One Year Old(er)!

So the big day has come and gone...my baby turned one today! I can not even believe it. I know everyone always says this about their children, but I seriously don't know how he got so BIG so FAST! I honestly feel like it was just yesterday that we were going into the hospital to have him. And what an amazing year it has been. Our little family has been truly blessed. I couldn't ask for more. Sawyer has brought so much joy to our lives. We love him like crazy. He makes us laugh all the time and he gives the best hugs ever! (On the other hand he's also quite good at biting--ouch). He's quite the little tough guy/dare devil but he's definitely not ashamed to snuggle up to his mama or Mr. Bear (the soft brown bear that sleeps in his crib). He's fast, strong, and creative--all of which get him into trouble a little too often, but keep him extremely busy nonetheless. At this point the only bit of vocal rambling that is comprehendible (and there's ALOT of vocal rambling) is 'dada'...which he often shrieks out around 4:30-5 pm when he hears the front door open...right before he drops whatever he's doing and runs to the door and gives his daddy a hug (unless of course he biffs it before getting to the door as a result of the 'over-excited running'). Every day is an adventure and a blessing and we feel so lucky to be the parents of such a fun little boy. Happy Birthday, Sawyer! We love you!

We bombarded him in his room singing "Happy Birthday"...I think he was a little confused.

The "birthday table" set-up the night before. (yes, as I told Nathan, I realize he's only one and doesn't know what's going on but it's tradition)

This is his new car, Mater. He loves Mater. Doesn't so much love the birthday hat I made him (that lasted about 1/2 a second...just enough time for a picture :) )...

Managed to crash it several times within the first 5 minutes....No tears, though. Just smiles!

Kind of by default we spontaneously decided to go to the zoo on his birthday! (We overslept a little and Nathan missed the first hour of school...then decided why not miss the whole day and spend some fun time with his birthday boy...we're so glad he did! It was a blast!)

There's some little monkeys in the background...see if you can find them!...it's like Where's Waldo?!

Don't worry...just a statue :)

Riding the tractor with Dad at the Harmony Farm exhibit.

And milking the cow...

Petting the goats (unfortunately Sawyer's got a couple of anti-animal, germa-phobes for parents...I might have been a little over-protective. But honestly it was all for the goat's safety...for real.)

Blowing out the candle on his 'mini cake'

He had no idea what to do with it for the first few minutes...just kinda poked and laughed

He figured it out, though...

Somehow thought it would be easier to put the cake straight in the mouth 'no hands' style...

And a random picture to wrap things up...Sawyer seems to think that wearing the wireless TV headphones around his shoulders is 'cool' (probably cause he thinks he looks like us when we wear them on our head)...we see this quite a bit lately.