The Birthday Boy

It's a tradition in Hawaii to have a big luau when a baby turns one because a long time ago so few babies would make it to their first birthday. This has become a tradition in my family so we had a luau for MVP. We had Kalua Pig, Chicken Long Rice, Sticky Rice, Shoyu Chicken, Hawaiian Meatballs, Pani Popo, macaroni salad, tossed salad, juice and Passion Fruit/Guava cake (note to self: Wilmington is seriously deprived in the tropical fruit juice department!!) I had to improvise due to the lack of guava juice--so sad. Andy will be the first one to point out that we had WAAAY too much food. I will openly admit that I don't know the first thing about cooking for 30+ people--except that it's better to have more than enough than not enough food.

Last summer, I taught some of the neighborhood girls how to dance to the Hukilau for their mom's birthday luau. They were kind enough to dance with me at MVP's luau. I also danced another dance and a friend from church who is Hawaiian brought his ukulele and sang some songs too. It was a lot of fun, but also a lot of work.

MVP really attacked his birthday cake. It was quite entertaining. He just wanted to smack it around until he finally discovered that he could eat it...and that it was delicious!
Here's a family photo after the birthday cake carnage.

Here's a quick video of MVP opening a birthday present on his birthday. I like how he rocks out to the music. Andy's parents were able to come out for a week to help us celebrate, so it was fun to have them here. Earlier that day we had a family birthday party at Jungle Rapids. Here he is posing with one of his birthday gifts. I think his expression is hilarious.

We are so grateful to have MVP in our lives. When people comment to me that the year has flown by or that they can't believe he's already one, I think they're crazy! This last year has been really stressful for me because of the challenges I had with nursing, working part time (without day care) and all the normal adjustments that come to first-time parents. I'm sooo grateful that Andy has been able to come home for lunch almost every day so I could have the time to really focus on work. As MVP gets older it is becoming more and more challenging to figure out ways to entertain him while I finish things that need to get done. Even with all the challenges, MVP has us wrapped around his busy little fingers. He has a wonderful personality and is a happy, adorable little boy. We love him very much!!