Link's First Birthday!

One year ago today, my Luna baby wiggled his way into this world. His brother sang to me and made me laugh when I could barely bare the pain (read Link's birth story here). And from it came a musical baby who never stops smiling, who has the biggest blue eyes, is the sweetest snuggler and who is full of spunk and spirit. Happy birthday Link!!

Dear Link,

We celebrated your birthday with a party the day before you turned one. Lots of your friends and family came to the party; great aunts and uncles, grandparents, great grandparents and lots of wonderful friends were there to celebrate your most special day! And because you love people so much, you had so much fun being the center of party chaos in our little house.

Ever since you were born, your favorite song has been "The Itsy Bitsy Spider", so naturally, you had an Itsy Bitsy Spider themed birthday party. We used pumpkins we grew in our garden to make yummy oatmeal pumpkin muffins which we topped with homemade cinnamon whipped cream frosting and cheerful suns and rain clouds.

I made maple sugar cookies in the shape of spiders from scratch using Maine maple syrup and decorated them with a homemade vanilla frosting (that was so good your dad, Meo and I couldn't stop licking the bowl) and a homemade raw chocolate icing (made with dates, cocoa, and coconut oil).

Your dad arranged a beautiful plate of fruit into a rainbow for when the sun comes back out again.

Your birthday cake was an apple spice cake full of apples, raisins, walnuts, and honey and topped with a cinnamon whipped cream frosting I made. I used some of the raw chocolate icing to decorate the cake with a spider web. I am especially proud about incorporating your name into the web!

We also had a platter of veggies to go with the cheesy spinach and artichoke dip I made and some spiced apple cider.

This was your birthday party invitation:

front/back

For decorations we had a big make-believe cobweb on the glass doors, some 3D spiders crawling all over the walls, a spider table cloth, and a poster I made showing how you grew over this first year. I also spent many nights hand-sewing little spider finger puppets for your friends to bring home.

You had cake for the very first time at your party and you thought it was delicious and fun to smash and spread all over the tray on your high chair. When everyone was singing happy birthday to you, you had great big eyes and were looking all around!

You were given lots of nice gifts including Mega Bloks, cars that race down ramps, a bead roller coaster, a beautiful book (Sleep Like a Tiger), some shirts, a nice set of wooden blocks, hand puppets, a wonderful sock monkey that Amy made for you from her grandmothers socks from the 1950s (she even knit you a sweater for the monkey, so special!), some farm animal figurines, and a bunch of other toys as well! You...and all the other kids at your party...were very excited to start playing right away!

We bought you a little swimming pool and lots of colorful balls to play in at your party, and it was a big hit! People played with lots of other toys too and enjoyed yummy food and good company. Here are some pictures of everyone having fun at your party.

Amy and Jordan

Amy and Marilla

Lunch with Mama

Christina, Greyson, and Collin

Erin, Colin and Conor

Laren and Leela

Great Aunt Kelly, Great Aunt Dianne and Memere

Great Uncle Kenny and the old Pepere

Playing in the kitchen with Linos

Link and Colin...friends since birth!

Pals since infancy

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Collin snuggles

After you went to bed, little Link, Meo and Leela had so much fun playing in the ball pit. They didn't want to stop! They were tickling each other and wrestling and jumping and laughing...it was really sweet.

Leela and Meo

On your actual birthday we stayed home. We started the day by giving you your presents before Daddy had to leave for work. Meo picked out a giant stuffed bass for your fish room and gave that to you. We have you a new lift-flap-book (Where is Maisy) and a new singing book (This Jazz Man). Since you love music so much we also got you your very own set of bongos, which you really love playing!

All day we had your favorite foods. For breakfast we had your "birthday cake", which was pumpkin oatmeal muffins with a little frosting on top. For lunch we had organic Mac and cheese (crazy bugs!) with broccoli and extra cheese. For dinner we had blueberry oatmeal pancakes.

In the morning, you had lots of play time with Mommy and Meo.

You also were very tired from your party the day before and decided you wanted a morning nap. When you woke up, Auntie Sam was at our house! We had lots of fun playing with her until it was time for your afternoon nap. You and Meo really love tearing the couch apart and making a "bounce zone" (as Meo calls it). Auntie Sam thought this was fun too.

Auntie Sam put you to sleep for your nap for the very first time and it was so very sweet.

It was a wonderful, fun birthday little Link. I feel so blessed to have had such a wonderful baby boy to love, snuggle, play with and watch learn and grow. I am a little sad that those precious baby days are behind us already, but I am happy to see where this next year takes us and all the years after that. You are an incredible little boy with a big personality and a lot of love, and I love you very much!