Thursday, February 13, 2020

Axton's First Birthday Party


Axton turned the big ONE on January 26th! I'll say the typical mom thing because it is TRUE---I have no clue how he is one already?!?! The past year has flown by! 
We had his party the evening of his birthday, Sunday, with all the family that was able to make it. He gained a couple of brand new playmates-to-be the weeks before his birthday, in the form of two tiny cousins, and between that and sickness, party attendance was quite a bit smaller than the initial plan. We still had a grand time with all of those who could make it!
My father in law captured a whole row of Axton's expressions during dinner. Pretty adorable! He was SO THRILLED to have people over. We had just completed a very quiet week of no company and really no social activities either (as we recovered from the prior week of John being out of town at a funeral, me out of town at a wedding, and all three of us getting some level of sickness afterwards)  so we decided Axton's social cup must've been quite depleted, based on his extreme happiness to see everybody!
For some reason, though, he got very serious at dessert time!

He looks positively concerned. =) Not sure why, as he was loving little tastes of frosting before dinner!

The actual "cake smash" situation didn't go quite as planned. The sticky frosting was quite frustrating for him (see above, him trying to "fling" it off his fingers) and he wasn't even interested in getting to the actual cupcake. I guess the prior training to keep hands clean and not touch his food had been very successful! =) He loved dinner though, so even though the cake wasn't such a hit, it was okay!
After dinner he had fun practicing his walking skills. A roomful of cheering fans was a big plus. =)
So fun!
And then it was time to open his gifts!
Amongst other things, he received:

These adorable little bath "bubble" toys. His daily bath time is his favorite time of day, so these have been such a fun addition to his little supply of bath toys. They are little floating toys and he loves them.

This Wooden Ramp Racer Set. It is the cutest little thing and Axton loves watching the cars race up and down. It's almost as fun for daddy and mama too! =) At first he was mainly interesting in watching and chewing the cars, but lately he has figured out how to make them go on the track himself, and he is quite proud of his accomplishments in doing that.

This Duplo Truck & Tracked Excavator Set.  Axton adores this set! They are his first real duplos and a huge hit with him thus far.
We ended the night out with the uncle/aunties staying later to chat, and Axton got to stay up an hour past his bedtime, which quite thrilled his little soul. He always gets a bottle of milk every night before going to bed, so here he is, quite worn out after all the festivities, enjoying his bottle while being snuggled by one of his aunties. 

Of course there is no way to really know what is happening in their little baby minds, but based on his smiles and laughs and overall joyfulness all evening long...I'd say Axton loved his first birthday party!

If you're a mama, what did your babies do to their cake at their first birthday? 
Any special traditions you have?
-Chels

(Note: All of the items linked in this post are affiliate links to items we have and love! Click here to see my affiliate link disclosure)

11 comments:

  1. Awww. He is SO photogenic! Ryan also loves cars and racing toys, trucks, tractors, trains, you name it. This was a sweet post, and Axton is adorable. Thanks for sharing!

    Love, Rebecca

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh I wish I could post a picture here! My oldest devoured his. He loved smashing it through his hands and once he tasted it he tried to get as much in as possible! I think he was amazed that we were just letting him go to town. Our daughter, however, was much more like Axton. She wasn’t interested in touching or tasting it and hated it when she got icing on her fingers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. So fun to hear about the differences with your kiddos!

      Delete
  3. Aww so adorable! Happy birthday, Axton!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Axton is SO cute! I love the pictures of him.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I just made regular cupcakes for everyone for daughter's 1st birthday. Huge, multilayer cakes seemed like such a waste to me for a 1 yr old. A little cupcake was the perfect size for her 1st taste of chocolate 🙂

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy birthday sweet man! All 4 of mine were very cautious with their cakes..probably because I'm that mom that abhors messy eating and trained them all that way, or because of their 'neat' genetics.🤷‍♀️ Either way, first birthday parties are mostly for the parents anyway. ☺

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ha, I bet it was those Bontrager genetics then for sure! =)
      And totally agree-it was mostly for daddy and mommy. =)

      Delete
  7. I am wondering how you train children to keep hands clean and be quiet during church when they are under a year? Any advice is welcome. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We practice at home. =)
      He is expected to sit quietly with his hands still for family devotions, storytime, and occasional other events, like some extended family facetimes, etc. We started early, expecting him to sit quietly/practicing with him, and it is amazing how fast he caught on! I would say starting young is the key!

      Delete

Comments containing profanity and/or hateful language will not be published. I will not be posting comments with questions regarding either John's or my extended family. If you have questions about them, please go ask them on their blogs. =)
Also, anyone with a question related to a post must provide their full name. Feel free to email me with questions on topics not pertinent to the post. Thanks y'all!