Jack is ONE!

Yess, it's true: my baby boy has gone from a tiny wee lad with loads of dark hair to a big grown up ONE-year-old!

Jack, on his birthday, exploring the intrigue that is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Bless his heart, he [obviously] had no real comprehension of the importance of the day, but his brothers sure did. Every so often in the midst of playing or jumping on the couch or such, Will would put his little face in front of Jack and excitedly proclaim: "Jack! You are one! It your birthday!" and then continue merrily on his way.

Clyde and Will were very intent upon being hands-on in the birthday preparations. They trailed me around as I hung up crepe paper and then provided vital aid in the cake-making process.

The cake frosting and decorating was all me though; here's the finished product:

I want to make sure that I get full credit, as I anticipate calls from the Food Network at any time wanting to feature my talent and skill on some sort of new cake decorating show.

We opted for a dinosaur themed soiree because a) I had some dinosaur party supplies and b) Jackers had a dinosaur t-shirt he could wear (as did Will, the rest of us opted for plain green) and c) until just recently, Jack has been a biter - we've all felt the repercussions of having one's hand/arm/knee/ankle/leg/neck/etc too close to Jack's mouth. He's doing much better lately, but I figured this would be a good tribute to his inner T-Rex.

After dinner/cake/ice cream we utilized the self-timer on the camera to get a quick family shot. 

Jack is such a happy boy... most of the time. But when he's not happy, he has no qualms about letting everyone know. His latest thing involves a delightful top-of-his-lungs shriek and then toppling to the ground in the saddest/most hilarious display I've ever seen.

 He was kind enough to give a demonstration that night after I very gently admonished him not to touch the XBOX :).

 He usually gets over it pretty quickly, though :). 

And finally, here's a video of Jack's progression into the world of toddler-dom, aka learning to walk! The first couple clips are from December 6th, and then the next two clips are December 24th and December 31st (in case my helpful commentary doesn't make that clear....) and the last one is from his birthday.

 

We sure love this boy. We weren't sure that a third baby was going to happen for us (despite our, ahem, best efforts it took us almost two years to get pregnant with him) but we're so, so glad we were blessed with Jack in our family. Clyde and Will dote on him (as evidenced in the video: "Let me hug you!") and Jack watches their every movement with complete adoration. He's such a good snuggler and his toothy grins are the cutest thing ever, even in the middle of the night :). 

Happy happy birthday Jack!