ONE

My baby is one! In a year, Jamie has gone from this:

to this:

It has been AMAZING watching him grow and develop over this year!

For his birthday, we went to the zoo! We had never been to the Knoxville zoo before, and we LOVED it. Because it cost about the same as going twice, we got a membership, so we'll definitely be going back! We got really lucky with the weather. It has been in the 90s nearly every day for the past several weeks, but his birthday was cloudy and in the high 70s. It started pouring down rain right as we were leaving, so we were also lucky with the timing!

our favorite exhibit:
the red panda village

watching the river otters

Jamie's wingspan: smaller than a condor's

making friends with the white alligator

carousel ride

petting zoo

camels

elephants

zebras

Jamie the zebra!

After we got home and Jamie had a nap, it was time for presents! He was really excited about unwrapping the first couple, but after that he lost interest and preferred playing with the unwrapped gifts. He got a lot of great new toys and books and cards, etc. We got him a set of nice blocks and a ball, and we have already been having a lot of fun building towers and knocking them down.

We had a yummy dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, and broccoli. Afterwards, it was finally time for cake! Jamie was very tentative at first, taking delicate swipes at the frosting, but after a while he got into it and demolished the cake. I don't think he ate more than maybe one bite of the cake itself . . . but he definitely had more than enough frosting! SO FUN.

the cake matched his new blocks

We sure love this boy! I think he had a very happy first birthday.