I'm happy to report that Emmett's first birthday party (Theme: Mod Monkey) was a complete success.� There were very minimal freakouts or snafus, and I think it's safe to say that everyone had a great time.� A huge thanks goes to my parents, Niki and James for helping out and to everyone who attended and sent gifts, cards & Happy Birthday wishes to make his day special.

[caption id="attachment_1147" align="aligncenter" width="539" caption="The Birthday Boy in his Mod Monkey Party Hat"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_1150" align="aligncenter" width="549" caption="Balloon Boy"][/caption]

It goes without saying that Emmett made out big time with all his presents.� He received not one -- but two -- ball pits (you jealous?).� However, oddly enough, Emmett's favorite present seemed to be a cupcake-shaped Target gift card from Uncle Shawn, Aunt Sara and cousin Ben.� It must have been that whole give-a-kid-a-present-and-he'd-rather-play-with-the-box mentality.

It took Emmett a little while to master the whole cake-eating concept, but eventually he got the hang of it.� Check out the video (though I'm warning you, it's kind of long)...

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRTbBqAyt80&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

[caption id="attachment_1148" align="aligncenter" width="549" caption="Cake to the Face!"][/caption]

*Fun Fact: Emmett is sitting in the same high chair I sat in on my first birthday.

James took Emmett to his 1 year checkup on Tuesday, and the little man is doing just fine.� He's now 22 lbs. 10.5 oz. (49th percentile) and 32 inches long (96th percentile), and he even got the go-ahead to start substituting whole milk for formula.

I still can't believe it's been a year, but I've enjoyed every single minute of it!

For more photos from Emmett's first birthday party, check out the Birthday set on Flickr.

Age Timer: 1 year, 4 days

I have a million things to do to finish getting ready for Emmett's party today, but I couldn't leave his first birthday without a post on the blog, so here's a quickie...

I'm going to be completely trite here and just say it -- man, does time fly!� Exactly a year ago today I was being admitted to my hospital room at MGH in excruciating pain, waiting to welcome my little baby lump into the world (at 11:47 a.m.), and now he's a whole year old!� Happy Birthday, Emmett!

I spent most of last weekend putting together Emmett's baby book (yes -- an actual book, with pages), which meant I spent a lot of time reviewing Emmett's major milestones within the past year, mainly through pictures.� While I realized I have about a googolplex's worth of photos of Emmett, James and I both agreed that the following is one of our favorites (he's about 9 months here).� And feel free to leave some Happy Birthday wishes for Em in the comments.� It's been an awesome year!

[caption id="attachment_1141" align="aligncenter" width="539" caption="RARR!"][/caption]

Stay tuned early next week for a birthday recap.� I'm assuming there will be tons of messy cake pictures to enjoy!

Age Timer: 1 Year!