One Year Wonderful

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, yesterday was the day. William officially entered the world of toddlerhood when he turned one year old at 12:50 a.m.

He started off the day bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5:15 a.m., his new trend. Though we weren't feeling half as spry, we still managed to pack the car, turn his carseat to face forward for the first time (you should have seen the bewildered look on his face), and hit the road.

To make the day extra special for him, we decided to take him to one of the world's biggest swimming pools: the Atlantic Ocean. We figured he would have a blast since he loves bathtime and going to the pool. What's a couple billion gallons of water more?

Unfortunately, the massive scale of the water, its frigid temperature (it was 95 degrees yesterday!), and the unfamiliar feel of so much sand made him uneasy. You can see him looking hesitant in many of the pictures above. Eventually he worked up the nerve to crawl on the sand with his rear end sticking up so his knees wouldn't touch the ground.

Later, we headed to a local pizzeria. There, William noshed on a mushroom slice and had his first taste of french fries (the corruption begins young). He was in all his glory in the presence of three of his favorite things: food, music - you should have seen him bopping along to Gwen Stefani on the house radio - and plenty of ceiling fans at which to point and gawk. If we had known lunchtime would've been the highlight of his trip, we could've saved ourselves the 5 hours roundtrip drive and visited our local pizza shop!

Both boys were conked out on the drive home.

Next weekend, the birthday festivities continue with a proper party. Family members are driving in from near and far, many of them as much as 5 to 7 hours away. We'll have a family gathering for both boys that will be more weighted toward William since Andrew already had a kids-only party. The next day, William will be baptized at our church. We would've liked to have held both events this weekend but couldn't move the baptism date. Either way, we are glad we'll have so many family members there to celebrate both big events.

In the meantime, the realization still hasn't set in that our baby is 1 year-old. Can you believe it?

Happy birthday, sweetie. We love you very much and are so blessed to have you in our lives.