Braxton is one years old! I still can’t believe it myself. I still think of him as that tiny baby I brought home from the hospital, even though he is now HUGE! We had the best weekend celebrating!
On Friday, Blair took off work so we could celebrate his actual birthday alone with just the three of us. It was perfect and exactly how I wanted to spend the day. We started off the day by taking Braxton to the Thinkery for the first time. It’s a children’s museum in Austin and it was so much fun! Blair was a little stressed out because he didn’t like other kids pushing Braxton around, (especially since he’s such a sweet boy that he just laughs and smiles at them when he gets hit….) I enjoyed our time there! That afternoon we just cleaned up the house to get ready for the next day. I figured that Saturday would be super busy with friends and family so I wanted a quiet day since I knew I would also be emotional thinking back to how different things were a year ago. I kept looking at the clock all day and thinking about what I was doing a year ago.
- 6:00am, calling work and letting them know I wasn’t feeling well and needed a substitute.
- 1:00pm, texting Blair at work and telling him to come home because the contractions were starting to get painful.
- 3:00pm, going to my OBGYN to get checked and told to go home and walk.
- 5:00pm, in so much pain that we decided just to go to the hospital.
- 9:59pm, my baby was born and nothing else mattered. I made sure to give him a birthday minute kiss!
(First family trip to the Thinkery.)
(Braxton loved the water exhibits!)
(My water baby!)
(He had so much fun! I can’t wait to take him back again sometime.)
Saturday was crazy but amazing! My wonderful mom, sister and sister’s husband came over early to help me decorate and get food prepared. I could not have gotten it done without them. My sister and her husband are pretty much pro’s at decorating now, and my mom got all the food prepared. This allowed Blair to get all the yard work finished up and me to get last minute details figured out and Braxton down for a nap. The only glitch in the whole thing was Mickey Mouse running away… We had gotten a life size Mickey Mouse balloon that had weighted feet so that he could glide around the floor. Braxton loved it! But right before the party started, we had the back door open to cool down the house and Mickey floated out the door and the wind quickly picked him up and carried him far away….
(My sister made this amazing sign!)
The party was more than I could have ever asked for. We had so many friends and family come by that we were humbled at all the love. We had friends come from out of town, work friends, family friends, old and new friends, and neighbors all show up. It was such an outpouring of love that we were overwhelmed. We felt guilty that we didn’t get to spend enough time with everyone that came, so I apologize if I didn’t get to talk with you very much but know that I was so happy that everyone came. It was more then I could have ever asked for. We also had some wonderful family and friends who couldn’t make it in person, send Braxton a sweet birthday gift. So thank you to those as well! He is one spoiled little boy. I’m slowly but surely sending out thank you’s and cleaning up. (Also thank you thank you thank you to everyone who took pictures and sent them to me. I was so caught up in the moment that I didn’t take a single picture and was so grateful that so many others did it for me!)
(The following photos are courtesy of Thomas Chen Photography.)
(The next set of photos are courtesy of my friends Deenie, Ashlyn and Stephanie for graciously sending me photos after I freaked out when I realized I hadn’t taken any!)
My childhood best friend’s family made this sweet video of Braxton’s Birthday. Click here to check it out! I love it so much!
It was a perfect weekend! Braxton had a blast! Poor baby boy had to go to his One Year Check-Up on Monday though and that wasn’t fun at all. He got 3 shots and a finger prick. He was in a lot of pain but he is super healthy and in the 75% for height and weight. My big boy is super healthy and I’m so grateful for that.
Thank you again to everyone who made my baby’s 1st birthday so special. I love knowing that he’ll grow up surrounded by love.