Jubilee's Jubilee!

Our little guy celebrated his very first birthday yesterday and what a day it was. It all started with the birthday song when he woke up and a little lesson on how to make a "1" with your pointer finger. Then, during his morning nap, dada and I decorated the joint with cheery crepe paper streamers and yellow balloons and ribbons. Dada set out the noisemakers and party hats while I put the finishing touches on a very special monkey cake (thank you Martha for the idea and recipe) . And then when naptime was over it was time to party!



We invited his grand-parents and aunt and uncle for a little lunch and cake. It all started with slide show of the wonderful memories we made this year. Stephen hooked the computer up directly to the telly in the living room and we just set it up to cycle through all the pictures while we chatted. There were a few videos too, short little one or two minute snippets of our tiny baby and lots of parenting firsts we managed to capture with our digital camera's video mode. It was so much fun to look at. It's amazing how much we jam packed into the year...and all good memories too. Even teething is an "awww" moment in retrospect, LOL!!!

Meanwhile, Julian was having a grand old time cruising around the coffee table and sneaking plain potato chips and all the veggies in the crudite platter. And of course we let him, it being his birthday and all! Of course the icing on the cake was...well, the icing on the cake. Heehee! We set it down before him and he had both hands in the icing the second the cake stand hit the table. We took one of the monkey's ears off a la Van Gogh and gave it to him for his first chocolate experience!

It was a hit! We had to undress him in the sink and literally hose him off when he was done but it was all worth it. There were gifts too. A Sesame Street firetruck, some books and pool toys and even a swing set from grandma and grandpa. Dada and I got him an aquarium and some goldfish for his room and named them Nana and Popo. He was so excited about it all. It was so much fun. And now, just like that, our teeny tiny baby boy blue has grown into a gleeful, smiling, clapping, cruising Mr. Toddles!

Happy birthday Jubilee Bubilee ;0)