IT'S PARTY TIME!!!

we had graham's birthday party last sunday at our house. we had so much fun and enjoyed getting to see our friends. but i assure you, it will be the LAST time we have a birthday party at our house until we buy something bigger. ha!

we had a slideshow playing during the party. unfortunately we had to bring graham's tv into the living room because the bulb in our main TV blew out the week of the party. of course it would.

this cake was the pooper of the party. the lady that I asked to make it did a baby shower cake for one of my friends and did an EXCELLENT job. well, i asked this same lady to do what she wanted to with graham's cake BUT i do want it to be COLORFUL, WHIMSICAL and MATCH HIS PLATES, CUPS, ETC. well, this is what I got. a green and white cake with PLASTIC animals. I honestly could have just done this myself. what a disappointment. at least it tasted good.

here is a picture of some of the plates that we had for his party. does it look like the cake matches this??? not.so.much.

Graham and his mimi. he adores this woman. i can't blame him. she is pretty awesome.

graham was super excited to see his friends. which so happened to be all girls. graham needs more guy friends in his life. ha!

here he is welcoming Rylee to his party.

saying hello to miss caroline...


and to miss calleigh as well. graham and cal went to daycare together at cdc and hadn't seen each other since we switched him back in june. i think he remembered cal because as soon as he saw her, he ran right over to her and gave her a big welcome. it was so sweet!
trying to rip the bow off of his presents.

our house full of guests

graham wasn't too interested in opening presents. it was more fun for him to play with his friends. so mommy ended up opening all of them.

graham loves music and loves to dance so I bought him a singing card that played, "i like to move it, move it" from the movie Madagascar. It was definitely a hit!! he kept bouncing up and down. so fun!

Thank you to all of our wonderful family and friends for making this such a wonderful day for our little boy! He had so much fun! We are soooo blessed!

Happy 1st Birthday Benjamin Graham!!!

the picture above is right when they wheeled me back to my room from the OR.

i love this picture with his arms and legs crossed. this is how he loved to stay inside my belly.

i honestly don't even know where to begin with this post. i have so many thoughts and so many emotions and i simply cannot get them in order.

it's amazing to me how fast time passes. at 6:27pm on Sept. 5, 2008 after 2.5 LONGGGGG hours of breathing and pushing and then finally being wheeled into the operating room, dr. h pulled you out of my belly. when i first heard dr. h say how beautiful you were and hearing your cry, i completely lost it. she put you up to my face and i kissed your sweet lil conehead and balled like a little baby. after 9.5 months of anticipating your arrival, there you finally were. it was bittersweet because i already missed having you in my belly, having you all to myself, knowing that because i was alive, so were you. as selfish as it might have been, it was amazing to have you all to myself, feeling you kick and move and do kung fu in my belly. feeling every time that you would hiccup. and you hiccuped a lot. i honestly loved every single second of being pregnant with you. yes, even through the terrible indigestion and swelling because i knew the outcome was going to be so worth it. and yes, it totally was.

for the entire birth story, you can click here http://theneiplings.blogspot.com/2008/09/announcing-arrival-of-benjamin-graham.html

our first year together has been so wonderful. I never knew I could love someone so much. i mean, don't get me wrong, i absolutely adore your daddy who is by the way, the most amazing daddy EVER, but the love for your child is just completely different. one day you will understand this when you have children of your own. that is, if i ever even let you leave home.

thank you for such a wonderful year. you are such an amazing, smart and healthy little boy and I am so proud and so thankful that you are our son. we have truly been blessed. this has been the best year of my life.

yesterday i took cupcakes to graham's school to celebrate his birthday.

all of the pictures below were taken this morning, right when he woke up...bedhead and all!

then i remembered that i had a birthday onesie for him to wear today.

i still can't believe this big ol chunk was only 6lbs11oz when he was born. WOW!! he has grown so much!

Tomorrow we are having a birthday party with family and a few friends. I will be sure to post everything on Monday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY BOY!!!

Birthday Invitations

i just couldn't wait any longer to post his bday invites. i got graham's invitations in the mail today and they are soooooo cute!!! Marie is so awesome and I can't wait for the next event in our lives cause she will definitely be the one that documents it. Marie also did graham's birth annoucement and our holiday cards.

Happy 1st Birthday, Sweet Caroline

last Saturday we went to Caroline Mae Kelly's 1st birthday party!! Amy and David did such a fantastic job planning her birthday party. I can't believe how much energy Amy has for being 9 months pregnant. But I guess she has to always have that kind of energy chasing Caroline around.

We had so much fun and we are so honored to be a part of it!! Unfortunately graham never made it to the baby pools. After two hours of being there, he was wiped out and ready to go home for a nap. As soon as we put him in the truck, he was OUT.

We are so lucky to have such amazing friends like the Kelly's in our lives. They are such special and wonderful people to us. They are the kind of friends that everyone needs in their life. So genuine. We always have so much fun together and we look forward to watching all of our children grow up together.

Amy and Caroline




Graham and Caroline: Their First Year Together