Zane's 1st Birthday

In the midst of all the chaos (literally), I actually pulled off a birthday party - thanks to Pinterest.  I'm good at copying something that someone did, especially when it comes to birthday parties.  Since preschool was done on Friday, I had some time to research and decide what to do for Zane's birthday.  So Monday I found a cute photo party idea that went perfectly with my 365 Days of Zane photo project.  And the color scheme was orange and gray (I've loved that color scheme for a while now) - so I thought, why not?  Of course since I was doing the photo party to highlight the first 365 days of this cute bubsy, that meant I should whip up a DVD slideshow with all 365 photos of Zane.  Not a small project. Not especially when you only have two days to pull it off.  I almost laughed in my head when I hatched up the plan.  But somehow it all worked out and I had enough time to finish everything before I picked up the kids from school on Thursday afternoon.

First, the invites.  Not a party without officially inviting people (even if it is just your family!):

Second, the cake.  I made a layered peanut butter cup and chocolate cake - with butter cream cheese frosting.  I made the little banner from leftover scrapbook paper that I used to make the garland for the chandelier.

 Third, the party decorations.  Needed: trip to Hobby Lobby, Costco for pictures, and an hour to cut and sew.

 a month-by-month timeline of his 1st year

close-up of the paper garland

closer look at the party table

We invited the Harris and Merrills to the party.  We watched Zane's 365 Photo Slideshow - amazingly less than 15 minutes long!  It made me super grateful that I did the project (all the photos are NOT on this blog yet), and how good it was to see the daily changes in his face. Another plus was that the daily practice helped me improve my photography (still trying to improve, but I learned so much doing this).

 

Little guy eating his dinner of zucchini and avocado before the party.

 

 Cake time! Zane was super wiggly!

taken while we are all singing him Happy Birthday

 he was all into the candle

 ...which Maddie helped blow out

Instead of making him a separate cake, I gave him the first slice, which he smashed and smushed:

He had fun making a sticky mess out of that sliver

 blurry but the only photo of me and Zane where he is actually looking at the camera

funny photo - he was so tired at this point - he just wanted out of his seat

 at least Kevin and I were smiling

Zane loved all his new presents.

 But he would have been just as happy rolling and tossing this little ball around.  The ball went under the Christmas tree and Zane got himself under there too.  He loves to "hide" under the Christmas tree branches.
It was a great birthday and cannot believe that he is a year old!!

Zane:
- weighed 20.2 lbs on his birthday
- climbs on just about anything - sometimes a little scary!
- likes my kitchen cupboards and getting stuff out.
- likes to swish his arms in the toilet anytime he gets a chance.
- can walk 3-5 steps if you are right there cheering him on (10 steps was the most he took, but he wouldn't do it again!) he is so cautious.
- has two bottom teeth and 4 that are trying to come in the top.  One of them was almost out on his birthday.
- eats a whole lot - a whole banana, an orange, a handful of blueberries, and 1 piece of toast for breakfast.
- says "ba ba" and "ma ma".  Ba is mostly for everything he wants.  We can tell him to say "mama" and he says it for us.
- claps his hands or bang two objects for that matter.
- smiles everytime he sees us.
- loves to play peek a boo and laughs so hard it is quite funny that a simple game can make him crack up like that.
- gets scared when he is tossed up in the air.
- loves his crib.
- loves throwing things out of his crib.  blanket included.
- still loves to suck on his fingers.
- is one drool machine.  I don't remember my other ones being this drooly.  or maybe I just plain forgot.
- loves baths and will now "ask" to be in the tub everytime we are in my bathroom.  One time he climbed up and sat on the side of the tub.  he likes to turn on the water so I have taken the knobs off the handles for safety.
- loves to play with a ball.  He loves rolling it and laughs as he watches the ball roll away.

We love this little Zane!