We have the world’s greatest
baby! We celebrated Lex’s birthday by hanging out, getting his
pictures taken, having lunch, going grocery shopping, and
eating cake. He was happy as can be all day. It was great
fun!

We were the first appointment
at the picture place so what should have been a 15 minute
session ended up being 45 minutes and they took 11 poses in
several changes of clothes. Then we had lunch at Ruby Tuesdays
and we let Lex try all sorts of things (peppers, french fries,
etc.) He made a huge mess and had lots of fun (don’t worry, I
tipped the waitress well). After lunch we went back to pick up
our pictures. They had printed all 1l poses, which was great,
but made our job of choosing what to buy much more difficult.
I, of course, wanted almost all of them. We ended up getting 2
different poses in their “packages” (1 8×10, 2 5×7, and 8
wallets), plus a close-up in black and white, and a free 10×13
– so 4 poses total. I love them. The people were having trouble
with the printer so we ended up waiting about an hour total for
them to print the black and white photo, which sounds annoying
but ended up being pretty fun. While we waited Lex got to play
with 9 month old twins (who were as big as he is!) and a 5 year
old who had a great time with Lex. Once the photos were done
and our order was complete, we headed home. Lex slept the whole
way.

At home I made him a birthday
cake (carrot cake with cream cheese frosting) and he sat in his
high-chair eating lunch and watching me. I told him the story
of his birth day one year ago today. He actually listened and
watched me intently. Maybe I’ll make that a birthday tradition.
When the cake came out of the oven I let him look at it. He
reached out and I thought he was going to pat it, so I let him,
but instead he took a handful right out of the top :) Then he
ate it happily.

After the cake was done and a
list was made we headed out for the grocery store and dinner
(Panera – my favorite). Lex made 3 more friends (cute little
girls) while waiting for our deli order to be completed. He
also enjoyed holding and touching all of the fruits and veggies
that I bought, although that game ended when he quite swiftly
took a bite out of a tomato! Later in the store I let him play
with a can of kidney beans and he enjoyed that until he threw
it on my foot! Alan rushed to my rescue with bandaids (it was
bleeding), ice, and an ace bandage to whole the whole thing
together. We finished the shopping with an ace bandage wrapped
around my foot and sandle. It was pretty silly looking. My
first day this season wearing open-toed shoes and I now have a
black & blue toe nail. Bummer.

We finished most of the
shopping, but skipped the last store because it was 7:15 and I
still had to ice the cake and give it to Lex – all before a
7:30 bedtime :) We hurried home and I though I was afraid Lex
would be too tired for cake, I was wrong. He walked in circles
around the kitchen while I finished the cake and Alan put away
groceries. Then we put him in his chair, sang happy birthday,
and gave him his cake. And he did exactly what I thought he
would – poked at it and made little weird faces. So I cut three
pieces (two regular, one tiny) and we all ate cake. It was
great cake – if I do say so myself. Lex ate his whole piece
happily. The sugar made him all silly and goofy so we sat
around eating cake and acting goofy for awhile. It was a
perfect way to end the day.

Happy
birthday baby! You are perfect and so very loved.