Cloverlane: He's 1 Already

I made this gluten free cake with this beautiful nature scene because our beautiful baby turned one!

Our little man is growing so big. He's done what none of the other 6 have done. He got half of a tooth and walked all before his first birthday. Most of my babies all talk before one in one form or another, but they never get teeth or walk.

It was so heart warming to see all of the children so happy that it was his birthday. Even our 3 year old little princess took it well. She only asked "So are we getting any presents?" when the baby was getting his. Which I thought was really cute. Our oldest daughter made him a beautiful card and she kept running up to him periodically during the day saying, "Happy birthday little man!" and give him a hug. She even came to the bathroom door when I was showering this morning. I opened the door thinking it was the usual need to go potty while mama's in the shower moment, but when I opened the door she said, "Did you know it was the baby's birthday today?" So sweet. They helped me make the cake and put up the decorations.

He's been one of my babies that hasn't liked to play with any sort of toys. It's always been something that isn't a toy that he's been interested in. For Christmas, as bad as it sounds, I didn't get him anything because I didn't want to waste money. I wanted to watch and wait until I knew he would be interested in whatever I bought him. He was mostly interested in nursing on Christmas so my thought was right. Lately he's been pushing one of his brothers toy cars around making the cutest car sounds ever. He also likes to hold books and turn pages. Paper back ones of course. All of our board books are still packed away in Michigan. There is always a crayon, marker, or color pencil on the floor in the art room and he loves to draw on stray paper or the walls is his specialty. This time I knew it was safe to buy him something now. Oh joy!! I just LOVE buying things for my children and watch their reactions when they like what they've gotten. I chose to get him a package of jumbo crayons and a little notebook, a chunky John Deere tractor, and the most adorable board book ever. I read it to my two oldest before they went to bed. My second oldest boy especially loved it being the sweet, sentimental child that he's always been. I plan to read it to all of my children once a day. I just love it. I also plan to get this one too.

The party was so nice. I've always loved having them small and cozy. It's personal and the focus stays on the child that way. I've always wanted all the décor and at least one gift to be handmade by mama. So far I've made handmade gifts for everyone for 1 year. So my goal for this year is to start that tradition and keep it going. Our oldest has a felt birthday crown that I made a few years ago and am happy to say at age 13 he came bounding down the stairs with pride. He wore it ALL day. Smile!! I wanted to make the baby a fabric birthday crown last night, but I thought of it way too late and it just didn't work out. I live right on the edge of town full of mom and pop shops. There is - to my utmost delight I must say - a natural mama and baby store not even a minute from my house. I ran over there and bought him the felted birthday hat they had, grabbed some 50% off natural diaper cream and a new snappi.