Patrick is One!

My (youngest) baby boy is one! (As of January 31st)

We had a small get-together, very last minute (some invites happened the day of, hours before), with nearby family and a few friends. I ordered pizza from Papa Johns and had salad available; one of my friends brought salad and cantaloupe. I used boxed cake mix and baked the cake with help from Lucy as well as made pastry cream on Thursday evening. On Friday after getting home from work, I assembled the cake with help from my icing-eaters, Andrew and Lucy. My mom ran over with her icing decorating kit and I used  a google image search to help find a whale picture to use on the top of the cake. I found the 12 month size birthday shirt in the 12-24 month clothing box an hour beforehand. A few days earlier, we had taught him to point his finger upwards to indicate one after asking how old he was, but he didn't cooperate for a picture.

Overall, it was nice and quick. Patrick had fun with his balloons and new shoes from his granny as well as eating pizza. He mostly enjoyed eating the cake and squishing it between his fingers; he was not as messy as the other two. Andrew and Lucy had fun playing with their friends.

I can still remember his birth clearly and in that sense, it's hard to believe he's one already. Watching him grow day-to-day, though, it's easy to acknowledge and exciting to celebrate that he's one. It's fun to watch him accomplish more, just as with the other two.

The walking update: Patrick has taken upwards of 12 steps, but doesn't do it consistently. He easily cruises along and between different pieces of furniture and appliances, but he does resort to crawling when he deems them too far away. He seems as though he will actually walk soon. His first step was back at the very beginning of December, so he's come a long way since then, but he still has a few days or weeks (whenever he surprises us) until he walks all the time and can start learning how to run with his big brother and sister.