Graham's wild rumpus first birthday party

We had so much fun celebrating our year with Graham with a "Where the Wild Things Are" themed party! It has always been one of my favorite children's books and I decided while I was still pregnant with Graham that we would do a party based on the book for his first birthday.

I have tried to learn from my mistakes with Amelia and have enjoyed this year with Graham as a bit of a do-over in parenting, ha. One thing I learned is to not stress too much over the birthday party that you actually miss out on celebrating your child's birthday. I didn't go nearly as over-the-top with G's party as I may or may not have done for Amelia, but I thought it turned out cute, and we had a great time celebrating our sweet boy with our family and friends. I'll let the photos speak for themselves! As always, fabulous photography by Aunt Katie. Party details and sources at the end.

He had plenty of help blowing out his candle. 

 

G and his sweet friends from church (and their mamas!)

Still going strong afte the party

Sister, however, couldn't hang. 

We had such a good time celebrating with our family and G's little friends. That baby LOVED his cake! He cried when I took it away, but got over it before we could even get a photo of his meltdown when he realized he still had plenty to lick on his fingers. :) Unlike his sister, who was pretty dainty and ladylike with her smash cake, this boy had to leave his party guests to go take a bath before he could re-join the fun! And what was I thinking with that black icing? Oh well, the t-shirt may be stained, and the bib I sewed may not look the same, but the memories are so worth it!

Sources:
Invite

I had the cake made locally , but I got the idea here. 

I made the Max costume myself and found the tutorial here.

Idea for cut-outs came from here. I had an art student at Co-Lin make them for me. I loved how they turned out!

Cookie favor tags from here. 

Wild things t-shirt from here. 

Happy Birthday, Graham!

Yes, his birthday was last month, whatever. I'm finally getting around to posting about our sweet boy's 12 months stats:

At 12 months, Graham:

• weighs 22 pounds and is-- inches long (I can't remember this, but I'll go back and add this in when I find the sheet from the pediatrician)
  
• wears 12 and 18 months clothes, size 4 diaper and a size 3 shoe

• has four teeth on top and two on bottom
  
  
• gave up his bottle on his own around 11 months and drinks milk, juice and water out of his sippy cup like a champ
• still eats everything in sight! I can't say what his favorite foods are because he will eat anything in front of him. He still gets upset when I finally declare that meal time is over, ha. He eats all table food now.
  
  
  
• is still a fabulous sleeper! He sleeps for about 12 hours at night and takes a long morning nap and a short afternoon nap every day. My boy loves his bed! He likes to have his paci and lovie at bedtime and is happy to just snuggle up in his crib and goes right to sleep without rocking. I don't know what we did to deserve him, but I am so thankful!
  
  
  
• says ma-ma, da-da, da (dog), ba (ball), yay, hey, and some version of "peep-eye!" (I'm not even sure how to spell this. We say "peek-a-boo" but he got it from my parents.) It is so precious for him to hold something over his face and play peep-eye peek-a-boo. 
• is still not walking, but he is getting close! He cruises around furniture and walks while holding your hand. He can stand for a while on his own, but hasn't taken any steps yet. 
  
• loves balls, our dog Cash, swinging, playing outside, dancing, waving and clapping
• is crazy about bathtime, especially if he is joined by sister. 
  

Our G is just such a joy to our whole family! He has the sweetest, happiest personality and is the most laid-back baby I've ever known. He and his sister absolutely adore each other. He is just starting to try to get into her stuff, which drives her crazy, but she is still so sweet and loving with him. It makes our hearts so happy, but I know a day will come when they won't be so sweet to each other all the time. We are so thankful for the past year with him, and we are so blessed to have him in our family. I have loved watching Amelia become a big sister and for Cliff and I to learn that our love could multiply even more. We couldn't imagine life without our sweet, sweet baby Graham!