The First Birthday

Lily's first birthday has come and gone. It's hard to believe that we now have a one year old!

She had a great day, surrounded by her loved ones.  The fun isn't over yet!  On Saturday, we will celebrate her first birthday with our family and friends!

After Lily went to bed the night before her birthday, we filled her room with balloons.  It's our family tradition.  We blew up 12 balloons for every month of her life.   On the morning of her birthday, we could hear her babbling to all the balloons on the floor.  We all ran in to greet her, and the kids filled up her crib with the balloons!



We had an extra special first birthday present waiting for her in our living room!  I put her down in the hallway, and she wandered into the living room.  As soon as she spotted her gift, she took off toward it, and climbed right up! She absolutely loves her little climber and slide.  She's not going to be too happy when we put it outside!



Dylan and Lexie were really excited to give her their gift, too!  Lily loved her My First Disney Princess doll!

 

After a really quick breakfast, we headed to the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium.



We went at the perfect time.  The animals were all out and active! We even got to see the lions rip apart a fake giraffe.




 

This was the first zoo trip that Lily really noticed the animals.  She loved the elephants and penguins, but the big fish were still her favorite!



I made the mistake of taking Lily out of the stroller for a picture, and after that, all she wanted to do was walk!  We just may have lost her for a few seconds in the primate building!  The orangutan was right up against the glass, so Dylan, Lexie, and Lily sat down in front of it.  It was the coolest thing, because the orangutan was interacting with them.

 

Lily turned around and walked back to Grant, and grabbed his leg. I just assumed he realized she was there. I continued to snap pictures, and when I turned around a few seconds after she had walked away, she was gone!  We both panicked, and I ran around the corner.   She was a good hundred feet away from us!  Lesson learned!

After all that excitement, we strapped her back in, and continued on!

It was really hot, so the kids and Grant kept running through the misters. My kids were soaked!



We cooled off in the aquarium, before heading back into the heat. The kids loved seeing the newborn sea lion in the nursery.  He was so cute and loud!







The rest of our zoo trip was a lot of fun!

 

 




We let the kids burn off some energy at two of the zoo playgrounds.







We let the big kids do two things they had never done at the zoo before-ride the log water ride and ride on the carousel.  There were no lines, so it seemed like the ideal time!



Lily snacked and watched them ride.




We stopped at the souvenir shop on the way out.  We let Lily pick out her favorite thing, since it was her birthday.  I put her down and she walked right over to a display, pulled out a pink tiger, and ran off with it, so that was her first birthday zoo trip souvenir!

Despite the heat, we had a great time with our birthday girl!



That evening, we had a mini party with my parents, Grant's mom, and Grant's grandma.  They came over for dinner and cake!

Lily loved the 3-in-1 smart trike that my parents gave her!



I always love watching babies with their smash cake.  Lily was a dainty eater, though!  She pinched off tiny pieces of cake, and ate them very slowly.

 

Grant's mom couldn't take it anymore, so she helped Lily dig in!



Dylan and Lexie were so excited about Lily's birthday!  I couldn't believe how grown up the three of them looked, compared to last year!




It was a fun little party celebrating the newest love of our lives!








After our family left, our friends showed up to see Lily!




They got her an adorable, tiny backpack, filled with clothes and sunglasses.  She didn't like wearing the backpack!




The sunglasses were a hit!





My sweet Lily had such a long, busy day.  She was teething, too, so I was amazed at how happy she had been all day. Around 9:00, exhaustion hit. 



Just like that, the birthday girl was ready for bed!



It was a memorable first birthday with our little sweetheart!