A first birthday is a magical one.   It’s special for not just the child, but also for the parents and family that are integrated in that child’s life.

My child’s first birthday is this week and I decided to do an entire week of celebrating for Davey, after all having Davey in our lives deserves a celebration.

It’s a week of firsts.   A week of birthday treats.   A week of birthday events.   A week of birthday fun.   It’s something that I want to celebrate every year the week of Davey’s birthday.    Some of you may be asking “why the entire week?”   To that I say, “Why not celebrate the entire week?”

Since Davey is much too young to really decide what he wants to do each day, I’ve taken the liberty to plan and coordinate his schedule this week.   It helps that his Grammy and Aunt Dee Dee are in town to facilitate the logistics and to partake in all the fun events as well.  Each day is something new, something different and they’re all leading up to the grand finale…Friday his actual first birthday!

Monday, we decided to go to the apple orchard.   This wasn’t exactly a first for Davey.   We went last year when he was 4 weeks old, much too young to really realize what was going on.   Of course, he won’t remember what went on this year either, but he still had fun.

Thankfully, we went earlier this year, so there were still some apples on the trees to be picked.    After spending about a half hour picking apples and climbing trees, we made our way over to the snack bar to partake in the first of a lifelong of traditions…a birthday treat.    Davey experienced his first apple donut and apple frosty.   Both of which appeared to be a huge success, so we bought a dozen apple donuts to share amongst ourselves and Davey has managed to consume an additional two more since yesterday.

I don’t know that he’s going to really remember his first traditions.    I don’t know exactly how they’ll mold him either, and perhaps doing this is a selfish act on my part.    I don’t know.    What I do know is the experience is wonderful for me and him TOGETHER.    It allows me to bond with my son in new ways.   It allows me to show him how much he fascinates me daily, how much he’s changed my world, how much he motivates me to be more than I ever thought possible.   For me, having a week of birthday celebrations is special, it’s something I never had and it’s something that I’m already looking forward to next year.

Some mothers may think I’m going overboard, but being a stay-at-home mom means I have the time to create these little experiences with my son.    I am blessed to have the ability to celebrate my child’s birthday every day of his birthday week in a new and exciting way.

As I gave him his bath last night, I thought back to the day.    I thought back to his excitement at the apples.   I thought back to his fearless attitude with climbing the trees.   I laughed at how he’s a jumping bean and constantly moving, thus preventing my ability to photograph the memories.    But most of all I smiled at being blessed with this wonderful baby boy and being blessed to be his mother.

Each day this week we have something new planned and I promise to share each one just as soon as I can get caught up on my sleep.    What I’ve found about celebrating a first birthday is it’s EXHAUSTING especially if you do it all week long.