It was an extra special, celebratory weekend for Maria Shriver and her family.
Over the weekend, the journalist's youngest son, Christopher, rang in his 29th trip around the sun, for which both she and her eldest daughter Katherine shared tributes in his honor.
In addition to the birthday boy and Katherine, 36, the best-selling author is also a mom to daughter Christina, 35, and son Patrick, 33, who she shares with ex-husband Arnold Schwarzenegger, to whom she was married from 1986 to 2011.
© InstagramIn honor of Christopher's special day, Maria took to Instagram and shared a series of photos of him throughout the years, first a sweet black-and-white throwback image.
She next shared a slew of more recent selfies, many of which highlighted Christopher's weight loss transformation over the past year, a health journey he has been candid about.
"Today is @c1lotsoffun's birthday. Happy birthday to this wonderful, kind, loving, caring, fun, funny, wise young man!" Maria then wrote. "You may be my baby, but I will always look up to you."
© Instagram"I admire the way you walk in the world. I admire the way you make people feel. I admire the way you look for the good in everyone. God blessed me when he made me your mother, and you bless everybody's life that you walk into. Have a wonderful day on your birthday! Know you are loved, and I love you! Love, mommy," she added.
Fans were then quick to take to the comments section under the post and gush over it, with one writing: "Happy birthday handsome!" as others followed suit with: "Happiest of birthdays to your beautiful boy! Hope he's having the best birthday ever and this year brings him an abundance of love and laughter!" and: "Boy does he look just like his dad! Happy birthday!!" as well as: "He truly seems to have a very special heart and essence."
Christopher's older sister Katherine similarly shared a tribute with photos of the two through the years, some including her husband Chris Pratt, and wrote: "Happy birthday to the greatest of all baby brother Christopher! You're the best. I love you tons."
© InstagramChristopher, speaking at the Beacher Vitality Happy & Healthy Summit in Los Angeles last year about his weight loss, said: "I started in 2019 when I was living in Australia. I was on this big trip. I made it a big [deal] like, 'Oh, I'm going to go out and do all this stuff, be in Australia,' and I just saw how much my weight was prohibiting me from doing the everyday activities," recalling: "I was like, 'I want to go skydiving.' And my friends were like, 'Yeah, no shot.' I was like, 'Yeah, I can't skydive.'"
© Getty Images"It's not an overnight thing, but it took a lot of trial and error," he added, and emphasized: "And even still to this day ... when you're saying, oh, before and after photos ... I don't feel like I'm [at] an after yet. I don't feel like I'm at the point."
Christopher also shared one of the key ways he lost the initial 30 pounds in just two months: giving up bread. "Weirdly enough, I gave up bread for Lent," he said of the 40-day period observed before Easter. "I don't know if anyone's Catholic in here, but I gave up bread for Lent."
