The birthday boy!

I have to apologise for not getting in here earlier to update you all on Austy's first birthday, but with work, study, day to day stuff and looking after a sick and teething Austin, I just didn't have the time. So better late than never, eh?

Austin had a blast on his birthday, despite the ridiculous 38 degree weather (much like today). He had a difficult time trying to get to sleep the night before, much to my frustration as I had a cake to decorate and things to organise, but he must have been a wee bit excited as we had been telling him all week about this big party he was going to have and all of the wonderful surprises we had in store for him!

Luckily, he had a bit of a sleep in (which helped me to recouperate from the late night too!) and then after his shower with Dad and breakfast, we sat down to open some presents together before his morning nap. He had been excitedly doing laps around the present pile all morning waiting for Dad to come and help him open them, and then once the first present was open, he wasn't really interested in opening any more. When he came across clothing gifts, he was quite funny, picking them up and ditching them straight away and looking for the toys! And of course he got way too many of those, as he was thoroughly spoilt!

The big hit of the day was his Fisher Price Learning Car that we bought for him (I went to two separate toy sales hunting that one down and nearly had to rain check it - so I'm very glad he likes it!). He presses the buttons and dances on it and keeps pointing at it several hundred times a day and yelling "Car!"

We didn't manage to open all of his presents before nap time but we didn't want to push it as he needed to be rested up for his party. He had a great morning sleep which helped us to finish setting up and after his nap he came staright outside for his BBQ party. We sat on the lawn and opened some more presents and he decided it was more exciting watching his cousins opening the presents than actually doing it himself. Either that he was overwhelmed by having so many people he recognised in the one place.

He munched down some fruit chunks for the first time (he always just turned them to juice in his hands all the times I'd given them to him before) and filled up on a vegemite sandwich. It was the best he'd eaten in ages and we think it's because he saw so many people eating around him. He was quite good about the heat, and while it didn't really bother him we got the wading pool out for the kids to all crowd around and he got to try on his new swimmer set from Nanny and Grandpa.

After the splash about, it was cake time. He wasn't to happy about leaving the pool, but the cake soon distracted him and he ate all of the chocolate portion in his piece. I had made a tiger cake, which had tiger stripes inside as well, being a choc orange swirl flavour (something I made up by modifying the standard butter cake recipe a bit). It was yummier than I expected, and Austy agreed! The icing melted very quickly though so I think he wore more of that than he ate.

As the party slowed down, it was time to show everyone the VCD I made of Austin's first year. Austin loved it and just sat glued to the screen while the photos and music played for him. Once everyone had left we played with him and his new toys for a little bit and as Andrew walked him back into the loungeroom (holding his hands) he let go, thinking he would just plonk himself down on the ground like he always does. Instead, the little tacker saw his new car and just kept on walking at full pelt, falling after about four steps, once his legs got too far ahead of his body. Andrew and I were thrilled as we both thought that his first steps would be taken when one of us was at work, but luckily we were both home to see it! He hasn't repeated the incident since, however he loves to run while we hold one or both of his hands. He's super fast at his crawling and since he wants to get everywhere super fast I think that he's probably not that interested in walking just yet.

Thankyou to everyone who sent over gifts and cards for him, he was thoroughly spoilt and is getting into all of his new presents (and looking very cute in some of them!). Our little baby is a boy now, and growing up, oh so fast. While I miss some of the baby things, like being able to hold him while he sleeps in my arms, those early smiles and being able to leave him on a rug on the floor and know he will stay exactly where I put him, we are both so excited with all the new things he is doing now, and the fun we have ahead of us. Every day now he cracks us up with some new trick or cheeky moment, and we can only guess that the next year will be even better.