The week started off with something else monumental as Thursday night, Becca attended a work retreat in West Virginia which meant for the first time, I had an entire night with Jake and no "super mom" to save the day.
Since most of you know that Jake isn't exactly the best sleeper in the world, it took extraordinary will power starting the previous Sunday to start coaxing Jake to make it through the night, so that by Thursday, Jake would be in good shape to have his normally heavy sleeping dad survive.
And since it's been a year, here's a reminder of how it all started with Jake in the hospital. Didn't he used to sleep so well?
After dad and Jake survived a very peaceful night, supermom returned from West Virginia and on Saturday, our good friends, Dave and Andie, were up in the area for his Marine Corps Ball on Friday, so they came to hang with us on Saturday for brunch and the first part of the Georgia-Auburn game.
Finally, on Sunday, we planned a big birthday party for the almost one year old Jake with lots of surprise visitors. It was quite a fun party to say the least.
Jake's Grammy Carole arrived on Saturday afternoon and was the first to hang with Jake:
Also coming from the west coast was Jake's Godmom, Libby:
Next up for Jake's big party visiting from North Carolina was Jake's Zayda and Grandma Dorry:
There were around 40-45 of our friends as well and more family, and several little ones ranging from ages 3 months to about 7 years.
Coming to the party just in the nick of time back from a work trip to Ethiopia was big cousin Russ:
And it's not a fun, family event without strong Schwartz representation.
Becca with Sarah and Stephanie:
Stephanie with Karen, Elliott and Graham:
And though we were so distracted by such a fun party and so many people to chat with who came out to see Jake, we did manage to capture pictures of a few of Jake's friends.
Here we are with Jake's girl, Carolyn:
Jake always knows how to charm the ladies. Here's Jake with two of Becca's nicest and loveliest colleagues and friends, Liz and Amelia:
Of course, no birthday party is complete without cake! Here we sing happy birthday and show Jake the delicious cake he's supposed to "mush" on:
In this picture, Jake's still very wary of this giant piece food item Jake's parents have suddenly stuck in front of him. He decides to analyze the goods first:
Finally, Jake digs in and starts to realize the greatest discovery a little boy can make: sugar!
Jake was determined to have the messiest face possible and I even added some blue icing on the tip of his nose for good measure:
After Jake reached his sugar high, he continued his quest to take his truck and drive it all over his huge party room, ramming it many times into various surprised party guests:
Jake even had a little extra cake snuck over to him by his wonderful babysitter, Emily:
And here's the big cake for all the party guests with Jake's 'monkey' invitation- great job, mom!
Becca, Grammy Carole and I had a lot of fun opening all of Jake's wonderful presents. We got a wonderful variety of items and Jake has some very nice friends and family that clearly love him. With a successful and fun first birthday party, Jake has since had time to play with his new presents:
On Jake's actual Birthday (Monday), we made sure his party balloons were still up while he ate his dinner:
And of course, if it's the 17th of the month, then it's time for Jake's official monthly pictures.
Jake and dad:
Jake and mom:
Finally, tonight, Grammy Carole's last night in town, she generously babysat Jake so Becca and I could have dinner out and catch a movie.
Grammy Carole and her guy Jake:
All in all, it was a really wonderful time and a wonderful Birthday and party, but more importantly, a wonderful first year with the good fortune of being Jake's parents and having such a terrific little boy that we love so much.
Happy Birthday, Jake!
No comments:
Post a Comment