The Scoop on James' Special Day

I have promised to write about James' party so many times now that I may have set myself up for all of you (few) readers of this blog to be very underwhelmed in my retelling of his special day. But even if it's for none other than myself, I wanted to go ahead and record the details of his 1st Birthday before any more time passes.

I started thinking about James' party a few months out. As much at it was sad to think about him not being a baby anymore with that milestone quickly approaching, I also knew that I wanted the day to be very special and for every detail to just reflect how much we love and thank God for our boy! We almost had a party that was Mickey Mouse themed because of James' amazing love for Mickey (had bought the plates and everything) but the deeper I got into the planning it started to be more about Mickey Mouse and less about James and I did not like that at all. So, as my wonderful husband was already in the process of making the invitation and had designed the Mickey Mouse ears and all, I decided to scrap the whole idea and started looking for other ideas. (Thankfully, he is very patient with me!) I ended up finding an adorable plate with an elephant holding a balloon in his trunk with a "1" on it and since James also LOVES animals we decided to go with an "elephant" birthday party instead. We were so happy with how it all came together and were very happy that we made the switch. Plus, we just happened to have a ton of elephants already laying around the house...but I'm sure no one could have guessed why that might be the case in this Alabama-loving home. :)

On Friday afternoon, the day before his birthday and his party, we spent the afternoon doing things with just the 3 of us to celebrate James. We ate a lunch/dinner at Red Robin after he woke up from his nap. We let him order off the kid's menu for the first time (or we chose for him) and he enjoyed a grilled cheese plus some other foods that we brought from home that we knew he would for sure eat (he's a "particular" eater.) After his birthday meal, we went to the Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh. Kids under 1 are free and he technically was under one for one more day! We had never been before but James had such a great time, and I hope to take him back there in the future. The whole downstairs was perfect for preschoolers and he played with trains, dinosaurs, balls, musical instruments, and giant life-size game boards. He explored a water table, pirate ship, and enjoyed going down a big slide. 

Friday night Stephen and I stayed up late doing finishing touches for his party the next day. And on Saturday morning we all jumped on the bed together chanting "It's your birthday!" and enjoyed Birthday Blueberry Muffins. We also watched the finished product of the slideshow that Stephen put together for James' birthday - whew, I was very emotional watching some of the video footage that I had never seen before that was recorded just a few minutes after he was born.  James took an unusually, wonderful nap before his party (giving us time to get everything done) - I was so thankful! And he woke up happy and refreshed to greet our family and friends. We ate, opened presents, and sang "Happy Birthday" and James did great the whole time. Actually, his least favorite moment of the whole party was probably his birthday cake. He was NOT into having the messy icing all over his hands although many days we couldn't keep him from being messy at meals if we tried. He was so cute though and had green icing on him (somehow) from head to toe by the time it was all done. Probably one of my favorite parts of his party was sharing with everyone before we sang "Happy Birthday" to James about what a blessing James has been in our lives and how grateful we are that God has blessed us with him and then praying for him. We were so grateful for everyone that was able to be with us for his special day and really felt very loved. We were also blessed to have my sweet friend, Libby, take pictures of the day for us so that we could just enjoy the party and focus on spending time with James. What a wonderful, thoughtful gift to us as parents!

After the party and everyone had gone home, as we were cleaning everything up I was also watching the clock closely anticipating 4:27 (the time that James was born one year ago). Stephen, James, and I and my Dad and Step-Mom (who were staying in town for the night) all gathered around a few minutes before 4:27 and kind of giggled as we asked "well...what should we do at 4:27?" My Dad suggested that we pray again and Stephen asked my Dad to pray this time. So, at 4:27 we squeezed our boy tight and my Dad prayed for him again. It was a special time and made me so thankful for all the believers in our families that cover James in prayer and us as his parents on a regular basis. And although 4:27 was very different this year than last year, it was a moment just as joyful and wonderful. That night we also went out to eat with my Dad and Step-Mom to Texas Steakhouse and learned that James' new favorite food may be good ol' kraft macaroni and cheese. I was amazed at the amount that he ate (our particular little eater)!

I tried to include lots of details about his first birthday! I know there was nothing extraordinary about the day and it probably looked very similar to most first birthday parties (no fireworks or live animals or anything like that - ha!), but it was special to us (every little detail) because it was about celebrating our little boy. :) God has been reminding me through so many things lately what a gift and a miracle every life is and helping me not to take the moments for granted. 

February 5, 2010:

February 5, 2011: