First Birthday Party

On Cooper's actual birthday, we had his first birthday party.

My parents were visiting and planned to leave the morning of the 18th, which was a Friday, so if we wanted them to be at the party (and of course we did!) then we had to do it on Thursday. I scheduled the party to start at 4:30pm for those who work and were invited. We had a big turnout (my parents were part of the draw, I will admit).

The attendees were: my parents, my brother Jesse and his girlfriend Sarah, Keith's parents, his sister and her 3 kids (her husband couldn't get off work early enough to come since they live an hour away as it is), my grandparents, Keith's grandma, my aunt and uncle, 2 of my cousins and my cousin's baby, 2 friends of ours and their 5 year old son. Plus the 4 of us makes 25 people at our house! Thankfully our dining room table will hold 14 people with the leaves in it and our kitchen table holds 4, so between the tables and our TV trays, we had enough room for everyone to have some place to sit and eat.

The menu was grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, homemade potato salad (made by my mom), cheese dip, chips, and of course all the usual burger toppings. After we ate, it was present time. Cooper just sat in my lap and watched while Garrett and I opened his presents. He didn't really try to help though I attempted to encourage him a few times. He got a lot of cute things, tons of toys too. Our gift to him was a rocking horse (zebra) which he seems to love. He knows exactly what to do when we put him on it and thanks to our hardwood floors, his rocking makes the horse move all over the place. He has figured out how to get himself off the horse, but he hasn't mastered getting himself on it yet.

After presents it was time for cake. A friend of mine has made all of our cakes for birthdays and other special occasions and this party was no different. She did a great job! I was curious how Cooper would do with his piece of cake. He always eats with gusto, 2-handing most of his meals, and he did not disappoint with the cake either. He immediately pulled off a chunk of icing and ate it and then went from there until he was covered in crumbs and 3/4 of the cake was in his belly.

I cleaned him up and he spent the rest of the party being passed around for everyone to play with him and hug him. He was a great sport throughout the whole thing. He's normally a bit shy and prefers his parents to hold him (mostly Daddy when he's around), but he apparently knew he was the star that day and he never fussed or threw a fit or anything. Just enjoyed the attention and the fun.

It was a lot of fun and we were so glad everyone was able to come! The hardest part about birthday parties is getting scatterbrained from everything going on. A group had left before I realized I hadn't shown the video that I made for his first year, so the remaining party goers got to watch his video. I've made a video for Garrett's first 3 birthdays (first 3 years of his life) and I plan to do the same for Cooper.

On a related note, Cooper had his 1 year check up today. He weighs 21 pounds 10 ounces and is 30 1/4 inches long. After the doctor messed with him for a bit, he said he could definitely walk if he wanted to, but he's apparently a cautious baby and isn't going to do it until he's 100% sure of himself. He said that's typically a sign of a perfectionist, but we'll see. He said kids like this also tend to be late with potty training. I would call Garrett a bit of a perfectionist in some areas, he was relatively late with potty training, but he caught on fast and was totally trained (minus nighttime) by his 3rd birthday. So we'll see if any of this pans out with Cooper as he gets older. But I can definitely tell that he could physically walk if he wanted, but he just won't do it. The doctor predicts he'll be walking a month from now, so we'll see. He also checked his hernia in his bellybutton and he thinks that it will heal itself by the time he turns 2.

I could do a separate blog about this (and maybe one day I will) but I just hate it when my kids have to get shots. I know they need them and I don't question that, but it still stresses me out when they get them. Today's shots were 2 new ones: Chicken pox vaccine (which I find silly, but whatever, we still do it) and the MMR. Though I know the MMR has been acquitted of all links to autism after it came out that the studies that initially linked it were tampered with, I still get a bit nervous when they get this one. Cooper hasn't had any side effects from any vaccine so far (other than fussiness), so I'm hoping these shots will be the same.