More cake for baby!

Yesterday Adam turned 1 year old. Of course, yesterday was ALSO a Monday, and so his party was held on Saturday. I'll get to why that's significant in just a minute or so.

Adam DID get a snazzy new onesie to wear for the occasion. This is one of my new little projects - appliqueing shirts & onesies. Sooo easy. And also a handy way to cover up the bratty sayings on this particular pack of Gerbers. Do I really want my kid advertising that, "I'm in Charge"? No, I'd prefer to keep that particular fact private, actually.

This is as close to crawling as Adam has gotten. He can push himself backwards pretty well, and gets from his belly to sitting up like a pro. Using this combination, he pivots his way across a room faster than you'd think he could.

But still. Walking would be quicker.

The lack of forward motion combined with nursing three times a day and no words yet seems to indicate that I have gotten my wish: he has stayed 9 months old!

Blowing out a candle was not even a consideration for baby Adam, and given his previous track record with cake, I was afraid he'd try to grab the flame itself. So this is as close as he got.

Of course we gave him a slice, though! You didn't think we were neglectful parents, did you?

Aaron has two rules for birthdays: 1) They must be celebrated on the actual day of birth, and 2) there must be party hats involved.

I didn't really know that #1 was a rule until this year, when everyone's birthdays fell on weekdays. Since I'd already thoroughly broken one rule, I've tried really hard to salvage the other. What I couldn't believe is that Adam kept that hat on! Everyone wore one, in fact, even 85 year old Grandma Gigi.

The boy likes his cake. Or your cake. Pretty much any cake he can get.

Close-up of the cake itself. For Leah & Ben's 1st birthdays, I made a Suzy's Zoo duck cake with a molded pan. It required 4 different frosting colors and using a star tip to cover the whole thing. After I spent 4 hrs the night before Ben's birthday decorating it, Aaron banned me from every making it again.

But I still had to do something special, right? So why not try fondant for the first time?

I found this photo, and this recipe, and did my own interpretation. Obviously I used regular frosting for the base - Betty Crocker tinted yellow. Although it did take me an hour to make, roll out, and cut the fondant, I still think it was easier than frosting a molded cake. I did the stars the night before and kept them covered in the fridge, putting them on the cake the afternoon of the party.

Good thing I took the recipe seriously about the fondant getting sticky - boy, did it ever! Basically all it is is marshmallows with enough powdered sugar to make it workable. Uncle JJ was kind enough to do the cutting, but he had to remove the stars to do it.

See? Party hats. Also, notice Adam eyeing that cake.

Next, of course, was presents. I highly recommend the following system: When your previous child is about 2 years old, pack up all the baby toys and put them in storage. Then, when it is time to give baby gifts, Boom! You have tons of "new" toys to give them.

Adam's two gifts from me were both given to Ben at HIS first birthday. Some new batteries, and now there are two more toys in this house to drive me batty.

Cousin MVJ loved them. Good thing Adam can't walk yet, or we would have had some baby wrestling on our hands.

The "big kids" were plenty excited, too. This ball popper toy is the bomb with all ages, am I right? (Note: If you HAPPEN to find yourself short of enough balls to make the toy work, you can buy a new set. On the Playskool website, under tabs Customer Service- replacement parts, you will find this order form. As a bonus, about a week after receiving the new set, you will start finding all the original ones, too! Now you will have too many to fit into the toy at the same time.)

Now if we could just convince the kids to let Adam play with his presents, things would be so peaceful around here!

MVJ was making the most hilarious faces! Poor thing was getting frustrated, since her whole goal was to keep those darn things inside that tube, and the toy just wasn't cooperating. Adam was trying to get them before they popped out of the top.

Even though Aaron is usually the one complaining about how the kids have too many toys, he insisted on getting Adam something "special". Despite my arguing, I have to agree that this thing is perfect. It's a pusher/ride-on, perfect for inside or out. And when you press the nose, it lights up and plays music! (Okay, that little bit there was sarcastic. But it does have an off switch, so it's forgiven.)

Don't those legs look a teensy bit unfamiliar with the concept of walking? It's okay, baby. You can stay little as long as you like.