Baby Man Turns 1

Baby Daniel about a week old.

It's been a whole year?  He was so little, when he was born, he had big hands, was a little jaundiced and he didn't open his eyes much... quite the surprise coming 2 weeks early on us instead of a week late.  We were so unprepared and then I was tired for the birth, but it was a good one anyway and Grandma and Grandpa were in town to take care of the big brothers and meet him right away.  

We really weren't sure how to celebrate his birthday... Grandma and Grandpa are out of town on their own vacation and the other side of the family is busy getting ready to celebrate Uncle Mike's graduation from University of Phoenix and his 30th birthday.  Naturally we kept putting off deciding what to do, knowing that it makes little difference to a 1 year old how you celebrate his birthday.  

The final verdict- celebrate Clemson style.  We needed to make a trip to Clemson anyway to pick up some licensed merchandise and we weren't going to be able to get the game at home.  The first plan was to find some friends in Clemson and watch the game at someone's house.  Then Friday night we snagged tickets for less than half face value and figured we'd just go to the game :)  

Daddy wanted to know why no one else got chocolate.

Tailgating downtown - boys love their Chic-fil-a.

Happy Birthday Boy during the whole 1st half

 We had a great time in Clemson.  We met up with 2 of Cullen's college roommates, saw the band, made our purchases, and had fun watching the game.  That "most exciting 25 seconds in college football" thing still gets my heart going fast.  Daniel was happy and smiley and thoroughly enjoyed the whole 1st half of the game- then it was nap time and he was tired... I walked him to sleep way up at the top, but my back was killing me, so I couldn't be still enough, long enough for  him.  Cullen took a turn walking him and he survived the 2nd half- thankfully, so did our Tigers!

After the game as we headed out of the stadium Blaise provided quite a bit of entertainment for us.  As Cullen and I were loading the stroller and buckling Daniel and Michael in he stood towards the middle of the walkway and held out his hand for high fives, big grin and all.  I can't resist putting a picture of that here too.

Blaise high-5ing

By the time we got back to our car and out of town and stopped for dinner... we didn't make it home early enough to do cake and presents.  No worries though- we can always have cake for breakfast right?  Cullen's Papa would enthusiastically agree, so that's what we did.  Presents first though, because the big brothers couldn't wait any longer on that one.

Daniel hitting his present.

Michael helped a little and so did Blaise.

Oh look, now everyone is playing with it.  I think I convinced them to let Daniel play with it a couple of times today.

Smiley baby.

 Finally breakfast... they ate their eggs quite quickly.  Wisely, I decided to strip him down to his diaper before giving him his football cake.   Please ignore the boogers.

First tastes...

Yeah, this is good.  

Oh, wait, I don't think I really want it on my hands...

When can I have more of that?

This required a bath, which Daniel couldn't be more thrilled about.

Daniel's other birthday present- his big chair from Grandma and Grandpa came this week.

Mostly pictures today, but that takes less time to read anyway right?  At a year, Daniel is still the happiest most content of our children.  His smile still lights up the room.  He does know how to hold onto things tightly, in order to prevent them being grabbed by someone and he holds his own around his brothers.  He's always ready to get right into whatever they are doing.  I've seen him climb into the pile when they are wrestling and crawl right up and knock down their towers.  

Daniel seems younger than his brothers did at a year... I have a few theories.  #1- he's supposed to be the baby, so he better stay young.  #2- he's not walking yet?!  He cruises and will walk holding onto your hand or a toy.  He stands up, but there too, he still likes to hold on... guesses as to when he'll take his first steps?  #3- he's only had 1 haircut, compared to the 4-6 his brothers had had by their 1st birthdays.  #4- still nursing regularly, where everyone else had weaned or was very close.  It wouldn't be a bad thing if we could keep that up through flu season.

I think he's pretty average sized, around 30 inches and probably just a tiny bit more than 20lbs.  Things he loves and does often/well include being with his brothers, being outside, the bath, the toilet- specifically flushing it to hear the sound, waking up early, eating peas, smiling for the camera, pushing cars, banging on things, playing with blocks... yes, he's a boy.  

We are excited to see his little personality develop more and more over the coming year and are so grateful to God for blessing our family with our smiley Baby Man.  We pray that Daniel would know Jesus intimately at a young age and that God would use him powerfully for the kingdom.