First Cake.

I thought about doing nothing for West's birthday. It's been a long few months, a busy week, and two birthday in one week - oh my goodness. That was some bad strategic planning on our part. 

But then, I thought about the past year and how long and short it has been, how hard and happy, and it just reminded me that it's all reason to celebrate this sweet little boy, and celebrating alone just wouldn't be fitting. It takes a village, right

So - we ended up with thirty or so people at our house and that was really happy (and loud, and a bit chaotic). Just our Woodlands friends, sort of last minute, but lots of fun nonetheless. It turns out that everyone has several kids at this point (we're always behind), so it's hard to keep the crowd small for things like this.

I made a Caesar salad (Kelsey told me to add pasta to dress it up a bit), watermelon in the shape of Texas, some Caprese skewers, and a little layer cake just for West (everyone else had mini bundt cakes). Some fancy drinks polished things up a bit, and pizza made things easy. Mostly. 

(Birthdays are exhausting. Next year, we're combining.)

West had his one year well check in the morning (shots!) and was basically depressed the rest of the day. Our happy, easy going boy who always naps well didn't nap the rest of the day, basically cried all afternoon, and was sort of a shell-shocked mess his entire party. But, being the laid back child that he is, he didn't cry - he just stared a lot, didn't crack a smile, and only really moved when he had a gigantic pile of cake in front of him. Even then, I'd call him mildly excited at best. 

(After a good sleep, he's back to his almost-normal self this morning.)

Quinn was (mostly) happy all day, thinking that it was his birthday and loved getting to blow out the candles again. I'm still not convinced that he's thrilled to have a little brother, but he definitely enjoyed the extra celebrations and gifts. We're still working on sharing. 

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West started the day by grabbing my phone, pressing the home screen and swiping it unlocked. He's one! And can operate an iPhone?! Maybe it's because he's small (15th percentile-ish), maybe it's because he's so not mobile, but I still think of him as my baby. But my weekly emails are saying toddler now, he'll eat anything I put in front of him, and I think we just wrapped up nursing once and for all (I'm doing okay). Goodbye Mr. Baby West. Hello, little boy. 

(He is sweet - the sweetest, really. He loves to snuggle in, is generally so happy, and is easily soothed. He rarely gets upset, loves his blankie when he goes to sleep, and always wakes up with a smile on his face. I love this mellow boy.)

Happy Birthday, West.