Happy first birthday, Athan!

It's never too late to start anything, right? Today, Athan turned one! This time last year, M and I were at a church retreat and God thought it was the perfect time to send me into labor. His timing is always  perfect.

Today was a day to reflect on all that the Lord did for us this last year through our son. We were deeply thankful.

M surprised us early in the am. He went out at 5am for a morning swim and when I came out before I got Athan, this is what I saw:

 

He's an awesome daddy! 

We spent the morning as we usually do, breakfast with family devotions and opened one of his gifts. 

After his nap, we headed out to Santa Monica to enjoy the overcast weather. We were really overdue for some photos of the little guy, so we were able to do that. Athan LOVED the ocean, he's been there before but it was amazing to see a different reaction. It was almost as if he just had to take it all in. He's never sat so still in the 12 months we've known him. :) 

Here he is throwing his "gang sign".

After the beach, we went to the Rose Cafe in Venice. We had a great lunch and as you can see by the look on his face, Athan had a fabulous time. He was socializing with all the waiters and waitresses there.

After his pm nap, instead of going out, we decided since the weather was actually nice, we would take a walk to the neighborhood park and let him swing. When we got there, there was NO ONE there, a first in our neighborhood. God planned it perfectly!

And finally, to end the day, we opened the last of his gifts and sang to him. This kid sure doesn't like to sit still, so getting a calm, sweet picture of him is quite a challenge. Most of the time I have to settle for action shots. It was the perfect end to our baby's first birthday. He's not a baby anymore!

Happy Birthday, peanut!