Ethans 1st Birthday: Opening Presents and a Trip to the Zoo

As fast as it has come up, it has gone - Ethans Birthday is nearly over. It's nearly 10pm and I'm sitting here reflecting on our wonderful day. And what a wonderful day it was! I have felt so emotional all day.. I've been full of pride. And love. And joy. It's Ethans Birthday over my own that will forever excite me. Being a parent is the best. Being a parent and watching your child celebrate their birthday is better. It's a hard thing to top that's for sure. We woke up all together in bed this morning as usual - Ethan likes to spend half his night in his own bed and then the other half in ours. And it was lovely just to spend some time laying in bed looking at my little boy go from months into a whole year! He now seems so very grown up!

We came downstairs all together and watched as Ethan tried to work out why there were decorations hanging from the ceiling and presents scattered all over the living room floor. He was, if I'm honest, a little unsure of it all, perhaps a little reserved, this is understandable though.. he really is just so young. He showed interest in his presents, particularly the wheels of his new trike, but this was to be expected as as you all know he's completely obsessed with wheels. It's been a busy day today and so we haven't had much opportunity to properly play with his toys or go for a ride in his trike, but we can't wait to do that!

Morning smiles from the birthday boy!

His fantastic present from his Great-Grandad

For his treat day out we went to a zoo that Adam and I have always visited and loved, called Whipsnade Zoo in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. It was Ethans first time to a zoo and we couldn't wait to show him the animals. Luckily he stayed awake the whole time, napping before hand and afterwards in the car on the way home.

As expected, our time at the zoo was brilliant. Though it did become particularly chilly after a while, so a little more sun would have been a bonus! We got to show Ethan so many animals, which he found fascinating. The Zoo offers so much to families like us who adore animals and the work they do through their many conservation programs is remarkable - we are huge fans.

Our zoo tickets were booked through a company called Superbreak (www.superbreak.com) and this made the whole thing so much easier. Everything was all ready to go, so as soon as we got to the kiosk at the entrance we just handed out our print out tickets and off we went. This was perfect for us as it meant that there was no messing about, especially since Ethan, in fact all three of us, we're pretty hungry and eager to get in side when we arrived.  Ethans Birthday today has been brilliant. And it has been so lovely to spend time together as a family and actually enjoy our new house and relax in it. We will be doing more of this tomorrow when we host a mini party here for him with a few close family members. I can't wait for this, I know that our family are probably bursting to see him and he'll love being centre of attention I'm sure.  So anyway, I'll leave you with a few more photos from our day. Thank you so much to everyone who's messaged/tweeted/commented saying Happy Birthday to Ethan. That really does mean a lot to us and on his behalf I wanted to say thank you. :) They'll be another post as soon as I can get round to it on the party tomorrow which will include pictures of the decorations and links to where I got stuff for the party from if you're interested in that. But for now, here's what we got up to today..

Peppa Pig card from Mummy and Daddy

Just updating his blog.

Arriving at Whispnade zoo.

The penguins have the greatest view

We love the lemurs.

Cuddles!

At the petting zoo in Whipsnade.

On the steam train at the end of our day. This was a fantastic way to see some more of the park!

Some of his cards back at home.

Goodnight everyone. Love from the Birthday boy. xxx