Over the last few months, many friends and acquaintances asked how I planned to celebrate Finn’s first birthday. I knew without a doubt that it had to be in Florida with my family. There was no place I’d rather mark this milestone than on the beach that has brought me so much healing, and with my family who have provided both Finn and myself with endless support, love and joy.
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It was a perfect weekend and I’m honored to share the highlights with you in this post. And because I know some will ask or wonder…Finn’s father opted to have a separate party for him next weekend during his time. This was all decided over a month ago.
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Finn’s birthday weekend looked like a lot of time cuddling with his Mema. It was the sweetest thing…he was ALL ABOUT his great grandma on this visit. We always stay with her in her guest bedroom and he’s always loved her but this trip was extra special.
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Every time I turned around the two of them were reading, playing or relaxing. This visit marked the first time that Finn would cruise over to her and hold his arms out and ask to go in her lap. It was the sweetest.
Heart melting.
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He also had tons of fun with his grandmother! This was the first time we really had Finn in the ocean and he loved it.
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I took him in one day when the water was pretty rough and he was laughing and babbling away at the water splashing us.
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So excited to have a little beach baby…although he needs to STOP eating sand!
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This little fish also adores spending time in the pool and would much rather be out and splashing about than confined in a float (you can see the float in the background). Finn started swim lessons at six moths and I really think it’s helped him with his love for the water. We swam every day during our visit!
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For the actual first birthday party, my mom and I ordered a cake and got a few baby shark-themed decorations.
I wish I could tell you that Finn loved it but he wasn’t a fan of the hat or the cake. He cried about both wearing the hat and sticking his hands in the cake. Zero interest in either. This is a true case of social media versus reality, haha.
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Finn’s like, “give me a cabinet to open and some old straws to get into and I’m a happy dude.” I love how simple they are at this age (I mean that in the best way).
The coolest thing about Finn’s birthday is that it was a full moon and super gorgeous.
We ended the evening with a sunset stroll…
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And gift opening with Mema. She’s the best wrapper ever and packaged some small toys in a bag with lots of multi-colored tissue paper. Finn had the best time pulling it all out.
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There is truly no place that I would have rather celebrated one year of being this amazing little guy’s mom.
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I cannot wait to see what the next year holds for us.
Beach or pool?
How did you celebrate ONE?
Did you child love or hate the celebration?
Love his 1st birthday shirt. Mr onederful,quite clever!
Glad he had a “onederful” birthday
Enjoy your blog
One of my sweet friends made this shirt for him!
Thank you for sharing this post. I smiled the whole way through. Finn is just adorable and it looks like a very fun first birthday weekend!
My daughter’s first birthday was in February during a snowstorm that pretty much shut down our city (Seattle). Our lovely neighbor baked and decorated my daughter a beautiful cake and we celebrated with just our family of four—nobody else would’ve been able to make it over through the snow haha. It was a happy birthday for her though, and I got some cute photos using some decor I had on hand and the pretty cake. It doesn’t take something fancy to please a one year old! ?
Happy birthday Finn!
Oh wow, what a memorable first birthday. And SO SWEET of your neighbor to bake a cake for you!
Those pictures of Finn and your Mema….???❤️❤️❤️
I KNOW!
So sweet! My daughters fiest is next month and I’m tearing up reading this while nursing!!
Love your jean shorts I’m in search of a pair! Where are they from ?
Aw, it’s such a big milestone for mama and baby! <3 My jean shorts are Joe's Jeans from a couple summers ago!
What a wonderful first birthday celebration! My son turned 1 in early March and we opted for a low key celebration as well. My parents, my husband’s mom, my sister and my brother and his 2 kids were able to attend the celebration. Even though it was a smallish group (I have a huge family – 4 siblings and 7 nieces/nephews so it’s a lot of people when everyone is there!), it was still very overwhelming for our little guy. He was terrified of the balloon bouquet and did not like the cake. He cried quite a bit and did not like the attention. 🙁 But he had gotten shots the day before – bad decision on my part, but I had the day off so it made sense to get them that day. On his actual birthday, I took the day off work and my sister and I took him out for lunch. We got a dumping of snow (even though it was March 1st!) so I took him sledding in the afternoon which he LOVED. We will definitely stick with very very low key birthdays until he is in school, I think.
We took our first beach trip in April and our little guy also loved the ocean – and eating the sand! I started taking swimming lessons with him in March and I think that really helped. He showed no fear and crawled right into the surf and giggled when waves washed over him. It was so cute! We also took him to the pool, which he loved. I prefer taking our son to the pool instead of the beach because sand is such a mess. But I prefer the ocean !
I have a 14 month old and all he wants to do is open/close the cabinets and pull out my silicone muffin liners to play with! It’s hilarious how much he prefers that over his playpen full of toys!
Happy Birthday to Finn!!
Yes! I cannot tell you how often I look around the house for things to give him as “toys!”
He is just so darn cute!!!
Of course I agree but I am biased! 🙂
Perfect!
Well, I can tell you that I remember the sand eating time of toddler-hood so well! The gift is when you find it in the diaper much later!
OMG this made me laugh!
Happy 1st Birthday to Finn! Looks like you both had a great time celebrating Finn’s 1st birthday.
Love your grey tank and bralette. Can you tell me where the bralette is from?
Thanks.
Thank you! We had a wonderful visit! It’s a coobie bra. I live in them!!!
Happy birthday, sweet Finn!!!! It looks like you had an amazing time celebrating your precious little boy. Here’s having an even more amazing second year.
I laughed so hard at the sand eating LOL. Give them a good delicious cake and they cry. Give them sand and they eat it.
Happy Birthday, Finn! And happy one year of being a mama!
Such a cute and sweet post! I think it is so cute that he loves the water. I am a huge fan of water as well. Most of the time I prefer a pool so I can do some real swimming, but the beach is also nice to switch it up every once in a while. Thanks for sharing, hope you’re having a great day.
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
Must be nice to have the peanut gallery judging birthday plans from afar-ha! What a Onederful celebration for him and milestone you will always remember . He Has to be the cutest kid ever!! So sweet!! Thanks for sharing.
Oh my goodness, how precious is he?! Wow, already 1!! I love that you shared the pic of him not really into the party hahaha! But seriously, I LOVE how much he loves his great grandma. Heart melting!