First Birthday Party Today!

Today we got to have So Much Fun. And we got to experience kid overload and why only a really crazy, crazy person would work in a daycare or preschool. Joaquin's party was at Grandma Pal and Grandpa Tommy's nest. And it was a great, perfect way to start a lifetime of birthday parties.

Let's get this party started. Good Morning to Baby Birdie. It's 8:30am and he's ready to go.




This was the invitation. Oddly enough, we decided to keep running with a bird theme. Come on, it's probably the only party I get to pick the theme for, right!?




And then came the Favor Crew. That's mom, Lisa and Aunt Deb armed with needles and threads and little bits of felt. My contribution was keeping the scraps from the Halloween costume, cutting all the wings and beaks and ... uh ... that's it. Favor Crew did a great job with the finger puppets and the bird seed bags.






Birthday Cake! Baked and decorated by Grandma Pal. Using the flock of birds from the baby shower over a year ago.




Photo Banner of the monthly photos. This was a really easy project. Just print the photos out and tape to the left over invite paper and envelopes. It's already tucked away in his baby book, too.






Just a glimpse of the Kid Chaos.




Marshall stays cool as a cucumber. This party is cake!




Time for Birthday Cake. He was so stinking cute. The video is about a minute long and it's us singing to him while he tentatively poked at the icing. And then after eating like the baby bird he is from Papi and Mami.... he digs in. This stuff IS good.




This is what it looks like when Papi asks for a besito from a baby covered in cake and icing. Uh, yuck.




Hey, Mami! Let's get to work on playing with these bags and stuff, ok?




This rapt attention lasted for this single (first) gift. And then he got bored of it, and the bigger kids realized There Are Presents To Be Opened and Played With Here! Woo Hoo!!






Marshall and McKenna approve McKenna's gift! School buses hardly need to be unboxed to be fun!




Grandma Pal and Marshal and Lisa winding down at the end of the party. Joaquin is . . . fading.




Back home. After a nap in the car, a bath with his toys and in his pajamas. Ready for some milk and bed. Of course, once he was in bed he spent about 40 minutes talking to himself and singing and re-capping the whole day over and over.




What a great party!! Thank you to Mom and Dad and Lisa and Deb for all their help. We couldn't have done it without them.

Finally. Here are some of the professional photos from his One Year birthday shoot. We love them. As usual.

Have you ever seen a baby Brain Fart?

I did. Last night. If we ask for Guppy, we usually get Guppy. Ask for Blink. Get Blink... often about 10 in a row. Siren, you get a Siren. Last night, I asked for Guppy and got a Blink-Siren. Hahaha! He literally brain farted on camera. And you can see the custom gate Douglas made. How lucky to be a baby with a papi that's handy and precise.

Also, on Sunday he started pointing. At everything. I know Sesame teaches us "don't point little girl, don't point" but he's so stinking cute pointing at the wall, the fan, the cat, the curtains, the chair. Everything. And so I spend my day naming things in English and Spanish (some things I have to look up).

Also, he knows Hair. If you ask him where his hair is, he will show you. He also will show you mami and papi's hair. With a nice strong yank. He's so smart.

9, 10, 11 months. Almost a year old!

Well, I am behind again. What's new? So let's start with some photos.

9 Months Old.
My camera battery konked out taking this series. This is a "I am making a poop face!" photo.




10 Months Old.
Check out those curls. Other kids are working on motor skills or words. Nah. We are working on growing hair.








11 Months Old.
Almost impossible to keep him in this chair. I am glad we only have one more month of these dangerous photo shoots left.








Photos from our friend Elysia. She babysat him one evening for us. He's in love. I think he wants an Elysia for his birthday.





She didn't know this was Poop Face. Heheeheh.




He has yet to crawl. He scoots! Sitting upright. He uses his hand and foot to scoot along. And I have to admit, it's really cute. And what a saver on his knees, too! Here's a little video of him scoot-scooting around the floor. Oh, and fetching.




Here's a very long rather dull video of a boy and his cat. I am not sure who's better here. The boy or the cat. The cat sure is impressive, though.



Professional photos from his 9 Month Photo Shoot.













Dancing with his parents at SummerDance in August.







And finally, from just last week. He knows a pomegranate and a banana for sure.




HALLOWEEN. His first halloween. Mami and Papi are sure it's the best. Since we got to eat all his candy! Yes. He went as a scarlet macaw. He is El Guacamaya. The national bird of Honduras. Thank you so much to Grandma Pal for making this costume. She did the sewing and the hat. I cut the wings. Twice. See the video at the bottom of me having an attack of laughter. I tried it on him and the wings were way too huge. So I had to recut them.












Make sure you go over to Matt, Jodie and McKenna's blog for the photos of McKenna as a giraffe and a tiger.

Phew. That's a lot of updating. We are in full first birthday party planning mode, too. Looks like it will be a huge crowd. I promise to get photos up much sooner after the party, too!