Phuthu Stay Phut, Don't go!

We celebrated the Tominator’s first birthday with a monster party last weekend.

The little sausage’s first birthday party.

Before we had kids, Jem and I thought first birthday parties were a bit weird…like does the kid even know it’s having a party? Why the big hoo-haa-raa?

Then we had a kid.

And received our rose-tinted glasses and got all mushy and gooey and gagga about anything baby and baba.

If you don’t have kids, it’s kind of like you carry this baby for 9 months, prepare for its grand arrival, push it out, breastfeed it, change nappies, care for it and nurture it so that it actually grows and reaches milestones, bond with it and laugh with it…and then you finally reach 12 months and you think hell YES it IS time to celebrate this wonderful year of life and we ARE gonna have a PARTY and crack open a bottle of cheap and cheerful JC. And he will know it’s his party….when he’s old enough to read this post! Sorted.

So that brings me to his little monster birthday bash…here it is in pictures…

Beware of the Little Monsters…

Helium balloons – an absolute must – they are still providing the ‘Nator with entertainment one week later..

The Tominator obviously mistaking the tablecloth for a curtain. Bless.

There were all kinds of monsters at his party…this googley eyed monster…

Also known as the Cookie Monster..

This little Grassy head monster, who doesn’t look so scary here….

But here he commands a bit more Boo! factor with his one and two-eyed monster friends beside him.

You’re scared, I know.

I’m-watching-you monster…

The big-mouthed serviette monsters…

The high-on-food-colourant-bulging-eye monsters.
These ones are kinda scary for me, how about you? I wasn’t sure to serve them or not.
But I did.

The Thank-Boo monsters…

The Cake Monster…

The Mini-Me Cake Monsters

Our little monster…

And some of his beautiful monster (girl)friends…

And one boy monster friend! Thank-you Daevin!


Even a littly blue-eyed baba girl monster made an appearance…

Granny says, before birthday cake….we must taste milk tart!

The most precious moment of the day…when Tom notices everyone is singing Happy Birthday to him and he is the main monstertjie! It melted mamma and pappas heart…into whatever hearts get melted into…still gooey as ever.

Thank-you for coming and sharing the afternoon with us, it’s always heartwarming to spend moments like these with friends and family. xx

We welcomed little Thomas James into the world. It was an emotional morning…there were many tears, some from relief that he was finally with us and some from pure joy and of course, the fact that all the pain from labour had disappeared. I remember Jem saying look, “it’s a boy” as I had forgotten about “checking”, and I think cried some more.

This has got to be the best feeling in the world, a newborn baby on your chest…

Daddy was there the whole time.

I finally got to see my beautiful boy with his eyes wide open…just staring at his mamma.

We took him home and I got to stare at him some more..

He’s changed out life in so many beautiful ways. Life is a bit simpler now, we go to bed early and our weekends are less about mountain biking and more about spending time with this little guy, outdoors. It’s a special time.

We’ve celebrated milestones, the first smile, the first tummy roll, the first time he could sit, crawl, walk and more recently, his first tooth. It’s amazing how much joy you get from experiencing these “firsts” with them, don’t you think?

He pulls a lot of funny faces, this is one of our favourites..

We love you beautiful boy, happy 1st birthday! Here’s to many more.

Little TomTom’s come highly recommended by us.