Collin's 1st Birthday!

We are the proud parents of a one-year old! We spent Collin's birthday at Danielle and Derek's house in Pennsylvania. Collin had fun playing with his cousins all day and we had his party in the evening. 

Birthday boy

First balloon experience

Love this boy

He ripped the paper a little, but mostly needed help

His train cake

First he ate the marshmallows off the top.

No need to use hands. This is much more efficient.

After

It's hard to believe it's been a whole year since Collin was born, but at the same time it feels like he has been in our family forever. Here are a few things we love about our boy:

• He is ticklish and always laughs when we tickle his neck, tummy, feet, and legs.
• When we are holding him, he'll rest his head on our chest, but only for a few seconds. If he's playing, sometimes he'll crawl up to me, rest his head on me for a few seconds, then quickly get back to playing.
• He loves people and will usually smile for them.
• He giggles when I brush his teeth.
• He loves being chased up the stairs! If the baby gate isn't up, he goes up a step or two and waits for one of us to follow him. As soon as he sees us, he screams and crawls up as fast as he can.
• He dances all the time! Whenever some kind of music comes on, he starts rocking back and forth. 
• He likes to take all our shoes off the shoe rack and does this several times daily. Same with the DVDs.
• If he has a binky in his mouth, and he finds another on the floor, he drops the one from his mouth and takes the new one. Sometimes he'll keep switching.
• He claps his hands all the time and laughs when we clap ours too.
• He likes emptying the kitchen drawers whenever he gets the chance.
• Lately, he shakes his head wildly side to side a lot when he is excited, and while crawling fast.
• Also when he's excited and standing up, he bends his knees and "jumps" them back up over and over.
• He sleeps with his bum in the air sometimes. We've seen him wiggle it up and down while sleeping, and it is the funniest thing in the world.
• He smiles at us when we go to get him from his crib in the morning or after a nap.
• When he's eating, he tries to pick up small foods like cheerios by touching them with his index finger. And usually his fingers are sticky enough that it works.
• Some of his favorite toys include straws, toothbrushes, baby forks, and popsicle sticks.
• When the front door is open, he tries to make a run for it.
• When we put him to bed, he'll usually give a little giggle when we tuck the blanket around him, and then stay quiet when we leave. He goes to sleep so well most of the time.
• He loves bath time and smiles big when we take him out and wrap him in the towel.
• He has the best laugh, and always laughs when he hears other people laughing.

We love this boy! He makes us laugh every day.