Dear Jack,
By the time you read this, you will probably know that your mama is a bit crazy and starts planning trips and parties months before they actually happen. True to form, I started planning your birthday party sometime around April. But the best laid plans, as they say, generally don't mean anything when you live with a toddler in a cursed house (I freestyled the second half of that saying a bit).
Waaaay back in February, the furnace in the (vacant) third floor unit in our building went out and as a result, we had a pipe burst in the building. Fast forward 6 months and many, many emails and phone calls later, and Dad finally settled our claim with the owner's insurance company and received a check for ALL the repair costs. We've lived in a construction zone before, so we had waited until we had that check in our hands before we started repairs - we didn't want to spend a dime more than the insurance company paid. But now your first birthday was only 3 weeks away, and we had a house full of people coming, and I decided that the walls had to be fixed and painted and our house beautiful again so your party could be absolutely perfect.
So on September 4 - yes, ten days before your party - the construction crew arrived to fix our house. I was sure they wouldn't meet our deadline and for the next few days imagined what would happen when 30 people showed up, and our walls still had wet plaster on them, and our guest room furniture was heaped in our family room, and no one would eat the food because there a fine coating of sawdust over it all.
In the midst of construction, you got a diaper rash that wouldn't go away. So Daddy took you to the doctor, and lo and behold, you didn't have a diaper rash - you had hand, foot, and mouth. It sounds worse than it is - in your case, it was a virus that looked a lot like a cold - but it is contagious, so a house full of people became a half house full of people, and I had a minor nervous breakdown because the party I had so careful planned looked to be falling apart.
But of course, you weren't going to remember your first birthday anyway, and Daddy calmed me down. Then, I was
Long story short - my best laid plans turned out to be a little insane and Daddy and I were both as sleep deprived as we were the day you were born when the party started on Saturday morning. But all the craziness leading up to the party was forgotten as we settled in to enjoy some barbeque and cake with our little man.
It was a beautiful day, just like the day we brought you home from the hospital - sunny and warm and unexpected for the start of fall. You were a little shy at first, but your daddy and cousin Alice warmed you up to the crowd, and you got to eat your favorite food - baked beans! - before the cake came out. While you waited for your cake, you played with the balloons, and you loved them. They might have been the highlight of the party. And then we all sang happy birthday, which scared you a little, until you got your first taste of frosting - then all was forgotten and you dug into your cake and did your mama proud.
And the three of us had a GREAT time, which was the only thing that really mattered in the end. Even if there had been plaster on the walls, no decorations strung and no cake to eat, the most important thing was celebrating 365 days of the most amazing blessed God has given us - our baby boy.
Jack, we love you to the moon and back. Happy first birthday. We can't wait to celebrate a lifetime of them with you.
Love,
Mommy and Daddy
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