Caleb's 1st Year!

Hallelujah, we are all still alive and thriving! If you had asked me a year ago what this year had in store for me, I probably would've said, "I have no clue!!!" I really began motherhood with very little knowledge about babies and how to raise one of my own. Now, I feel like a veteran, ha ha, hardly, but at least I have an idea of what the first year of a new baby brings . . . . .

A baby's first year brings: lots of tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of frustration, tears of lack of sleep, just lots and lots of tears, bumps, baths, burp rags, late nights, early mornings, poopy diapers, leaky diapers, diapers, diapers, diapers, nursing, creams, giggles, slobber, crawling, chasing, walking, car rides, strollers, cuddling, smiles, teething, spit up, eating, baby books, pictures, videos, baby einstein, toys, lost hair, frizzy hair, messy hair, soft baby hair, onesies, laundry, cooking, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, baby proofing, sore back, sore all over, penny pinching, moving, doctors check ups, tylenol, wanting to exercise but don't have time or energy, but most of all, a whole lot of L O V E :)

I got made fun of for probably over planning my baby's first birthday party, but I couldn't help myself. Not only was it my first baby's first birthday, but I love to plan parties, so I had a blast with it. Here are a few pics to give you a glimpse of what it was like.

You can't have a party with out an invitation!!


Since I love polka dots, and Caleb's room is brown, baby blue, and white polka dots, I figured this would be a fun theme.


Here is the back drop of Caleb's party. I'm so glad the weather turned out nice so we could have it outside.


Here are just some of the family that showed up earlier. We had more friends show up later. Sadly Grandma Kelly, Megan, and Cooper couldn't come because Cooper got a concussion. As well, Allison and Josh couldn't because Josh had to go to the ER. Bad luck, I guess!


I had all of the food be circles or polka dots. Not all of it was at the table when I took this picture, but we had meatballs, bagle bites, cheese ball, melon balls, guacamole with circle chips, olives, cucumbers, cherry tomotoes, etc.


This was the desert table, with cupcakes, polka dot sugar cookies, almond joy m & m's, and of course, a polka dot birthday cake! In the front, I made a banner that had a picture from each month of Caleb's life.



This was the activity table where I had people write down how many cheerios they thought were in the jar, guess the months of some of Caleb's firsts, and write on the picture frame reasons why they loved Caleb. I made pinwheels and stuck them on the pencils. Oh, and of course the winners got Dots candies!


Here's a close up of Caleb's birthday cake. I almost did fondant, but I'm so glad that I didn't, because it wouldn't have been near as messy!


Here's a close up of the cupcakes.


Another pic of the desert table


That stinker only wore his polka dot birthday hat for a few seconds!


He LOVED all of the chocolate frosting. I eventually had to take it away from him, lol!


He looked like a hobo with the frosting, ha ha. His face is classic!


We love our baby so much, and seriously can't believe he's already 1. Time certainly flies!!