celebrating our boy.

I have tried to remember what my life was like before I had my sweet boy to snuggle all day long, kiss all over, and laugh with until I cry....I just can't do it! I never imagined that our lives would be filled with so much joy and so much love by such a small little guy! Braxton has been the most laid-back, easy-going, HAPPY baby ever. He is our skinny little peanut whose pants never fit! He loves being tickled, wrestling with his big sister on the floor, being held by his mommy, CHEESE, peanut butter toast, crawling all over the place, pulling to stand and crusing around the furniture until he is within arms reach of any remote control, wearing hats, being outside, giving and getting kisses, and laughing. Braxton is 100% a mommy's boy...and I LOVE IT :) He barely weighs 20 pounds and is about 28" tall. He's just starting to walk with one hand held, signs for "more", and other than that just makes lots of random sounds! We love you to pieces little boy!!

I did a "photo shoot" with Reilly on her first birthday with a gigantic lollipop and of course I just HAD to try for a repeat with Braxton on his birthday. Well, the outcome was MUCH different than with Reilly...


Apparently, his first taste of sugar was not a good one!!

On Sunday, we had a small party to celebrate Braxton's birthday. DeeDee and Poppi (my parents), Grandpa and Nanny (Shawn's dad and step-mom), Mama Ree (Shawn's grandmother) and Memama (my grandmother) all came over for a lunch. It was SUPER special for two of Braxton's great-grandmother's to be able to celebrate his birthday with us! We had some yummy chicken-grape-salad-croissants from good ole Lowes Foods and their delicious broccoli salad for lunch! Opening presents was interesting....Reilly was determined that they were all for her and that she definitely needed to open ALL of them for him. We kept telling her that in a few shorts years, he would be demolishing her birthday presents too and she would know what it was like :) After the presents, I was very excited to "dig" into the birthday cake. After Reilly completely destroyed her cake, I just knew that Braxton was going to have his from ear to ear and all over the place too! Boy, I couldn't have been more wrong! We sang Happy Birthday to him and then presented his "mini cake" and he just stared at it. I put a piece in his mouth and then tried to put his fingers in the cake to get him going....this was the reaction I got:

After cake was put away, he actually started playing and being his silly self some...

Yesterday was his actual birthday, so we had to start off the day with the classic pancake in the shape of a #1! And, I even put a tad bit of syrup on it for the first time for him! He loved it :)

For dinner, we were having chicken spaghetti and I decided to put some in the food processor for Braxton to have (his first real "meal" of ours). He ate TWO bowls full!! I was determined to try the birthday cake again, so after dinner, we got all set up and put a big hunk on his plate for him. Much better results this time....although, he still did the classic "gag face" a few times! I guess he needs to acquire his taste for sugar??!