Happy First Birthday!

Mason shows off his squeal to auntie Lisa...

... and then applauds himself.

a fun game of balloon toss

"Carl" on fire

"did you hear, it's MY birthday"

"let the games begin"

"two fistfuls are better than one!"

"whoa, this stuff really feels cool between my fingers"

"Arrrrrr, ... I'm a big green buttercream monster"

"I wonder how deep I have to dig to get to the prize"

"ohhh that was good"

"Hey bro, how often do you think we get one of these 'birthdays'?"

2.2.06: two groundhogs, one year

(Sorry this post took so long, ... it's been ready to go but I was experiencing serious technical difficulties with my web publishing software! Argh!)

Wow, .... a year has passed! No way! Really? On one hand, it's been one very long and draining year ... on the other hand, the time has really flown by.

Today was an incredibly special day for Mason and Avery, and definitely for us. February 2nd, one year ago, was a very scary day followed by several weeks of worry. To have our boys with us and doing so well one year later is amazing, and most definitely a day to celebrate.

We really had to put a lot of thought into how we wanted to celebrate this special day. We have so many friends who have helped us survive this past year and it would have been wonderful to have a packed house full of our friends and include anyone and everyone who would want to be here. But since the focus is on Mason and Avery, we needed to do what we felt was best for them while at the same time, make it special for us too.

Because we're in the thick of RSV season, we are exceptionally sensitive to exposing our little guys to germs right now. Avery is also still easy to overwhelm (although nothing like he used to be) so we wanted to keep things pretty low key.

We decided to keep the event very intimate and invite just three special guests for this milestone event -- the boys' three primary nurses who essentially helped Mason and Avery survive and thrive in the Special Care Nursery. We were thrilled that all three were available for a lunchtime fiesta.

Ms. Jenni made the most incredible monstrous "Carl" the Hungry Caterpillar cake as her gift to the birthday boys. Five funfetti dome cakes and six cupcakes covered in buttercream frosting, ... wow! That was a lot of work. The birthday boys each had one whole cake dome to themselves.

Because we survived our first year as parents, Mary and I were given the privilege of blowing out the candles. We unfortunately couldn't light the candles on the boys' cakes because Avery and his O2 have to be 5ft from an open flame.

Mason and Avery didn't appear to feel left out of that tradition though. As soon as their cake was set in front of them, they started to explore. It was too much fun watching them play in the frosting. Mason was his usual uninhibited self, grabbing handfuls and working it like clay. He even made his way inside the cake. Avery didn't need any extra encouragement either, as he worked both hands strategically into the green mound and banged his messy hands onto his tray. We were quite impressed with the mess he left behind.

Mason probably consumed a meal's worth of frosting and cake, showing us all what an expert self feeder he's becoming now that he has a few months of solids under his belt. However, Avery was just recently given the "ok" to start solids and we haven't yet gotten into the routine. So, as it turns out, birthday cake was Avery's first solid food. That certainly wasn't part of the plan, but hey, what part of any of this has followed "the plan?" Let's just hope he still eats green beans after this!

Once the boys had their fun, we realized that we had forgotten to hire a clean-up crew. We probably should have just wheeled them into the backyard and grabbed a hose, but we chose to be a little nicer and carry them upstairs for a quick bath and change of clothes. This, of course, meant a change of clothes for Mommy and Mama as well. And then there were the highchairs!

It was all well worth it though.

Happy Birthday beautiful boys!

Mason's damage: