BAYLOR BOO TURNS ONE

That's right folks, my sweet baby is one. He is quickly growing out of the baby stage much to his mommy's disappointment. I would swear that the younger kids grow up so much faster just because they have an older sibling they are trying to keep up with.

For his birthday party we had a swimming party at his Nannie and Grandpa's house. They have a really nice pool and a nice big yard so it was perfect. Baylor's nursery theme is turtles, so his first birthday theme was turtles. It was mostly family and a few close friends there. Since my dad lives about an hour from where we are, we didn't expect a lot of our friends to drive that far to the party. A few did and the reminder that we have friends who love our kids so much was nice.

On his actual birthday we planned to take muffins to his preschool class. However, Baylor got sick and was not able to go to school that day. It was the last week of the 1st Summer session before the week long break. So, no class party this year. We will have to really make a big deal next year. We did have a party for him at home and made sure he knew it was his special day. He loved every time someone sang Happy Birthday to him and was trying to sing it himself by the end of the day.

I always make the boys' cakes on their birthdays, but that was not an option for Baylor's party. I injured my ankle and was on crutches all week. Crutches and a bum ankle make cake baking and decorating impossible. A couple of weeks before we went to a friend's birthday party and her cake was adorable and yummy. I was able to get in touch with the lady who did that cake and she assured me that it would be no problem to do a cake for the party five days away. I sent her a picture of the nursery crib bedding so she would know the color scheme of the party, described the cake I had in mind, and told her that I trusted her artistic talents to do what she thought would look good. I had viewed some cakes she did on a website and felt like she was a great cake decorator. I am now convinced those pictures can't be her work and I am seriously doubting she actually did my friend's cake. The cake was horrible. The colors were all wrong. The turtles on the cake looked like something a preschooler made out of play dough. The stripes were uneven and the fondant was bubbled and cracking. The cake was 2-tiered and the top tier was collapsing into the bottom tier because she used straws for support instead of cakes dowels. On top of that it didn't even taste good. You could totally tell she baked it months ago and it had been sitting in a freezer. Baylor's smash cake looked like something a middle school kid made, but it did at least taste good. I guess she baked it fresh the week of. Never again will I let someone else make a cake for the boys' birthdays. Lesson learned!

Baylor loves anything that goes. He loves riding toys and he loves to push his brother's cars and motorcycles around. He really likes to clap for himself and to sing. His favorite songs are Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Itsy Bitsy Spider. He is very independent for the most part. At least once a day he likes to go into his room alone and just play by himself. He loves his brother, no doubt about that, and any time Grayson plays with him he is on could nine. However, there are those times when Baylor just wants to be in his room playing alone. He will stay in there for about an hour and totally entertain himself.

Baylor has taken some steps but still prefers to crawl. Crawling is faster! He is also in to everything. He loves to eat and will scarf down just about anything you put in front of him. At his birthday party he devoured his cake. In fact, we had to take it away from him. At his check-up he weighed almost 20 lbs. Baylor is energetic and runs full throttle from the time he wakes until he crashes into the bed. Despite his enormous amount of energy and desire to be in to everything he is still the best cuddle bug I know. Baylor loves to cuddle and snuggle. He will crawl right up in your lap, put those little arms around your neck, nuzzle his face into your chest, and just squeeze as tight as he can. When he is tired he will tuck those little arms down in front of his stomach and just snuggle there. Those are some of my most favorite moments of the day. He has the cutest personality, seriously he is just overflowing with it. He has the most hysterical expressions and although he isn't saying much yet, you can tell what he is thinking because it is written all over his face. Baylor can say a few things besides "daddy" which he has been saying since about 8 months. He can also say "bye-bye", "ma-ma", and "uh-oh". He is a very rough and tumble kind of kid and has no fear. He goes after things with all of his will and gets very frustrated when he can't get or do what he wants. Nothing makes him more frustrated than to hear the word "no". I joke that we should get Baylor a job testing all things that claim to be baby-proof or child friendly. He like to push the limits and if there is a barrier in his way he uses his determination and strength (yeah he is strong) to try to get past it. We have had the same baby-proof door knob cover on the door knob to our garage since Grayson was born. For a while Baylor has been pulling up trying to grab it, but he hasn't been tall enough. On the day he became tall enough to reach it he climbed up, grabbed a hold, and ripped the thing right off. I have never seen a more determined child. My prayer is that God will use that determined spirit and loving heart in a mighty way.

Happy 1st Birthday, Baylor Boo! We love you so very much!!!