerated or has a pointy side...

He's a great walker now and sometimes picks up the pace and gets a trot going! He doesn't bend his knee very much when he does this, but I expect he'll get the hang of it. If he gets a booboo, he tells us a long story about what happened, "da da da da da da..." crying through the whole story. He loves his fuzzy stuffed friends and blankets. He takes them for walks up and down the hallway and up to the sliding glass door admiring the view. He still throws balls and pushes cars around. He tries to pick larger things up and carry them. The box Nana sent for his birthday for example. If he can't pick it up or can't carry it very far, then he climbs on it...or at least tries!

His birthday went well, considering. Can I just soapbox this one thing? "RSVP" means to let your host know whether OR NOT you plan to attend. I invited ten people and only three RSVPed! Nine of them showed up. I'm done. Anyway, I didn't have any games planned; the kids played with each other. Everyone ate and then we did cake and ice cream. Then opened presents. Cole had practice unwrapping from Christmas, but he got bored of it after three or four...so I helped him. He got some pretty awesome gifts much more than I expected or could hope for. Thanks to everyone for that! I know he loves each and every one of his toys because when I was straightening up for the party, I put a couple toys away and then a couple more and each time he went looking for them all. He looked a bit anxious after awhile and started following me around whining.

He only took one nap whereas most days since we moved into the new house, he takes three. Kristen and Jimmy stayed later for a little while along with Heath's buddies Rich and his son and then Chris and his son. It was a very interesting evening for Cole and he did very well. He's doing much better socially only crying once, but he was tired and ready for bed. The others stayed for the fight a little while longer.

We considered not doing anything for Cole's first birthday, but didn't want to look back and say "we should have..." like other things we've have missed. More is never enough when it comes to photos. Speaking of which, you all were there in spirit and in our hearts. Here are the photos from the day. Enjoy and love you!