First of all, it was Jacob's first real birthday party. The previous year, he was in the hospital and was getting ready to go into the orphanage. The poor little guy didn't have any celebration. He was just being taken from what was familiar to him and put into a big house full of other kids. It must have been a very scary time for him. I know that he was very young at the time...just turning one year old. I only hope that he doesn't remember any of that traumatic time and only knows happy days from here on out.
Second of all, it was our first birthday party together as a family. Lisa and I had spent many years going to other birthday parties for kids...but we had never had the chance to have a birthday party for our own child. All of that changed on Saturday though.
Ever since Jacob has been in the United States, he has been fascinated with Sesame Street. He loves to read Sesame Street books, he loves to play with Sesame Street toys, and he loves to watch Sesame Street on television. His favorite video is Learning About Letters....starring Big Bird and all the other Sesame Street gang. We sometimes watch it about 5 times a day! I only hope that some of that knowledge is sinking in! Ha!
Needless to say, the theme for the day was Sesame Street. We had all the Sesame Street decorations....balloons, paper plates, napkins, party hats, and horns. We even had a Sesame Street cake! Jacob was in hog-heaven! He loved everything so much and was so excited. He seemed to know that this day was a special day...just for him.
All of the people in Jacob's life came to celebrate the day with him. He had his mommy and daddy, Gramaw and Papaw Fugate, Mamaw Wagoner, Great Uncle Junior, Great Aunt Minerva and cousin Katie, and his "Aunt" Corrinna, "Uncle" Rod, and "cousin" Hailey. As you know, Lisa and I are both only children. Therefore, Jacob has an honorary aunt, uncle, and cousin.
We had such a great day. The menu was wonderful thanks to my wife. We had baked ham, homemade potato salad, green beans, grilled chicken, hash brown casserole, and rolls. Of course, we had birthday cake and ice cream also. We had been practicing singing the "Happy Birthday" song to Jacob so that he wouldn't be scared. Everything went very well. He even blew out his big number 2 candle!
After eating, it was time for presents. The child already had so many toys that his toy box wouldn't close. I don't know what he will do now! He got cars, trucks, a jack in the box, a toy laptop computer, crayons, coloring books, books to read, and tons of other toys. He got so many Little People! His Aunt Corrinna and Uncle Rod and cousin Hailey got him a Little People's Noah's Ark! He loves it! He now has just about everything Little People that I can think of...but I am sure that we will find something else for him. LOL! So maybe we are spoiling him just a little....but he deserves to be spoiled. And after all of these years of waiting for a child of our own....I guess that Lisa and I can go a little overboard if we want to!
Finally, this was a birthday of firsts because Jacob got to have his first sleep-over. His Aunt Corrinna, Uncle Rod, and cousin Hailey spent the night. Jacob and Hailey hit it off big time! They loved playing with all of Jacob's new toys. They also loved chasing each other through the house! It was so good to hear them giggling and screaming with joy. After so many years with a big, quiet house, it is nice to have it filled with the sounds of kids having fun.
In all, I think that Jacob's first birthday party went very well. Now, all of the decorations are down and all of the food is eaten. But we still have those special memories. Oh...and we still have that what is left of that big number 2 birthday candle. We are going to keep it forever...because even though it was his second birthday, it was also his first.
