Harrison Turns 1

Whew! What a weekend we had! What an amazing celebration of our last baby, our Sweet Baby Lu. 

 

For months, we had planned a big, fun birthday bash for our Harrison that was to take place on his actual birthday, which was Saturday, April 25th. We were expecting a large turnout (and by large, I mean 70 people) and thus, fully intended for it to be both an indoor and outdoor party. Well, Mother Nature had other plans. All week long, the forecast called for a 90% chance of rain. It never wavered, despite my persistent prayers for dry skies. 

But. 

You know what? I think that the unwavering 90% was God's way of letting me know that there was no doubt there would be rain so we needed to change our plans. This wasn't a 50% chance of rain. It was a never-changing, definite, 90% chance. It was going to rain. This meant we had plenty of advance warning that the weather would not be cooperating for the birthday bash on Saturday. So. We postponed the party to Sunday. 

You know what? It couldn't have worked out better.

You see, we had all of the grandparents, one great-grandma ('sup, G. Gram), a great aunt and uncle, and almost all of the aunts/uncles/cousins in town for the weekend. So. We decided we would have a special, intimate, family-only celebration on Saturday and the big bash on Sunday, when the weather was predicted to be much more party-friendly. 

In the end, I wouldn't have had it any other way. We got to spend more intimate, individual time with our beloved family members on Harrison's actual birthday and then throw down, 1-year-old style, with so many dear friends the following day. Thank you, Jesus, for making it rain on Saturday. Your plan was far better than mine!

Anywho. 

I'll be posting ALL the fun details of the birthday party in a few days, once I have time to rest, recuperate, and get through the hundreds of photos we snapped throughout the day. 

For now, a recap of our sweet Harrison's actual birthday, when he turned the big 0-1:

We started the day with my hub, Banks, Raleigh, and me walking into Harrison's nursery all together, serenading him with a spirited rendition of "Happy Birthday" before letting him open his presents. 

Clearly, he's figured out the true function of a chair. ;)

We then had our traditional birthday breakfast: cinnamon rolls with sprinkles. Have I mentioned that he is doing an AWESOME job with self-feeding? Now, we just need to finally master the sippy!

We spent the morning playing with Nana and Pop, who had arrived the night before, and waiting for the rest of our family members to arrive. 

 

Harrison was also proud to show us that he was "1," a new trick he learned for the occasion. :)

 

 Once the rest of our family arrived, it was time to par-tay!

 Harrison loved chatting with Bammy and Uncle Dame

 Meanwhile, cousins Skylar and Addison enjoyed the baby ball pit :)

Harrison and Addison, less than 3 months apart and already trying to break into the cooler :)

 While the kiddos played, we grown-ups talked and ate and drank and laughed...

 Of course, the birthday boy got lots of snuggles from everyone, including his proud Daddy

Finally, the time had come: the smash cake! Although I had originally planned for this to take place at the birthday party, I thought it would be more meaningful to share the moment with those family members who were able to travel all the way to the Mill to celebrate our little buster. As I've done for each of my babies, I made the smash cake myself. Because we had a "Milk and Cookies" theme for Harrison's birthday party, the cake had to fit the occasion, of course!

Our little family of five, singing "Happy Birthday" to our baby. <3

Initially, Harrison had no idea what to do. I think he could not believe he was going to get the entire cake all to himself. 

 "Uhh...guys? I thought you said there'd be cake?"

But after a little help from Momma, and a few words of encouragement, he quickly discovered the joy that is cake. 

 A taste from Momma.

"You can eat it, birthday boy! It's all for you!"

 "If you insist..."

 "Dad, are you seeing this?!?"

 "G. Gram, you have GOT to try this!"

 "Seriously, Dad, you must taste it!"

And THAT is how it's done.

And I even saw a couple of littles who snagged a bit of cake for themselves. :)

We closed out the day by opening gifts and continuing to spend time with our wonderful family. Although my tears started flowing when I attempted to thank everyone for the never-ending love and support they provide to our little family, my hub took the reigns, ensuring everyone knew how very grateful we are to have them in our lives, especially as we continue on our parenthood journey. 

And with that, our littlest Lu, our sweet baby boy, was officially one. I have so much to say about this last year, specifically to my Harrison, which will be coming in an upcoming post. For now, I'll just say that we had a beautiful celebration of the little boy who completed our family in the most wonderful way.

As I tucked him in that night, I sang him our song and thanked God for giving us our Harrison. <3

And then? Well, then I told him to rest up because he needed to be ready to parrrrrtay the next day. And parrrrrtay we did. More on that soon! 

For now, Happy, Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Baby Lu. Thank you for helping to make my wildest dreams come true.