This past weekend, we celebrated Colby’s first birthday and of course, my first year of being a mom.
It wasn’t quite the weekend I was expecting, but it seemed right given the past month we’ve had: lots of family drama, a week of bad stomach flu ravaging our household, and then my mom getting admitted to the hospital the day before she was supposed to fly up to celebrate Colby’s birthday with us, and to top it all off, many of our friends went out of town for another birthday celebration leaving it to just our little family of four to celebrate the little guy (and well, also Casey and I…for surviving this first year).
And by “celebrate”, I mean we let Colby and Abbie drive us out to Cape Horn….
They did a pretty solid job, even in the stormy conditions. Only 15 more years until he can get a license so he’ll have plenty of time to practice before then.
I kid…I kid…
Early Saturday morning we joined the Flex & Flow Run Club crew (Michael, Kristina, and Lou) out at the Cape Horn trail so Abbie and I could run in the mud while the boys hiked, and we could all leave in soaking wet clothes with an appetite fit for our new tradition of Five Guys the day before Colby’s birthday (I had serious contractions in the bathroom of a Five Guys the day before Colbs was born and Casey is THE @burgerpdx so it seemed like an appropriate tradition).
Once home from the trails we attempted to get the little man down for a nap so we could shower, de-mud ourselves and relax for a hot minute, but he was in full birthday rager mode and refused to sleep. We gave up on the nap idea, and headed out to Five Guys instead. Of course, Colby decided to take a nap almost as soon we pulled into the Five Guys parking lot.
And I followed suit.
After nearly an hour of sitting (ahem, napping) in the parking lot, it was finally time for Five Guys (dad was getting real hangry).
Colby and I shared a “veggie” sando which is basically mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and melty cheese on a bun and while he liked it, he was pretty grumpy the whole time we were there (getting new teeth sucks).
But dad was in his happy place with some kind of dripping, meaty burger that he ordered using a lingo I didn’t even recognize.
After Five Guys, we did our best to wear our little guy out and put him down for an early bedtime so we could get started on making some herby, cheesy swirl buns that we intended to share with him the following day (thanks Half Baked Harvest for the inspiration). Because you know, it’s super normal to make cheesy, herb buns for your one year old instead of say…a cupcake?
And then we treated ourselves to some serious couch time (and Narcos Mexico!).
On Sunday morning, Colby woke us up good and early ready to start his first birthday celebrations – around 5 am – so we baked our herby, cheesy bun creations and I went to morning yoga while the boys went on a walk.
Once I got back from yoga, it was clear the little man was yet again refusing to nap, so we decided to take him to open gym at Tumble NW, a gymnastics gym for little ones for the first time ever (he’s starting classes there this week as well).
He had a blast crawling around all of the mats (and diving headfirst off of them whenever he got the chance).
He also thought flips were pretty fun (definitely my kid)…
After gymnastics, we grabbed coffee and headed home in a hopeful attempt for an afternoon nap. And of course, he fell asleep almost as soon as we pulled up at the house so we sat in the car for about half an hour while he slept (we’re going to need to leave books in the car from now on…). Once we got back inside, we found our guilty dog sitting amongst the remains of our cheesy herb swirl buns (I guess they were pretty good). I’m sure you can guess what her poop has been like since then…
Anyway, since our cheesy herb swirl buns were no more, Colby and I went out for a quick Bob run while dad ran to the store to grab a cupcake for the little guy.
And not just any cupcakes but gluten free carrot cake cupcakes. I guess it’s a sign of the times – we certainly live in the age of gluten free and in the right location for it (oh Portland)…But despite his alternate flour cupcake with “healthier” frosting, he enjoyed it thoroughly.
So while it was a rather unconventional birthday celebration, I’d say Colby had a pretty great day. Rainy hikes, front flips, and cupcakes – what could be better than that?
If you’re a parent, what did you (or will you) do for your kiddo’s first birthday? And did you also treat yo’self?
Stay sweaty (and pray for better naps).
XO
Jamie
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