I have a One Year Old.

Charles turned ONE on October 4th. I know, that was two weeks ago and this is the first you have heard from me concerning his big day. I'm sorry.
My parents and sister flew out for a long weekend to be here to celebrate the big day. It was really nice to have them here and for them to spend some time with Charles.Before they arrived I did some of the preparations for the party to get them out of the way.
Chris helped me pipe the cookies. Turns out he was better at it than me!

 'C' for Charles

Along with the cookies I made the decorations before my family arrived. I wanted to get some of that done so that not only would I not have to worry about it but also so that we could have more time to go out and do stuff together.

On Sunday after church we all went to the west side's High Line Park. A 'park' atop abandoned railroad tracks with views of the Hudson river and the surrounding neigborhood. While it wasn't the ideal weather for such an outing, we made the best of it and enjoyed the time together, the view, and the nature hidden above the streets of the city. This is definitely a place Chris and I want to go back to.

Charles and I took Nana, Grandpa and Auntie to the park while Dada was working. It was a perfect day for it. Charles sure had a good time with his grandparents!

On Sunday we had a cake for the church and everyone sang Happy Birthday Charles. He is a boy who is loved. We feel so blessed to have our church family.

The morning of Charles' birthday I wanted to celebrate as a family since we would be having people over that evening. I made pancakes, which he loves, and we had breakfast together and gave him his gifts. He loved the airplane from Grandpa and Nana and his own basketball from Daddy. 

I had made the decorations ahead of time and my mom and sister had helped bake the cupcakes the night before so all that was left was for me to frost them. Chris was in charge of making the baked ziti so us girls put the decorations up while Grandpa hung out with the birthday boy. Charles didn't know what was happening but the rest of us were sure excited to be celebrating his first birthday!

Not quite sure about the crowd gathered around him signing!

Not wasting any time digging into that cupcake!

 Charles 'dancing' to the music from his new guitar. So funny.

God has given us a wonderful church family here in Brooklyn and of course we were so happy to have some of them over to celebrate with us but is was sure special to have my family here with us too.

 Remembering back to the morning of his birth I truly feel 'my cup runneth over'. From the prayers even before he was born, to the smooth and safe natural delivery of our healthy baby, to his first smile, laugh, sign, and step.. I can't believe it's been a year. It has gone by so fast and yet it seems as though he has always been with us. I can not put into words how much I love my baby boy or how blessed I feel to be his mommy. He has brought so much joy to our lives and we are both so so SO thankful that he is our son. It has been quite a year, and while I am a little sad that he is no longer the tiny bundle we brought home from the hospital, I am so excited for the days, months and years ahead of us with with our Charles.