Captain Jayden's Par-tay!

Thanks to everyone who came to the party on Saturday or who sent or is sending their love and time capsule items.  Funny enough, not all that many people participated in the time capsule project.  But, we did get some great things - memories from my mom and sister, a picture of Carmen's favorite client, Von Miller, doing the Tebow during the Monday Night Football game last week and a 2012 facts/almanac.  I know a few more things are on their way - if anyone else decides they want to contribute, feel free.  Contrary to popular belief, I'm not going to actually bury this thing - it's just going to live in the garage or Jayden's closet or something until he's older.  And no, I have no idea how old he'll be when he gets to open this - I'm hoping 16 or 18 - but he has to be old enough to care, so we'll just see.

Practicing walking before the party.  Over the past few days Jayden has taken one or two very small, very supported steps.  But he's showing signs of wanting to be on two feet.  Our doctor today predicted he'd be walking in the next month.  We'll see - so far all of our doctor's predictions have been wrong!

Holding tight to Daddy in the swimming pool.

Kian is keeping a close eye on Jayden in the car.  The minute Jayden exits the vehicle, Kian is ready to take over!

The blue box on the shelf is the time capsule.  Everything else is just decorations.

My decoration, and also part of my contribution to the time capsule: a picture of every month that he has been alive.  So amazing to think that a year ago he fit on our little forearms.  

Getting comforted by Grandma during the party - at one of the (many) times things became overwhelming.

Daddy handed off a soaking wet Jayden to Mama in the middle of the party.  Mama didn't mind holding Jayden but would've appreciated a "he's soaking wet!" warning.

Just after Jayden took a giant two-handed bite of chocolate cupcake and just before he took the whole thing and chucked it on the floor.  Who knew, the kid doesn't like chocolate!

The party was a lot of fun, but I swear I am never doing that again.  I am exhausted, my back still hurts and I barely remember the day (and no, I was not really drinking - I think I fit in two cups of sangria over the course of eight hours).  The best part was that I loved how many people came to celebrate Jayden and to congratulate Carmen and me on surviving the first year.  Jayden is such a sweet boy and it was so great to see him interacting with all of the other children, whether it was taking one of his toys back from Shreya or pushing Gavin away when Gavin tried to kiss Jayden.  It was so fun to have such controlled chaos in our house.

So, here's to year one in the books.  My weekly email came this week and instead of "Your baby this week" it said "Your toddler this week."  It freaked me out.  But if you consider toddler-hood to start when they reach one, well then, yes, we have a toddler in the house.