Reed's 1st Birthday

Wow, a whole year from this:

to this:

What a sweet boy.

Planning 1st Birthdays has become almost like planning a wedding (in my opinion). They have gotten so big and so out-of-hand (seriously, I have seen a first birthday invitation that was WAY better than my wedding invitation) that we wanted a very casual celebration. First to pick the "theme":

It's hard to choose for a 1-year-old because how do you know what they really like? I had half a mind to make it yogurt themed since he goes crazy for some baby yogurt. But in the last month before he turned 1 we finally had some front-runners.

If you remember this post, Reed went nuts over Wes' cousin's Husky while we were in North Carolina. That started the dog obsession. Also, right before the same trip, we found a cartoon show Reed LOVES; Bubble Guppies. So these were the choices I had. After some research, I discovered no Bubble Guppies themed party supplies. Now I could have gotten really crafty and crazy with our printer to make some stuff, but I played the pregnancy card. So onto the dog theme I went. Surprisingly, there were very little puppy themed supplies (that were not geared toward and actual dog's birthday; seriously? Okay, I have never had a dog so I don't understand the need to celebrate your dog's birthday. I'm sorry to all the die-hard doggie lovers out there that have actually done this). I finally found supplies that I liked and ordered them online. They have deals where you can get everything you need for 8 people, 16 people, or more. I'm talking plates, cups, napkins, table cloths, balloons, streamers, etc. It was pretty extensive, but that meant I didn't have to do more, so I was good with it. And in true Mommy-on-the-day-of-her-child's-birthday-party, I got no pictures of the actual decorations. Fail. It was really cute. We had balloons and lots of puppies and green and blue. I'm sure you can imagine it.

As I said before, we decided to have a simple family celebration for Reed's birthday. We could have invited lots of little kids to come over, but first birthdays can be a little boring if you're not family. (Let's be honest) So we had all of Reed's family come over (minus 2 uncles and a cousin, WE MISSED YOU GUYS!) plus his godparents and close friends.

Reed got to play with Daddy in bed after he woke up.

Opening presents! He was much more excited with the paper than the actual present.

Happy Birthday to you!! Reed got his own tiny cake to eat/smash.

Although none of it actually went into his mouth, he did a good job destroying it.

We got delicious cookie cake! What a cute puppy!

The cake-smash aftermath made me think we needed an easy way to clean Reed up. So we got a baby pool and put him in it immediately post-cake. It worked really well, but I'm sure it would have been better if he had been more messy, but he had fun. And he got to splash with his godbrother, Nate!  He was really sweet and didn't splash Nate at all. They have a very special relationship because Nate is our godson and Nate's parents are Reed's godparents. They'll be together A LOT throughout their lives. And if we get our ways, Sister and Nate will be married one day. Who cares about free will?! Arranged Marriage!!

Reed had such a wonderful birthday and loved everyone that came. He is such a people-person that I'm sure he would have had a great time without any cake or presents.

Crazy hair man! We love our little boy and thank God every day for him.



Enjoy!

The Turners