ABC's John Mark Style

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John Mark is ONE (and he's not the only one who's changed...)

As I write this, my friend, Tami, is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her sweet Abigail. I remember the anxiousness so well. Every moment was just dripping with anticipation. I had seen the sweet photos of him on the ultrasound and I had felt him in my stomach as he rolled and kicked. The idea that I would ever meet the sweet boy was very surreal. She has had a long labor already, but soon she will know the same joy that we know and that all this "It'll be worth it" stuff will finally ring true for her!

With all the excitement about Abigail's impending arrival and John Mark's birthday tomorrow, I can't stop replaying a year ago in my head. Here's a little flashback to our life last year:

 
                                       

There have been many special "firsts" like his first smile, first words, and first time to crawl. We're still celebrating firsts all the time. Recently he stood up for the first time without help. Each time he does something new, we marvel at it and then before you know it we barely remember what life was like before he could ___. Here's a good look at how he's grown and changed over the year...

                                      

* 12 month photo coming soon*

When we started to plan John Mark's first birthday, I started to think that in addition to celebrating his first year of life, what we really need to be celebrating is that we survived the first year. This is a major accomplishment and John Mark isn't the only one that's changed...

1. We are more efficient. We do everything we did before (work full time jobs, shop, take care of house, spend time with friends and family, etc.) and yet we find time to still be parents. I look back on the days before John Mark and I remember doing what I wanted, when I wanted. Pick up and go to the mall? Head out for dinner? Work a few extra hours on the weekend? Anything we wanted to do, we pretty much could. We somehow make it all work, but it just takes extra effort. I look back on the time pre-baby and think about how much time I wasted. If you thought I was efficient before, then you should see me now! This one really leads nicely to #2...

2. We are more selfless. Now, this one didn't come without a few growing pains. How could it not? We've only had to take care of ourselves for 31 years. Having such a tiny little thing rely on you for the most basic of functions is overwhelming, yet rewarding. Sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to give him ibuprofen or cutting a weekend nap short or saying "no" to something we don't have a sitter for stings a little, but ultimately neither of us would change a thing. This is one of those things you think you can't do until you've done it. We love him so much that it makes doing all of those things easy.

3. We are cheesy and obsessed with our child. I only post about half of the photos that I want to on Facebook, so I don't overwhelm everyone (and even then, I'm sure I still do overwhelm people). We text each other when he does something new and take videos of him just being him. We never thought we'd use our "baby voice" as much as we do. We could sit and marvel at him for a long time. Every baby has similar milestones, but you'd never think you'd care about the smallest thing like putting a paci in his mouth, drinking from his own cup, or rolling over. We love it all! Watching him do something new never gets old.

4. We love each other more and we are better spouses to each other. Before baby, we were two people who came together to spend a life together. Even though we shared a home and bills and responsibilities, there was still a great deal of independence. However, we need each other now more than ever and we are more "interdependent" now. In order to carve out some much needed alone time, to make better use of time (i.e. get out the door in the morning, etc.), and to just make life flow easier and more pleasantly, we have to rely on each other. This hasn't been easy either, but we are working on it. Being a parent can be a big stressor on a relationship, but we love each other through the hard times and I can easily say that I love him more than I did even on our wedding day.

5. Last and most important: Our capacity to love has changed. I know everyone says it, but I am saying it anyway: you never thought you could love another human so much. I really love Brandon, I really do. However, the love for your child is something completely different. I love to listen to his giggles, watch him learn, and do the simplest of things. The most exciting part of my day is when I walk in to the room at daycare, and he heads towards me in a fast and furious crawl. Can't imagine life without that little smile!

We Survived the First...Birthday Party

When Brandon proposed, I immediately felt overwhelmed with planning a wedding. Florist, cake, caterer, venue, band, and the list goes on and on. Y'all know I'm all about the to do list, but that was just too many things to add to my list. That's one of the many reasons that we chose to have a destination wedding. Luckily, I got to live vicariously through my sister who did put all of those things on her to do list and pulled off a fantastic wedding. Enjoying her local wedding didn't make me regret having a destination wedding and I'm glad I got to experience both, but the thing I really missed because of the destination wedding was the pride of pulling off such a big event. I mean technically I did pull off a great destination wedding that still had all traditional things flowers, music, cake, band, etc., but all of my planning took place via email, so it did not have a high level of difficulty.

Here's a picture of John Mark and the beautiful bride:

Also, I have to share this one too:

Anyway, back to the point...when I started to think about John Mark's first birthday, I almost felt like bailing and just doing a family dinner at a restaurant or something easy. I just get overwhelmed with multi-step projects. There's nothing wrong with going with an easy option (and you can't do something big for every event), but sometimes I get mad at myself for choosing the easier route just to avoid getting overwhelmed. So I decided that I would really put some effort in throwing a good birthday party to celebrate John Mark's first year (and our surviving it!).

Here are some pictures of the venue and decorations:

 

The green punch was delicious! It matched better than I could've ever planned :)

A mom of one of the students in my class made the smash cake. Isn't it adorable?

The party really went well, but the one thing I regret is not having more time to get everything decorated. We rented the Hoover Lake House and they have a strict time schedule. I felt like I was on an episode of Chopped and the clock was counting down. We only had one hour to get everything decorated, arranged, and prepared. I couldn't have done it without my mom, her husband, and this sweet girl. Seriously...

When everyone arrived, we socialized and chatted. We had thirty guests and 5 babies. It was so fun seeing the babies interact with each other (well, kinda). As you can see, John Mark likes to mess with other kid's faces.

John Mark & Parker (17 months)

John Mark & Nathan (7 months)

 I love this one. It looks like John Mark is telling Nathan something really juicy.

 John Mark & Charlie (15 months)

 Taking pictures of one baby is pretty hard, but getting two to look at the camera at the same time is a lost cause...

Of course, we can't forget Barrett & Katelynn Rose. I wish we'd gotten a picture of John Mark with them, but at least I got their beautiful families:

Since the cake smash we did with our photographer didn't go super great (he was really fussy and so not into it), I decided to do another one at the birthday party. I think he enjoyed this one much more (it was room temperature as opposed to the cold buttercream in the one I made). I was very happy with how his cake turned out, but I'm wondering if it would've gone better if the buttercream hadn't been cold (take note, new moms!). 

We got some great shots...so many it's hard to choose!

After the cake smash we decided to open presents. This was an aspect of the party that had a lot of thought put into it. I'd read online that you shouldn't open presents at kid parties because they quickly lose interest and the adults don't really want to watch that. I was very worried about how he would act (he is way more temperamental these days than he has been in the past) and I didn't know if he could handle all that stimulation. At the same time, though, I wanted to honor all the guests and their thoughtful gifts. After much thought, we did decide to open presents (Brandon and I with a little help from John Mark). We are blessed with generous friends who really made us feel special. John Mark is a very loved little boy!

Here's some of the aftermath at our house. We are still trying to figure out what to do with everything!

He's pretty much played with everything (and loved it all), but here is Daddy's gift to him. He figured out how to work it today:

The party really was a lot of fun even though it felt like a complete whirlwind. I learned two lessons 1) If you have it somewhere other than your house, allow yourself plenty of time to set up (an hour is not enough) and 2) Assign someone to take pictures. With all the chaos, it's hard to make sure that all the pictures get taken that you want. Next time, I'm gonna take a photo list (like you do at a wedding) to make sure I don't forget anything or anyone! Here are some photos of most of our other guests. If you're not pictured here, I am SO sorry!

We are so grateful for all the great company yesterday. I know it's a day we will look back on fondly for many years to come. I almost can't wait until next year because I know he'll be old enough to enjoy it...and maybe open his own presents!

Thanks to everyone who helped make the day so memorable! Next year we just might have a destination birthday, so start saving up for Mexico!