Alex: The Big ONE!

4/29 - Alex's first Birthday was so fun to celebrate. Many of us were sick with the flu but we made the best of it and had a lot of fun. We blew up twelve balloons (one for each month he's been alive) and let him at them first thing after he woke up. He loved chasing them around.

4/29 - I like how's he's got this balloon in a choke hold. I think this was one of the best parts of his day.

4/29 - I made cinnamon rolls for breakfast and Alex was so excited to have it on his tray. After this picture he picked it up and sucked on it until he realized he could break it up and eat bites. He loved every gooey morsel.

4/29 - I decided to let Alex help me make his cupcakes. He always follows me into the kitchen and grabs and my legs and climbs on stuff to see. I think the chef hat is the perfect touch.

4/29 - He was so excited to be helping he kept looking up and smiling at me.

4/29 - Stirring his batter. He's a professional.

4/29 - He was so excited about his presents. It made me want to buy him things more often.

4/29 - While he loved the presents he HATED the wrapping paper. He cried when it ripped or crinkled. He also would not touch it to help me open.

4/29 - Once freed from the wrapping paper he loved his new puzzles on the puzzle rack. Every day he plays with the puzzles we have and now he has four more to have fun with.

4/29 - I thought that the tissue paper would have been better than the wrapping paper since you just have to pull it out but no such luck. He wouldn't touch that either and hating the sounds it made.

4/29 - He got Buzz Lightyear to go with his Woody from Easter. He seems to like it but it doesn't compete with the daddy look-a-like Woody doll.

4/29 - We had pizza for dinner, which he loves. He usually eats a whole piece by himself. I typically cut it up but this was more fun for the picture.

4/29 - After our dinner break we opened the last two presents. He seems less afraid of the tissue paper this time and was excited to help extricate his new ball.

4/29 - Alex loves to play ball with his siblings but especially Amelia. She gets so excited and claps for him whenever he pushes it toward her. With her ample encouragement he's become quite adept at this game.

4/29 - Alex was again content to be on the sidelines with the present opening. However, as you can see he was very interested in what was going to come out of the box.

4/29 - Inspecting his new toys while munching on Woody's boot.

4/29 - Alex LOVES to play trains. However he's sort of Babyzilla about it and destroys everything. He was overjoyed at getting trains of his own and no one could tell him not to mess them up. He got so many parts with this train set. I love the animals, buildings, and such that it came with.

4/29 - Sitting on his train track Mr. Chewing on a sign. He loved it and smiled at me when I told the other kids it was okay.

4/29 - Fancy fun cupcake tower. I love the number one candle too. He was very excited about this part. He especially like when we sang to him because he's a musical sort. He tried to touch the little flame and was not happy with me when I blew it out but safety first, right?

4/29 - Inexplicably he was not interested in his cupcake. He'd be acting a bit tired and such but I thought that would perk him right up. He didn't even lick off the chocolate that he got on his hand in this picture. Later that night he got quite ill and explained the whole lack of interest thing. So, no cake eating pictures this year but I'm sure he'll be up for it next time.

4/29 - He ended his day playing with what I'm sure is his favorite present - his stack of puzzles. Maybe it's because he likes to make a big mess and they are well suited for this endeavor.