Mattimeo Turns 1! (Part 1: The Party)

Wow, this birthday is slightly surreal. Last night, around 11:30, I was lying in bed reading Mattimeo's birth story over again, trying to relive that night in my mind. What an incredible and life changing night that was! I was remembering those first couple nights at the birth place, holding Meo close as we slept, both of us feeling complete and content bathed in each others love. Once again I found my body curled around my sweet Meo, embracing him as he slept on the eve of his birth anniversary. He has grown so much, and changed so much, and even our love for one another has blossomed into something incredible. I felt so fortunate and happy, it was all I could do not to cry as I bent my head to kiss his soft curls. My beautiful boy is one today. Happy HAPPY Birthday sweet Meo. Your Dad and I love you more than we ever thought we could. You are sweet, happy, intelligent, curious, adventurous, funny, silly, strong, trusting, and good-natured; you are amazing. We treasure each breath you take, and we are looking forward to continue to grow and learn with you through the years.

Mattimeo's birthday party invitation

This first post is to share Mattimeo's first birthday party with you, which was held this weekend (two days ago). I knew that I didn't want to do anything really big. At one year old, I was afraid that Meo might be overwhelmed by a really big party, but I still wanted to do something with some of the people he loved so he could have fun. For us, the biggest difficulty was deciding who to invite. We have a humungous family, all of which have been immensely supportive and loving to Meo in his first year of life. We wanted very much to invite them all, but decided it would probably be best for Meo if we kept things small, and just invited immediate family (his grandparents, aunts and uncle, and his cousin). We also wanted Meo to have some babes to play with at his party, so we invited some of the amazing baby and mommy friends that we have been so fortunate to have made this year. We also invited a couple of our own personal friends. For us that was important because it has become harder for us to stay in touch with our best friends, and we wanted to make sure to include them in the important events in our lives. All told there was about 30 people who came; a very manageable number. Meo never seemed overwhelmed at his party, and he had lots of fun.

I told myself that I wouldn't make a big thing of this party so that I wouldn't obsess about the details. But that proved impossible, and it was all I could think about for the past couple months. Whoops. I made the party Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See themed; a book by Bill Martin and illustrated by Eric Carle. This is Meo's favorite book, and he could be read it over and over again. In fact, he often insists on repeat readings. He has a copy with little sliders that reveal the next picture, and he loves being involved with the story by sliding the sliders on his own. Here are some photos of how everything came out:

Cupcake toppers I made

Homemade cupcakes

Homemade butter cream frosting

Meo playing with Grandma while I frosted cupcakes

Finished cupcakes

Finished cupcakes

All the food set out on Brown Bear, Brown Bear fabric for a table cloth

Sour patch kids to represent children and green gummy frogs for the the green frogs in the story

Goldfish

Chocolate Teddy Grahams for the brown bears

Beautiful fruit salad my mom made

Homemade dip from my mom, and fresh veggies from our garden

Pasta salad Robbie and I made

Meo wearing a Brown Bear, Brown Bear shirt from Etsy

Characters hanging from the canopy

All set up

Poster of Meo's first year growth, and a copy of the book and his toy brown bear

Wading pool and shade for the babies

Pool with Eric Carle toys

Back of the cupcake toppers

Another look at those yummy cupcakes

I hung pictures of the characters off the deck

More characters

I used twine and clothespins to hang the pictures

Robbie insisted I hang this in the bathroom

Meo excited to see everything outside!

Meo took a nap before the party and was excited to see everything all set up outside when he woke up. He started pounding on the door yelling, "Ball! Ball! Ball!" Right before the party, Robbie and I took Meo for a walk (in the stroller because it was really, really hot for wearing him and we didn't want everyone to get all sweaty).

Then it was party time! Here are some photos of the party:

Playing ball

Playing ball

Grandparents checking out the poster

Playing ball

Lunch

Tunnel time with Josh

Braden

Pool fun with cousin Bryce

Erin and Connor

Checking out the pool

All of Meo's grandfathers

Sarah and Carter

Baby and Mama friends

Our friends

Meo with his Memere and Pepere Rocray

Meo with Mema and Puppup Jewitt

Cousin Bryce

Baby fun

Meo and Gib

Tunnel fun for Connor and Meo

Connor

Meo and Connor

Gib, Lauren and Andrew

Connor

Krista and Leela

Krista and Leela

Meo very relaxed and drowsy on Grandpa's lap

During the party, Robbie agreed to read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, so long as Meo helped him by sliding the little sliders. Mattimeo was so cute and crawled right over to Robbie when he saw him sitting down with the book. The other babies seemed interested in hearing the book too, it was cute to see them all looking at Robbie. Poor Robbie was nervous, but I am very thankful he was brave enough to do the reading because I think Meo really enjoyed it.

Robbie reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

We decided to let Meo have his first taste of cake/sugar for his birthday party. He loved it! We all sang happy birthday to him, which he seemed a bit shocked about. He just stared at everyone wide eyed looking like, "what are you doing?" I tried to get him to blow out the candle, but he was more interested in trying to touch the flame, so I helped him out. Then came eating time. At first, he wasn't really sure what to make of the cupcake. I had him try the frosting, and I think that was a bit too sweet for him. Then I broke off a piece of the cake and popped it in his mouth, and he was in love. He then proceeded to pick up the cupcake like and apple, and demolished it. He ate the entire cupcake!! I am just thankful he didn't get a belly ache later!

Meo's first cupcake (and first taste of sugar)

Offering him some water

Meo and his Grandma and Grandpa Robinson

Clapping with Grandpa

Laughing with Mommy

Laughing with Daddy

Proud parents and our birthday boy

Then it was present time. Honestly, Robbie and I weren't sure what to do about the whole present thing. We didn't want to make anyone feel bad for not bringing presents, especially since we told people presents were unnecessary. But we knew that of course his family would give him presents and our friends would as well, and they would want to see him open them. So Robbie and I decided just to sit with Meo upfront and let him open his presents after cake, trying not to make too much of a big thing of it so that people could watch only if they wanted to. Meo got a bunch of really fantastic gifts. He got some really great books from our friends, a Ghibli movie (My Neighbor Totoro) from his Uncle Brian, Meg and Bryce, a cute stuffed tree full of little forest animal puppets from his Aunt Samantha, some sweet cards, his first sets of LEGOS and some books from Grandma and Grandpa and an awesome Radio Flyer Wagon from his Memere and Pepere. Mema and Puppup don't celebrate birthdays, but have been giving Meo gifts all year round. They most recently gave him the sweet dinosaur tunnel Connor and Meo were playing with in the above photos, his xylophone and some balls that you pound down with a little wooden hammer.

He climbed in to "help" Pepere put his wagon together

First wagon ride with his pal, Connor

Pepere giving the boys a ride

Mattimeo had so much fun at his birthday party. Thank you all for coming and for your love. And to you all who weren't at Meo's party, but love him too: you have given us so much support, encouragement and kindness this past year. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.