Simon’s 1st Birthday In Pictures

It’s hard to believe that one year ago today we were at the hospital just meeting Simon, our little bundle of joy. He has changed all of our lives so much for the better. Today he turned one and is officially a “child,” not a baby. Where did the time go? I just stared at him all day today in wonder.

Unfortunately, Simon came down with a cold. He was not miserable the whole day or anything, but he definitely wasn’t himself. Here was Simon’s special day:

I left early in the morning while the boys were still sleeping to drop off one of our cats for oral surgery. (A different story). When I got home a little before 8 am, Simon was still asleep. I was happy he got the rest, but even happier that I got to be there when he woke up on his birthday.

After getting him dressed, we went downstairs, and Elias immediately drew everyone’s attention to the gifts we had wrapped the night before. I told him we had to wait until Daddy gets home, but Simon proceeded to take the bows off anyway, and Elias just couldn’t resist one of the gifts that wasn’t really wrapped. Here is Baba and the birthday boy.

After breakfast, we played a bit. Simon really loves cars. You can see he often has a dazed look throughout the day due to being sick, but he was happy a lot of the day too.

The boys made another attempt to convince me to let them open presents. I don’t know why this picture is so dark…it was about 9:45 a.m.

Simon was super tired so I put him down for a nap, but he woke up after only 10 minutes or so. He was upset because he couldn’t breathe through his nose, and wouldn’t go back to sleep. So much for a nap. I loaded the boys in the stroller with some snacks and took them on a walk for some fresh air at Noble Woods park which is down the street from our house. Since it was his birthday, I let Simon try the snack cup for the first time. It’s like a right of passage for a little kid to get to eat goldfish crackers out of a snack cup. He loved it. He did not eat them fast enough, though, and Elias “helped” him get them out…a few may have been lost in Elias’ tummy.

After the walk we stayed outside a bit since it was so nice. Elias rode his tricycle and Simon just watched. We went inside for lunch, more play time, and a nap. This time Simon napped 30 or 40 minutes or so…better but still not good. That’s less than an hour total of nap time for a sick boy! He woke up just in time for Daddy to get home. Nathan came home a bit early today. Yay! Once Nathan was home, Elias immediately jumped on the opening presents topic again. Simon was a bit dazed from just waking up, but we decided it was an ok time. First, we posed under Simon’s birthday sign. I put it up last night after the boys went to bed and Simon noticed it right away this morning!

Then Elias got to work helping Simon with the wrapping paper.

It was all just a bit too much fun for Simon, though. On the second gift, Simon wasn’t opening, so Elias grabbed Simon’s hand and tried to move it to open the present. Simon wasn’t having any of that business. (Notice Elias in the background hastily unwrapping in the mayhem)

But we got Simon calmed down. He did enjoy his presents, and will continue to do so!

After present opening, I had to go pick up our cat from the vet. She had come out of anesthesia and was waiting for us to come get her. I left the boys to play with Daddy and went to rescue our kitty. When I got home it was dinner time. Simon had his favorite meal: spaghetti.

Then, I got out the birthday dessert and candles. I am saving the fancy baking for his birthday parties, but I couldn’t let his real birthday go without something special. He got to try a chocolate chip cookie! We all sang Happy birthday to Simon.