Paige's First Birthday

Sunday, July 28th, was Paige's first birthday.

Marcus and I were a little excited to be able to go easy this birthday.  We love birthdays and celebrating (remember, Marcus is my hubby!) but we were more than willing to keep things simple while we were able.  Reagan, Ainsley, and Will were not quite sure about that.  We purchased two toys for Paige.  One a simple stacking ball set and the other a ball popping toy.  Do you sense a theme?  Paige is the first of our children to LOVE balls.

The kids wrapped her presents with all the love three adoring siblings could possibly have.  They even went easy on the tape and left a few spots open that would help her easily unwrap her gifts.

For breakfast we ate oatmeal (plenty of complaints here from all three siblings but we reminded them that oatmeal is what she loves and after all, it is her day).  We planned a dinner with family and even kept the menu "Paigey friendly".  I am jumping ahead though.

Saturday Paige was fussy and pulling at her ear.  She had been struggling with a left ear infection and we could tell that she was also now fighting a right ear infection.  Her antibiotic didn't work for the left ear and, in a bind, a friend helped me treat it with oils.  We did the same for the right ear hoping to avoid another trip to the Dr. (Paige despises everything about going to the doctor and makes sure the entire office knows).  Saturday night we were up most of the night with her crying and not feeling well.  We quickly assumed that the oils didn't work and we needed to get her a prescription for her ear infection.

Sunday during the last hour of church I was able to take her to the doctor.  He confirmed that her right ear had also been infected but that it was healing nicely.  He said the oils had worked perfectly (shocking moment for me... probably the first time I have EVER heard a physician acknowledge any alternative medicine in a positive manner.  It was awesome!)  He did say that her ear had pressure in it, like when you change altitude, and the pressure causes pain in babies as they don't know how to pop their ears.  Other than that, she looked cranky but healthy.

Back at home we prepared for dinner.  We had the kids blow up a few balloons and we prepared for a birthday dinner.  The week previous as I discussed the simplified birthday plans with the kids, I explained that the big deal for a first birthday was watching the baby eat their cake, or cupcake in our case.  This seemed to satisfy them and they helped me make a muffin sized cupcake with a little bit of frosting and sprinkles.

As we were setting the table my mom suddenly freaks out and I learn that Paige had just thrown up all over my dad.  The poor baby!  We felt terrible.  No wonder she had been so cranky.  The next 12 hours proved that Paige indeed had a 24 hour flu.  The older kids were devastated.  So sweet right?  Concern for their sister right.  Nope.  They wanted to watch her tear into her cupcake.  In fact, they begged for me to let her eat it and then throw it up.  Stinkers!

Even though our sweet girl was terribly sick on her special day, she still enjoyed her gifts and allowed us a  day to be very grateful for her in our family.  Paige is small for one of our munchkins.  At her one year old appointment the doctor showed me how her height curve is steadily dropping and then explained to this concerned mother that it is very normal if your kids aren't tall.  Her gross motor skills are slower than our other children.  She does things at her own pace.  Her mind is quick and active and it amazes me how much she interacts with us and understands.

She is a biter.  I think every single one of us has experienced this.  She got Will good the other day.  She crawled over the back of his legs and stopped just long enough to take a chunk out of the back of his calf.  He torments her enough I sort of think he had it coming.  She imitates our sounds (high and low) and it is so fun to make her laugh.  She has expressive eyebrows and gives amazing squeezes.  My most favorite thing is that her first word is Mom.  All our other kids have said Dad first but Paige shocked us all with Mom.  Grandma was second and Dad is third (but she calls Grandma MaMa and dad Mom;)).

Oh how we love you our little Paigey!  Not a day goes by that I don't try to cuddle and kiss you as if it were our last.  We are so grateful for you in our family.