Sipsey's First Birthday Party

We had it at my mom's house in Dothan the Saturday after Christmas, since we were already there for the holiday. It was a success! Out of all the things that could go wrong, Sipsey's first birthday party went off without a hitch. Well, we didn't quite have all the food ready when the guests got there (we did let Anna and Katie make the chicken salad sandwiches - thank you!) and the birthday girl was asleep for about the first 20 minutes of the party, BUT we didn't have any MAJOR problems. For a week that started out with a fever of 103.6 for several days that would not go away, a visit to the ER, a diagnosis of croup and bronchiolitis, a prescription for prednisone (a drug I would NEVER recommend BTW - see next statement), a sleepless night from hell with a baby HALLUCINATING from prednisone, a trip to a pediatrician (mind you we are out of town, new patient paperwork, etc.), a diagnosis of an ear infection, a confirmation of NO croup or bronchiolitis, a prescription for a strong antibiotic, and finally a well baby by Christmas, I was wondering what else might go wrong.

SIDE NOTE: To all ER physicians, please learn how to properly look into babies' ears. I know they are small and intimidating, but you just might surprise yourself in the ear infections you could diagnose.

Sipsey enjoyed an exciting afternoon with close friends and family. She especially loved opening all the gifts. Thank you to everyone who came! Y'all are so special to us and I can't wait for Sipsey to grow up and realize what a lucky girl she is! Here are some pictures from Sipsey's special day.

The spread. The birthday hat and other bluebird decorations are from gaddieandtood.com. I highly recommend it!

Flowers from the garden of Penney aka Sweet P.

Cupcakes!

The cake. The bluebirds and the candle are from my first birthday! Can you believe that?!

We wanted to have a bluebird theme because my mom calls Sipsey her "little bluebird" and because of the cake decorations.

Sipsey and Papa (my dad's dad).

Sipsey with Katie. The picture is a little washed out from the flash. I got a new camera for Christmas and was experimenting. I thought it was still a cute picture though.

Sipsey and the birthday cake. Notice her focusing on the candle---bad idea.

We tried to get her to blow out the candle; she grabbed it instead. She didn't burn herself. She was terrified when the whole room screamed!

This is as far into the cake as she got. She made one hole in it and poked her finger in it over and over. We froze the cake for next year...or maybe sooner when I think she'll like it!

She kinda liked the icing.

Sipsey loves taking things in and out of bags right now. I can't leave my purse, her diaper bag, groceries bags, or anything like that lying around.

Sipsey loves her new cell phone! And her new chair which was too big for us bring back!

All clean and ready for bed! She was climbing on this chair and diving head first onto the floor over and over and laughing about it while tripping out on prednisone earlier in the week.