Today is Austin's first birthday. We cannot believe it! Today we were reading through this blog from a year ago. Wow! So many things have changed. Brian has a picture of when we first brought Austin home from the hospital in his crib. He was so small in his crib. Then Brian took a picture of him napping in his crib today. He takes up the whole thing. He has grown and changed so much! I have been really excited about Austin's birthday. I have been working on his birthday party for about 3 months. The first birthday is so special. I have three pages in his baby book to fill out about his first birthday. Brian took some really great pictures of Austin at his party.
Yesterday was Austin's big birthday party. It was from 11:30am - 1:30pm at Galt Park. I chose that time because it was right after his morning nap. He is usually happiest after his morning nap. However this week Austin has decided that he does not need morning naps anymore. This is not the week for him to be changing his schedule. But Austin does whatever he wants to do. 
I tried putting Austin to nap around 9am before I had to leave for my parent's house. He was not happy. I had to leave Brian with an unhappy Austin
to go set up for his party. Brian is really good at getting Austin back to sleep. Today though he had to rock his very heavy crib and rub his back for 15 minutes. We knew it was important for Austin to nap, so it was time well spent.My mom and I set everything up for the party while my dad went every where to pick up things and make soup and chili. Luckily my mom and I got everything set up pretty quickly. Then Brian and Austin got there around 11am. We wanted Austin to get warmed up to the place before his party.
It was a good thing we did because he was not too sure about it at first. Then guests started to arrive. Austin was shy at first however he did give a few smiles even early on. We fed Austin lunch and even let him have some pizza crust. He really liked his pizza crust. After everyone ate, Austin opened his presents. It was great because there were two other kids there (Nathan and Hailey) that helped Austin open his gifts. Austin really enjoyed opening his gifts. Hailey even read Austin his cards. It was perfect. Austin got a lot of really nice things.
After he opened his gifts it was time for cake. Brian's cousin Lauren made Austin's cake. We had an adult cake and a smash cake for Austin. It worked out perfectly. Austin had his own little cake that he could do whatever he wanted with. He did not know what to think of the cake at first. But after I tried the cake in front of him he knew he should eat it. Austin was so cute with his cake. Everyone at the party just sat and watched him play in it for over 15 minutes. We were laughing so much (check out the video at the end of this post)! Watching a baby play in his first birthday cake is priceless! Austin has never had any sweets so this was a real treat and he loved it. Plus his cake was banana favored. Bananas are Austin's favorite food. 
Usually I don't like messes and don't like Austin to get dirty but for his birthday I did not care. I wanted him to have fun and enjoy it. His hands were stained green from the frosting from playing in it. But it was cute. He was laughing and having so much fun.
He got his clothes all dirty too but again that was all part of the fun. Many people even came up to have their pictures taken with Austin while he was so messy. The best was when great grandma came up and Austin started feeding her his messy hands. It was so cute. They had fun together.
After the party we cleaned up and went home. We were all exhausted but so happy. Brian and I went to a Cavs game Friday night so we were out late the night before his party. It wasn't the best timing but coworkers of Brian wanted to go that night so we went. After the party Austin went to bed a little after 7pm and we both went to bed around 8pm because we were so tired.
Austin really enjoyed his birthday party. Watching him be so happy and playful made all the work for it so worth it. I am considering making a scrapbook of his first birthday. I love to make scrapbooks but it seems like I don't have enough time. I want to spend all my time with Austin. Once he goes to bed though, I am wore out too. It is all about priorities.
Austin now takes about 3-4 steps alone without holding on to anything. He does really well when he thinks he is holding on to something but isn't. If he knows he is by himself then he freaks and sits down right away. He still loves to crawl because it is so fast at it. He can also climb stairs quickly. He can be upstairs in a matter of seconds. We have the lower level gated off but he can go up and down to the upper level whenever he wants. He will often follow one of us up there or sometimes go up there for no reason at all when no one is up there. He's heads straight for the bathroom to go play with the drawers or toilet paper (it's funny because sometimes he'll close the door behind him on his way in to buy himself more time).
Austin's favorite foods are bananas, pancakes, and applesauce. He also eats yogurt and waffles and pureed baby food (green beans, sweet potatoes, and lots of fruits). We are trying different foods but he has not been big fans of sliced pineapple or string cheese.
Our next adventure is we are going to Dallas, Texas to visit my family. We are excited about our trip. We will see how well Austin does on the three hour plane ride. Our last flights went well, but back then Austin was small enough to sleep in our hands. Now he wants to be out and about and on the move. That will be hard on a plane. It will be interesting!
Birthday Videos:
Austin eats and plays with his cake at his first birthday. These are the first 5 minutes. We let him play with it for 15-20 minutes total. There was nothing left by the time he was done.
After 15 minutes, there was nothing left of Austin's birthday cake. He really enjoyed it.
Everyone having fun watching Austin open presents
