The Journey of Parenthood…

Tess’s 1st Birthday!

It’s CRAZY to me that Tess is ONE! Her 1st bday was on Friday July 31st. I posted this pic on IG and FB with this caption that sums up my emotions on such a special day: 

One year ago today I held you in my arms for the first time. You may be my third baby but that doesn’t make you any less special. My appreciation and love for you was so strong right from the start because I’ve loved two babies before. I know how quickly each day passes and I cherish the blessing of being a mother. As tears fall from my eyes today know that it’s not out of sadness but out of joy. I’m just so thankful for this past year. For your smile, sweet touch, and our instant connection. You have caused my heart to overflow and have brought happiness to every single day. I’m so blessed and forever grateful for the gift of YOU. Happy 1st Birthday Tess, I love you! “

Zach was originally supposed to be out of town for work the night prior to her birthday but I was SO thankful he was able to rearrange things to be there. I love our family tradition of waking up the birthday child together as a family by singing to them! You can see in this video that Tess’s reaction to being 1 was pretty adorable 🙂

Even though it was Tess’s special day, life didn’t stop going for it. I go all out for their parties and do personal things to make each legit birthday special but I try not to go too overboard about it because the reality is their real birthdays will fall on all kinds of random days on the week when all kinds of other things will be going on where I won’t be able to “revolve the world around them” on their day! 

We kicked off the morning by taking Kye to golf camp. I was pretty glad that we got to ride in the car because it meant one of my favorite bday traditions….CAPTAIN ZOOM! As a kid growing up my mom played the cassette version for us on our birthdays and I’m so thankful that the company is still around and I’m able to order personalized birthday songs for each of my kids. We all love it (well maybe not Zach…but lucky for him he wasn’t in the car haha!)

When it comes to a kid’s first birthday…what can you really do to celebrate them?!? It’s tricky because they don’t have anything they legit love yet! Awhile back I had taken the girls to the YMCA for a little free play in their gym area. I took them because I knew Britt would love it but was happily surprised to find out that Tess had a BLAST too. Since Kye was at golf camp and because her birthday fell on a Friday it worked out perfectly for us to go back! This time Casey and Carter met us there and he enjoyed it too! It was a super fun morning and I loved seeing Tess (and Britt and Carter too of course) have so much fun!

Britt calls it her “gymnastics camp” and she gets crunk!

Here’s a video of her doing her thing!

You know that Parker blood…there has to be a competition 😉

Tess kept thinking the balls were balloons and kept trying to pop them!

Both girls just really loved it. We may have some gymnasts on our hands 😉 Britt says she wants to do dance camp next summer so I’m interested to see if she enjoys it or what route she takes. Right now she’s LOVING her gymnastics tricks and since she doesn’t have school on Fridays I’m hoping to take them back soon! Here’s a video of Britt balancing (ignore the random screaming child…that’s a common thing at this type of stuff). 

Getting serious!

It makes my heart so happy when they play together!

With my TODDLER!!!!

We got even more crazy…and went out to lunch after! Not only did Tess have to wake up early from her morning nap for the gymnastics, but she ended up being late for her afternoon one. Talk about a birthday celebration whoop whoop! Casey had the idea of going to get lunch so I ran by the house and grabbed the food I’d already made for the girls’ lunches and met her at Chicken Salad Chick with Carter, G-Mama, Colt and Payton! How lucky was Tess to get to see ALL her cousins on her special day?!?!

First pretzel 😉

Loving the attention!

Her biggest cousins even brought a little present! They were so proud to give it to her 🙂


After naps Tess continued to be all smiles for snack 🙂

Since I didn’t get many good pics of her in her party dress on her actual party, I decided to have her wear it again for her legit bday. I also stinking love the hair bow 🙂

Since I took the girls to the gymnastics, Zach picked up Kye from his last day of golf camp (post to come). And since it was a Friday Zach took Kye golfing with him 🙂 We all had some special fun! They got back by the end of nap time so we went ahead and opened gifts! Here’s a video of her crawling out!

It’s SO HARD figuring out what to buy the third baby/2nd girl. I’m thankful our neighborhood has a private FB page for people who want to buy and sell stuff from each other! I got a great push toy for super cheap and we, surprisingly, don’t have one already. She LOVES it and it’s super cool b/c the front can come off and be flat on the floor too! (it’s a VTech Sit-to-Stand Learning Walker)

Kye and Britt showing her the card they picked out for her!

Opening from Grandpa and Grammie

Her own laptop! (Do your kids have these? Mine STILL love theirs so it’s a good gift for everyone to have their own!)

This particular one is a LeapFrog My Own Leaptop

She doesn’t look super pumped about the Little People Bus
they also got for her, but omg that thing has been THE most played with toy. We’ve had tears over that beast haha!

I remembered for Britt’s birthday that we got her a jewelry box for her room so I did the same for Tess!

You know she liked all her presents when she wouldn’t even turn for a picture with them!

If you are on the hunt for birthday gift ideas….

Lenox Childhood Memories Ballerina Jewelry Box

(At first I ordered the one in the link from Amazon but then my local jeweler couldn’t engrave it so I returned it and ordered it directly from Lenox with the engraving included!)

Child to Cherish Baby To Bride Bracelet

(Britt has one of these as well! I love that it’s something they can use as babies and then use on their wedding days!)

Tess has several nicknames but the kids have always called her “Baby Tod” for some reason (which has now also become “Baby Shof” somehow?!?!). I happened to be scrolling through IG one day and saw this shirt and knew Tess had to have it! She’s our Baby Tod who is now our Todzilla! It’s hilarious because she owns it…they will always act like “Baby Tod” is the big monster coming to destroy their toys and she will make these growling sounds. She’s def a cute Todzilla 😉 You can get one for your Todzilla at Little Shop and Co!

I get a lot of deals from Pottery Barn Kids because I have their credit card (I use it to buy my kid’s furniture, then pay it off in full, then use all the rewards to buy their bedding for free!). Since it was close to end of summer their beach towels went on huge sale and I thought Tess could use her own personalized towel! 

Tess doesn’t have a beach chair so we grabbed this one on Clearance for $6 from Academy! It’s bigger than Kye’s and Britt’s which is pretty hilarious and may mean a switch for next beach trip 😉

Kye and Britt picked out the Belle baby doll for Tess. It was on clearance at Target for $7 so it was a great birthday gift from them! 

Tess’s favorite thing is the water! Girl LOVES to be in the pool so swimming had to happen on her birthday! We didn’t do anything special for dinner (just leftovers) so I got that together while Zach played with the kids in the pool.

On their way back from golf Zach and Kye picked up a donut cake for Tess from a local donut place (Daylight Donuts…they are awesome!). It turned out cute!

Here’s a video of us singing to her!

She was a fan!

Drunk on Donuts bahaha

We ended her special day in my favorite way! Nursing and cuddling up on the couch before bed. I’m so thankful for this wonderful 1st year with our sweet baby!

Emily Parker
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