Birthday Planning!

I can not believe that Jeffery is already 10.5 months old.  I know everyone says that it goes by so fast, but I honestly can't believe it has almost been a year.  I feel lots of things when I think about his rapidly approaching birthday: sadness, excitement, disbelief, pride.  It's hard to explain it.  I am so proud of my little boy and the loving, smart person he is becoming right before my eyes.  I am so excited for him that he is growing up and learning how to do new things.  But, I am also sad that my days of calling him "my baby" are almost over.  I told Josh last night, I don't really want to have another baby- I just want to rewind Jeffery back to his newborn days and do it all over again. 

Anyway, it is exciting to think about his birthday coming up, especially planning the party!  I love planning/hosting events and crafting so of course I am enjoying the process of 1st birthday preparation because I get to do lots of planning, organizing, and crafting.  We have chosen Ernie and Rubber Ducky for our theme because that is Jeffery's favorite.  He LOVES Ernie and he loves to watch Ernie sing the rubber ducky song.  We discovered this when he was only 4 months old and I was just browsing YouTube videos for songs to sing with baby.  For some reason, the rubber ducky song caught his eye and it was like trying to get Josh's attention when there is a Braves game on the television.  After his surgery in November we gave him a little Ernie doll as a get well gift and his eyes just lit up like he found his new best friend.  He still loves his Ernie and drags him around the house with him while he plays.  And so, my party theme was born.  :)  

Unfortunately, Ernie is not the most popular Sesame Street character (thanks a lot, Elmo) so it has been a challenge to find any decorations/accessories that feature him and not the rest of the Sesame Street gang.  Apparently, rubber ducky birthdays are VERY popular, so I have kind of focused on that and will be throwing in a few random Ernie touches to tie it all together.   So far I have made a birthday wreathe our of multicolored balloons (a super east project and SO cute), blue and yellow tissue paper pom poms (also super easy), and a rubber ducky banner for the mantle.  Yes, I made the entire banner, even the rubber duckies (Josh thought I printed them out).  I like how everything has turned out so far!  So, my nap-time craft projects will continue until I have enough decorations to ensure that there will be no mistaking what the theme of this party is.