Sat 5 Jul 2008
It happened! No matter how badly I wanted to slow down time and enjoy my little baby boy as a baby, he just kept on growing and growing and on May 25, Tobias Daniel turned one. We were planning to throw him a big first birthday party during our trip to South Carolina a few weeks later, but I just couldn't imagine Tobi's special day coming and going without some type of celebration. As I started asking around among our friends who would be in town during Memorial Day weekend, I was reminded of a conversation I had with one of our postpartum nurses in the hospital shortly after Tobi was born.
The nurse shared that her now grown son was also born on Memorial Day weekend. As we talked about our commonality, she mentioned that over the years she had been frustrated with trying to plan birthday parties for her son because so many people were out of town during the holiday weekend. I knew I would too face that dilemma someday, but staring down at my newborn son's precious little face, a birthday party seemed so far away.
A short year later, I was finding that many of our friends would be spending the weekend camping or traveling. However, two of the families we are most close to would be in town and were excited to help us celebrate our little man. Taking into account our own crazy Memorial Day weekend plans, we decided to have a birthday brunch on the morning of Tobi's birthday. It was so much fun to laugh and rejoice together over breakfast casserole, fruit salad, monkey bread and coffee. Yes, Tobi enjoyed monkey bread in lieu of birthday cake, but he sure didn't complain.
On the plus side of having his birthday fall on Memorial Day weekend, we were able to go with friends to a parade the next day. The kids loved watching the floats, big trucks and even llamas go by. The flying candy was a big hit as well. Tobi managed to consume most of a sucker before I couldn't stand the sticky mess any longer and ended his sugarfest. After the parade we had lunch with our house church and went to a carnival at a nearby church.
All in all we celebrated our Tobi well, and were looking forward to doing it all over again with family in South Carolina. Happy First Birthday, Little Man! We love you so very much!
