FIRST BIRTHDAY!!

Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Dainen! Happy Birthday to you!

I can't believe my baby boy is one year old!! His birthday was on Sunday, the 22^nd. We had a little party for him the Saturday before. My mom, my sister Allison, and my brother Mike were in town for the weekend so they were able to come. In addition, my other brother Brad and his girlfriend Mallory came, and my best friend Lesley and her family came. It was so fun! Dainen opened presents (he likes taking the tissue paper out of the bags) and played with his toys. Braeden and Chloe played with him and showed him how the cars he got went into the little garage. It was fun to watch them all play together. He got lots of cars, some blocks to stack and build towers with (I think Ryan plays with these more than Dainen does), a steering wheel that honks and makes car noises, and lots of clothes. The clothes are a little bit big, sadly, because he's still so tiny. He's still wearing 6-9 month clothes. But at least he'll be able to grow into them. He's just so little. :)

After he opened presents we sang to him and had cake and ice cream. We stripped him down to his onesie and put him on the floor with his own little cake so he could just plow into it, but he didn't really like it. Ryan mashed Dainen's hand into the cake to show him what to do and Dainen just got frustrated. He didn't like the feeling of the cake mashed into his fingers and he kept trying to wipe it off. It was pretty funny. When he had obviously had enough with the cake we washed him off and just shared our pieces with him. I think he much preferred it that way. :)

The cake I made for everyone else was way fun. I'm proud of how it turned out. :) Dainen likes to climb all over us and everything else, so we call him our little monkey boy. Plus, he makes this face sometimes that looks like a monkey. So I thought it was only fitting to make a monkey cake. YAY me! Some of you might be laughing at me, but I don't care. I didn't have a cake mold or anything, just a picture, so I think it turned out really great. (Thanks Mom and Alli for your help!)

After cake, we just let the kids play with all the new toys until it was time for bed. Dainen had had a long and fun-filled day, so he was pretty tired by the end of it. (So was his mommy to be honest.) But it really was a great day! Thank you all for your love and support! Thanks for the cards and phone calls wishing our little man a Happy Birthday. We really appreciated it.

Here is a picture of Dainen trying to get to the presents on the table. He was really excited!!