Max's First Birthday

Well, it's hard to believe, but Max's 1st birthday has come and gone. The celebration began on Thursday when Nanny (Sue) and Granma (Elaine) came into town.

Friday we went to Kiddie Kandids to get "official" 1 yr pictures taken. We all piled into my car and zoomed up to Highland Mall to the place. We were really pleased with the staff there and the pictures came out great. No "freaky" child photographers like we experienced in the hospital, but ladies who were able to magically turn a very unhappy little boy into a smiling toddler with nothing more than a bottle of bubbles. We will post a few of the pictures here a little later.

Saturday Chris did all of the shopping and I stayed behind with "the moms" and Max to get ready for the party. They got to play with him, I got to play in the kitchen. All was well. 3pm meant party time. You know they say it takes a village to raise a child? It takes a village to pull off a 1st birthday party too - and we didn't even have a big one! The party turned out well though and of course we got the obligatory "icing face" pictures of Max (see the slideshow below). Incidentally, the recipe for the cake came from the back of the "What to Expect the First Year" book and is totally healthy. Made with wheat flour, wheat germ and no added sugar, it turned out tasty enough that even the adults liked it. Not sure I will ever make it again, but it was ok for a one time thing.

I thought it was really cool that Max enjoyed playing with his new toys. At Christmas when he got new stuff, he was still young enough that he didn't pay much attention to anything other than the wrapping and tissue paper. This time, though he didn't want to help unwrap anything, once it was unwrapped, he tested it out and started playing & is still playing with it today!