All You Need is Love

 

 My Handsome Valentines

As a little girl, I would always dream of one day being showered with love on Valentine's Day by my one true love, my Prince Charming. Then I grew up. Upon becoming an angsty teenager, I decided Valentine's Day was commercialized and terribly overrated, and held firmly to this opinion until I married my real-life Prince Charming. While we do still believe that love should be celebrated daily and not just on February 14th, and we don't go all out in a huge, gaudy celebration, Cody and I have created our own Valentine's Day tradition that began our very first February 14th together during our sophomore year of college. We simply stay home, make homemade shrimp nachos (yes, he even fries the chips) and drink margaritas while soaking up each other's awesomeness. I wouldn't have it any other way, and didn't think it could get much better until this year. Adding a miniature version of my Prince Charming was just what we needed to perfect our low-key celebration, and while he was around last year and we were so thankful for that, it was even more fun to have him for entertainment this year in all his precious glory! I am so fortunate to have the two most handsome Valentines to shower me with love and make me feel like a queen on the day of love and all year long, and we had such a fun weekend together. We woke up and ate a tasty pancake breakfast, then went for a walk around the neighborhood and played outside before eating a light lunch at Coletti's and heading to the Outlet Mall. We wrapped up the day with a family get together at Aunt Ann's house, where she outdid herself and made quite the spread of gluten-free desserts. Once again, I felt like a queen! It was a wonderful day celebrating love and family... and let's be honest, where would any of us be without those two things?

 Blowing Valentine's Day kisses!

 

The Birthday Prince

On February 11th, we celebrated our little man's official first birthday. The last year of our lives has been filled with more dirty diapers, late-night wake-up calls, kisses and love than I have ever known.  I would be lying if I said it wasn't a challenge, but it has also been the most amazing year of our lives. Cody and I have really found ourselves in this adventure of parenthood, and while we've been tested both individually and together, I truly believe that it has made us and our love for each other and Hayes even stronger. We often say that no one ever tells you the many surprises that come with welcoming your first child into the world. Parenthood is like a secret society for the strong. While this may be true, we count ourselves truly blessed that God has entrusted us with the life of Hayes William, and we just pray daily that we would continue to be the best examples for him of the unconditional love, grace and mercy that God shows to us daily.

I was fortunate to be able to take the day off of work to spend with Hayes, so we kicked off the morning with a yummy French Toast breakfast, complete with powdered sugar, strawberries and bananas. I decided we'll go ahead and make this a tradition, as Hayes seemed to love his French Toast just as much as his mommy and daddy do! I must admit there was no shortage of sugar on Hayes Man's birthday, but hey, that's what birthdays are for, right? After breakfast we got dressed and took Rio for a walk around the neighborhood and played ball outside for a while. I made it my goal to spend as much of the day as possible outside, which is Hayes' most favorite place. After a good, long nap, Hayes feasted on a lunch of chicken, mac and cheese and peas, followed by birthday cake promptly at 12:48 PM, the time he was born. After lunch we met MiMi at Pendleton Park for a walk and some good conversation, followed by a trip to Brownsville with Daddy to the Children's Museum and Zoo. We wrapped up the day of celebrating with a yummy dinner at Chili's where Hayes feasted on man food-- baby back ribs, sweet potato fries and vanilla ice cream. It was a busy and exciting day for our birthday boy, and he loved every minute!

 Let the celebration begin... French Toast fit for a prince!

 All boy! Playing ball outside.

Now if only we could get him to keep his baseball cap on. We'll work on that.

  

Cake at 12:48 PM!

In the words of Hayes... "Mum!"

 Walking with MiMi

 Brownsville Children's Museum

 Daddy's contribution to the light wall at the Children's Museum. Brainwashing Influencing the kids of the Rio Grande Valley, one toy at a time. :)

 Getting in on the action!

 There was a cloud simulator at the Museum that Hayes just loved. He also met a cute 4 year old little girl who really enjoyed his company. He was so sweet and gave her hugs the whole time we were there!

Now on to the zoo...

 Giving the goats some love. Hayes kept saying "Ruh Ruh" when he petted them.

 Feast for the birthday prince. Mommy was happy to share her plate with him, and he sure loved it.

We love you, little man, and can't wait for all of the adventures that year two will hold!

Horseplay for HWJ

The weekend before Hayes turned the big "1", we celebrated his birthday in the utmost Southern Style with a Kentucky Derby themed party. I channeled my inner Pinterista and became one with all kinds of Pinterest craft ideas for the event. I was also really excited that the date of the party ended up being February 7th, which would have been my Granddaddy's birthday. I had hoped Hayes would be born on that day, but the next best thing was hosting a horse racing party to celebrate his first year of life! Mom, Dad and Kirby came down and I couldn't have set everything up without them or my amazing husband. We had lots of friends and family come celebrate Hayes and it was such a fun day. Not to mention we were blessed with the most amazing, warm weather... that doesn't just happen in Texas in February! Thank you to everyone who helped celebrate our little man. Hayes is truly loved beyond measure!

The same weekend happened to be the first weekend that our church held a baby dedication ceremony, which was perfect timing since our family was already in town. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to dedicate our little man to the Lord and have family and friends pray for him in a very special service. Much to our surprise, Hayes slept through the ceremony... snored in fact! He could not have been sweeter and we are so thankful for the sweet miracle that God blessed us with in him.