A Few "Firsts"

On Monday, Hunter decided that he wanted to explore his walking skills. He has been cruising around on furniture and such for a while now but I guess he wanted to venture out. He has this little toy that he can walk behind and we have tried to get him to do it in the past but the thing always moved faster than his little legs could go so he would just fall down - until now. He stood up behind this thing and walked across the room! He thought it was so much fun - you could tell by the huge smile on his face - and it was so cute to see my little guy walking around! I know that he'll be walking without the aid of furniture and toys soon... and it's definitely exciting yet a little scary! :P

That same day, I decided that I would let him try to drink from a straw. We've given him drinks from a straw before but we would put our finger on one end and lift the straw out of the cup and then "release" the liquid into his mouth from the end of the straw (you know what I'm talking about - I hope...) But this time, I wanted to see if he could actually suck something out of a straw. The only straw I could find was the little tiny straw on a Caprisun. I put the straw into the Caprisun and tried to put it in his mouth. At first, he tried to push it away but then he decided that maybe he would just chew on the end of it... and then he accidentally sucked some liquid up. His eyes got all wide and he got excited (I could tell by the kicking of his legs) and then he wanted more - more of the yummy sugary drink inside of the curious silver container and more of the curious way to drink liquids. It didn't take him long to figure out how he had gotten the liquid out and he just started slurping away. I ended up having to take it away because I didn't want him getting TOO much and he didn't like that one bit. But it seemed like he really enjoyed it and now I know that he's got the straw skills!

Yesterday, Hunter was eating his afternoon snack in his high chair. I was doing the dishes and when I turned around, his left arm was out of his sleeve! He was just sitting there like nothing was wrong and I just started busting up! I didn't even see or hear him try to get halfway undressed! I put his arm back in his sleeve and he didn't like that, so he just took it right back out again! And it only took him a half of a second! He apparently wanted to get his right arm out of the sleeve too, so he could take his shirt off, so he started tugging at that sleeve too. I decided it was time to get out the camera and record this funny moment and here's what I witnessed... It's kinda long but very funny and if you don't have sound, it's fine - you just won't hear me chuckling in the background... :P

Hunter's first birthday - part 3

After we opened presents, it was time for cake. I had made a cake that looked like a light bulb - to go along with the theme of the party - using a round pan and a bread pan. I cut the bread pan cake in half and used one side for the light bulb and the other for a special cake for Hunter. We gave Hunter his cake and sang to him. I ended up having to blow out his candle because all he wanted to do was touch the flame. I thought he would dive right into the cake, as I have seen several other one year olds do but he didn't! He just sort of looked at it, confused. I gave him a little taste of frosting and he thought it was good but didn't start feeding himself. Instead, he decided that he would smack the cake with the palm of his hand! Everyone started laughing and since Hunter enjoys making people laugh, he continued to beat the cake over and over! It was so funny because he didn't like the feeling of the cake on his hand, so he tried to shake it off everyone once and a while but would then continue to smack the cake. And he was just screaming the whole time! We were all laughing so hard! And boy, did he make a mess! But it was definitely worth it!

As I watched Hunter turn his cake into a pancake, I heard Josh yell, "who wants cake and ice cream?" I looked at the light bulb cake and realized that Josh had cut into it and had started serving it onto plates. I looked at him and said, "Oh PLEASE tell me you got a picture of that cake before you cut into it?!?" He looked at me with wide eyes and was like, "OOPS..." He put the few pieces of cake back where they came from and I took a picture of my now not-so-perfect cake. I had Josh's brother taking pictures during the party and he ran over and said, "JOSH! You cut into it before we got pictures?" Josh felt bad but there was nothing else we could do... I was definitely bummed that I didn't get a picture of my cake in one piece, nor did I get a picture of it with Hunter, but I guess you learn as you go!

Since it was now completely dark outside, the kids decided to go into Hunter's room (where it was REALLY dark) and play with their glow sticks. My dad decided to be the chaperone of this event and the kids thought it was so fun! Josh's brother got really good pics of the glow party in Hunter's room!

After awhile, everyone started to go home. The kids were amazed that they got to keep their glow stick swords and wands and they were very happy to get a present at someone else's birthday party! After mostly everyone was gone, we turned off all of the "lame" lights that we had turned on for present opening and cake and that's when the real party started! My parents, Josh's parents, my niece and a few of Josh's siblings were still at our house and we had a blast! Hunter was being very hyper (no doubt on a sugar high from the frosting) and kept screaming at all of the lights! It was so funny because he pulled himself up to stand at the coffee table and with one hand, he was holding himself up and with the other hand, he raised his yellow glow stick in the air and just screamed! It was like he was screaming, "All hail the king of lights!" It was hilarious! Josh's dad was really enjoying the disco ball and the 70's club feel that we had going on, so he decided that he wanted to liven things up! He pulled out his phone and started playing some Beegees music on speaker! It was awesome!

It was getting way past Hunter's bedtime, so everyone left. We turned off all of the lights and put Hunter to bed. He was very tired from his big day, so he went right to sleep. Josh and I made no attempt to clean up because it was a disaster... so we ended up going downstairs (where it was clean) and watched a movie. It felt good to relax and not worry about baking or decorating or entertaining guests. Man, throwing a cool shin-dig takes a lot of work! But it was worth it because it was a very fun party and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves! So it was a SUCCESS! :D

Hunter's first birthday - part 2

For Hunter's birthday party, Josh and I decided that it would be fun to have a "light" party. As mentioned in earlier posts, Hunter LOVES lights and he enjoys flicking the light switch off and on. I tried to Google some "light party ideas" but I found NOTHING! This idea didn't exist! We were on our own! So, we decided to gather as many weird and interesting lights as we could from friends and relatives. We had lava lamps, Christmas lights, black lights, a siren, a stoplight, a disco ball and an electricity ball (you know, the one has bolts of "lightning" and you put your hand on it and the bolts go to your hand?) We also got a ton of glow sticks that looked like swords and wands for the younger kids in our families and a ton of glow bracelets and necklaces. It was awesome that we could find that kind of stuff because of the time of year that he was born! :D My sister came over the day before the party and helped me get everything decorated, so I didn't have to worry about it the day of. Hunter thought it was very interesting when he saw her up on the tall wall putting up Christmas lights (as demonstrated in the pic).

I decided that I wanted to make Hunter a shirt that said, "I'm one year old," so he could wear it while eating his birthday cake. I thought it would be cool to get a darker colored shirt and have the writing be white or glow in the dark, so it would look awesome under the black light. So, I got the stuff to do it and it turned out pretty good...

And now back to what happened at the party...

After Hunter got ready for the party, we decided to give him his first taste of milk before the party guests arrived. I didn't give him any throughout the day because I wasn't sure if you just say, "Here's your milk - drink up!" or if you give them a little at a time. I found out that it doesn't matter, so we put some in a sippy cup - cold - and he didn't really want anything to do with it. It was probably because he had just eaten a little before that...

Everyone started arriving and we passed out the glow swords and wands to the kids - and they loved them! We even got Hunter a yellow glow sword as well. (On a side note, yellow, we have discovered, is his favorite color... hmmm, I wonder why? What else is yellow that he loves? LOL! If you don't know what I'm refering to, think about the theme of the party... :P) We also gave the adults the glow necklaces and bracelets and the "light" party was on! It was still a little light outside when we started but the lights still looked cool. We started eating and I expected some people to go downstairs and hang out because my upstairs isn't THAT big for the amount of people we had at the party. But no one did! They all wanted to be where the lights were! (I didn't decorate downstairs, just in case anyone wanted to get away from the lights...)

The food was very yummy and the pasta bar was a success. Everyone commented on the yummy alfredo sauce (made my Josh's mom), chicken, breadsticks (Hunter really liked those - as displayed in the left picture), salad and meatballs (made by Sam's Club - hehe). I felt bad because Josh's grandpa is somewhat blind, so this whole "light" party made it very hard for him to see because it was dark. So, we ended up cracking the blinds in the front room so he could see what he was eating. He kept joking about it, so it seemed like he was okay with it... I guess we didn't think that part of the party through very well! Sorry grandpa!

After we finished eating, we decided to do presents because Hunter was getting a little awnry because it was getting close to his bedtime. We turned on some lights, so the pics would turn out and sat him on my lap. He kept squirming and trying to get away because he didn't want to sit still but as soon as he saw his first present - the Lightning McQueen toy I mentioned in my last post - it definitely caught his interest. And not just his interest but the interest of EVERY child at the party! They all gathered around as Hunter tried to check out his new toy and they started to fight over it! Josh wanted to bust out the new toy so everyone could play with it and I warned him not to because there wasn't time to open every single new toy that Hunter got... but he opened it anyways. Later on at the party, the kids ended up beating each other up over the Lightning McQueen toy, so we had to hide it so the kids would stop fighting over it... I guess it was a cool toy!

We continued to open presents and had to hurry through them because Hunter was very impatient. Any time that I tried to show him anything other than a toy (clothes in particular), he would push it away and try to escape off my lap. I felt bad because we were rushing through the presents and I thought it seemed like we weren't grateful for the gifts and time that our family spent picking them out for Hunter. But I'm sure that everyone understood that a 1 year old's attention span is very limited!

To be continued... (because after I typed up this whole thing, it ended up being THREE pages in Microsoft Word! Guess I have a lot to say!)

Hunter's first birthday - part 1

Hunter turned one year old last Friday! It seems like just yesterday that I was taking him home from the hospital... it's nuts! He is such a big boy now - definitely not my "little baby" anymore...

Hunter decided that he wanted to start his birthday celebration early, so he woke up at 3 am and started to cry. He NEVER wakes up in the middle of the night crying, so I went in to soothe him. For the life of me, I could not find his binky anywhere and we only have one, so I had to set him down to look for it. He started crawling around and he thought that was the best thing ever! I finally found it under his crib and noticed that he didn't want to sleep, he just wanted to play. That wasn't going to fly - even on his birthday - so I ended up putting him in his crib and running out of the room. To my surprise, he didn't even cry and fell asleep after awhile.

When he woke up, he was a very happy boy! I got him breakfast and then got him ready to take a bath. I undressed him in his room and had only gotten the diaper off when he bolted for the bathroom... with his bum exposed! I guess he was very excited to take a bath! I got a picture of him crawling towards the bathtub with his little bum showing but I'm sure Josh wouldn't want me to post that... and Hunter probably wouldn't either... :P

We ran to get a few last minute party supplies and also to get Hunter his birthday present from me and Josh. I wanted to make sure that he liked it before I bought it and he sure did! He was laughing and cooing at it! It was a Lightning McQueen car that he could push around and ride on it. He loved it!


After we got home, he took a nap while I got the rest of his party ready. We were going to have a pasta bar at his party, so I made the breadsticks, the marinara sauce and the cake. I decided to make his birthday cake because I wanted a specially shaped cake (which I'll explain in my next post) and it was a lot harder than I thought! The cake was supposed to "slide" right out of the pan because I greased and floured it - but it didn't. So I had to piece it back together and hope that the frosting would cover my mistake. After speaking to both my mom and Josh's mom, they told me to freeze the cake and it would make the pieces freeze together - and it would also be easier to frost. So that's what I did... and it worked! It was much easier to frost and the pieces held together! PHEW!!! But man, frosting that cake and making it look good took A LOT more time than I thought it would! I swear I was frosting that thing for like 1 1/2 hours! But it was worth it because it turned out really cute!

Josh came home from work a little early to help get things ready. Hunter was really excited to see him! They played for a bit and then it was time for Hunter to take a little cat nap before his party. Josh helped me get the rest of the food ready and helped me finish up some last minute details. After Hunter woke up, we got him looking all cute and after I did his hair, he decided that for his first birthday, he would learn a new trick! He opened my cupboard door! Time for the safety latches...

And that leads us up to the party! And since there is so much to tell about that, I will make another post tomorrow! What a cliffhanger! :P