Ben's First Birthday

It's hard to believe a whole year has gone by since my perfect little baby boy entered this world! What a wonderful year it has been (the best year of Mama's whole life!!)...every single day has been so, so special :)

On the morning of his birthday, Mama, Daddy, Mason and Chandler all woke up at the crack of dawn when Ben did and went into his room singing "Happy Birthday To You". He was a little confused at first, but......

"Hey, what's going on here??"

Mason was excited!!Happy Mama!!Ummmm....sleepy Daddy, LOL! Mark stumbled right back to bed as soon as the serinade was over! Oh, and where was Chandler? Behind the camera, of course! He's the MASTER of getting smiles out of Ben!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Mama took off work for the occasion, and we played-played-played all day! Here's Ben modeling his "jeans" diapers and playing Peek-a-Boo with the blinds.
Later that day we went out to Jason's Deli for dinner and to Rita's Italian Ice for dessert. We've all been looking forward to giving Ben a "Rita's" for his birthday. He tried everyone's flavors and his favorite was Wild Black Cherry ~ YUM!

So, we had a really fun day with our sweet baby Ben. Mama got a lump in her throat a few times during the day (and maybe shed a tear or two as I rocked him to sleep that night)....but that's just what mamas do, I guess. And to think: it's only just begun!!

Well, speaking of beginnings, the next day when we woke up, it was time to get the party started!! Stay tuned for pictures of Ben's Monkey Birthday!!!