1st Birthday!

Today I am sick and miserable with some sort of mutant awful cold! I should be at work but instead I am laying in bed listening to the sounds of my wonderful husband playing with Conrad this morning. I can hear Conrad's cheerful voice and he sure has a lot to say today! Since I'm bummed that I'm stuck here in bed I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog a little. (Sleep is not working out so well). This is also my preface with the hopes that you will ignore any typos/incoherent sentences on account of my illness!

To the real topic though: Conrad had his 1st birthday!! It's hard to believe how fast the time has flown. He has been the most amazing baby that a mom could have asked for. We prayed for the blessing of a child for so long and, little did we know, God was just taking His time forming this perfect son for us. He loves to play and is slowly becoming more and more independent. He is a natural born dancer and begins to dance the moment he hears a beat. He makes a sound of sheer delight when he sees his Chloe in the mornings. He has become a hugger which I just can't get enough of. Since the day he was born, Shawn and I have bragged endlessly about what a good baby he is and it's really true. We have just been so blessed with his amazing, sweet personality and easy going attitude.

To celebrate his birthday, we had a party here at the house. It was such a nice day and turned out to be beautiful weather (a nice surprise for November). I had so much fun planning the party and thinking about all the details. It all came together nicely and Conrad had a great time! The theme was aqua and red with some elephants. It all started with this cake I found on here on Pinterest that I loved. Isn't it just adorable?

A woman that I used to work with now stays home and has started a little cake business "Next Door Neighbor Cakes". I asked her to make a two-tiered cake similar to the one above and here it is:

Conrad loved the cake. We weren't sure how he would do or if he would even know he was supposed to eat it but he dove right in! He probably would have eaten the entire cake if we let him. 

I had a lot of fun making the decorations and food.  I made all of the decorations with the exception of the adorable mantle banner. It has pictures from each of his month birthdays. I think it is just the cutest and it matched everything perfectly. Thanks Etsy! I was pretty proud of my crafting skills for the other decorations. My favorite is the high chair banner I made.

Conrad had a fun time opening presents. We were blessed to have our families there to celebrate with us and   Conrad's godfather with his wife. They were all so generous and Conrad had a great time with all the wrapping and tissue paper! 

Since it was such a nice day out, we made sure to get outside and play a little bit. This was Conrad's favorite part of the party. He loves playing with his cousins!

And just a few more pictures because you can never have too many, right?

And, here is his last month birthday tie picture. 

Can you believe it!? I truly cannot. My big boy is already a year old and is now walking! He is quickly moving on to being a toddler (whether I'm ready for it or not). He is honestly becoming a little crazy with his new found independence but we have loved every stage getting here! Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy!