A beautiful # 1

Yesterday we celebrated the birth of a miracle. In grand style, with only 100 or 150 of our closest friends and family. (tongue in cheek).  It was the size of a small wedding… but it was perfect. You see, when you have thousands of people who pray for you and encourage you, 150 people isn’t really all that many.
We rented a pavilion at a local park.  The weather was perfect.  Our parents helped with the food. My father – in – law made  this incredible pork bbq.  My aunt made a cake or him. And it was perfect.  Everywhere you looked there were kids running around, laughing and playing.  On a whim, we bought play dough to put out on the tables with the “little kid” party favors.  We have some really creative teenagers!  The play dough was a huge hit while people were waiting for food or sitting around talking.  And there were these pods of people talking.  I looked over, and my aunts from my dad’s side of the family were catching up with my aunts from my mom’s side of the family.  In a corner, sat several uncles chatting about life.  Friends from all walks of life mingled and caught up with old and new acquaintances. 
If I could use one word to describe our celebration, it would be love.  I’m not sure how it felt from the outside looking in, but for our family – it was a day of love. 
The entire day had a flood of emotions.  The beginning of the day was very emotional for me; you can read about that here.  But, those moments were fleeting.  We started the day by helping the twins to understand that even tough today (as many days are) was “Alexander’s special day,”  - it was also a special day for them.  When I was shopping for our party supplies, I stumbled into a party store on their final day of business. SCORE! I found 2 firemen outfits that I squirreled away for this very morning.  We called it, “I’m a big brother” and “I’m a big sister” day.  So, first thing – they opened their I’m a big brother / I’m a big sister gifts.  They were a hit!

Yes… Fireman Sam and his partner, Elvis were in our house yesterday.

Here are some of the pictures everyone has been waiting for… Party pictures!
We has several offers from friends to custom make Alexander’s Birthday shirt, but in the end … things were too crazy the last few weeks for me to really focus on it.  So we had these instead…. and they were perfect.

My aunt made Alexander’s Birthday cake.  It looked like a large version of his invitation.  She even included the words to the song, “You are my Sunshine” on the side of the cake. Then Alexander had his own version of the Sun as his personal cake.  My camera died on Friday, so if you have any pictures of the party – e-mail me some good ones!  Here are some of my favorites.

I sat down with Alexander.  I did help him to get started with the taste of the cake.  Every mother that has walked this WHS journey before me helped me prepare for today.  One of the things I was prepared for was the “not eating” of the cake.  Alexander has limited oral desires. He has no teeth yet. He does not put food into his mouth yet. He has some sensory motor issues.  …. 

Guess what. He Defies all odds. 

There are times I am still surprised.

By my little guy.  

Happy Birthday … You are our blessing.