Bittersweet Birthday

Kathryn Faith, 5 days old

This is the story of Katy's first birthday. There were a few things that maybe didn't go exactly as I was picturing it, but there are many things for which I am thankful. And all in all, we had a really nice day celebrating the first year of Katy's life.

We had Katy's first birthday party at a park in a nearby suburb. We had rented a shelter house in the park in hopes for an outdoor playful party. For weeks now, I have been concerned about 3 things that I thought could put a strong damper on the day: rain, somehow not being able to get into the shelter house, or Katy getting sick.

All week, the weather forecast for today has been consistently 73 and sunny. Even this morning I checked it, and weather.com assured me that the clouds would clear and the weather would be nice and pretty. Well, I have a great deal of faith in and respect for the meteorologists, but this is one of those cases where they missed the mark. At the start of the party it was mostly cloudy, sprinkling, and somewhat chilly. Hmmm...not the sunshine I was hoping for, but oh, well, moving on. At least the park wasn't crowded.

I had picked up a key from the city to get into the enclosed shelter house. I even joked with my sister that I might drive over there and check the key ahead of time, to which she rolled her eyes at my paranoia. As I arrived early to decorate for the party, I tried the key in the different garage doors around the sides of the house...no...go. Just short of having a coniption, I found one that happened to be left unlocked. Tragedy averted, let's get this party started. (Later my dad figured out that the key was for a side door that I hadn't tried)

Finally the birthday girl arrived, looking cute as ever (Brian brought her after her nap). At first she seemed a little overwhelmed "Who are all these people? Where am I? Why is everyone talking to me?", but after the initial "spazzing," eventually she warmed up. We enjoyed the food that my family all helped to prepare, and the kids were able to play on the playground. Then I was able to get Katy interested in opening some presents. She got so many fun things, including some clothes, toys, and money for her college fund.

Now for the best part: the cake! We ordered the large birthday cake with a baby photo of Katy from when she was a few days old, we thought it turned out really nicely.

We set Katy up in her booster seat with the candle in her smash cake (you get one for free when you buy a 1st birthday cake at Giant Eagle). The look on her face while we all sang Happy Birthday was priceless!! She just looked so confused, "what in the world..." And then afterward, "why are they all staring at me? what am I supposed to be doing?" But then we let her taste some of the cake and she was on board. She seemed to enjoy messing it with her hands more than eating it, however. She really didn't do the traditional "smear-icing-all-over-my-face" thing. Hmmm...didn't want to get dirty or just isn't that hungry? Who knows. I think she fed more to Brian than she ate herself...

So everyone seemed to have a really nice time, and I enjoyed seeing a lot of friends and family that I don't get to see very often. We cleaned up the party as the sun finally came out.

Finally we got home and unload the car, when Katy started getting pretty fussy. Brian and I looked at each other: time for a bottle, she hasn't had one since before the party. So Katy sucked down a bottle and I thought "Let's go look at some of your new toys before bed". But quickly I realized that something was wrong. You know how there's a fussy cry and then there's a cry that tells you something's wrong? Katy quickly escalated to the painful and uncomfortable cry in which she could not be consoled. I took her temperature (she had already had ibubrofen for teething): 101.5. Oh, man. I can't believe it, I mean really! Literally JUST as we walked in the door from the party, she comes down sick! But at least she waited until we got home from the party. That also may have been why she wasn't a little bit happier at the party. Bummer! So now of course, I'm all worried about her. I got her to be comfortable enough to go to sleep, and she's still sleeping now. But tomorrow's Sunday (no doctor's office), and Brian's having surgery at 7am on Monday morning. I am praying that this little bug takes care of itself and that Katy can get back to her little happy self quickly. I'm sure that in the future this will make her first birthday even more memorable... Happy Birthday sweetheart.