Happy 1st Birthday Baby Abby!

Today was a day of celebration, it was Abby's (my youngest niece's) 1st birthday. Aidan had an incredible time playing with Baby Abby(as he has always called her) and Spencer(my nephew) and their many young friends. Aidan, Spencer and the other children blew bubbles, drew pictures, threw rocks in the lake, played in the sand, ate cake and ice cream, played in the baby pool, played on the slip and slide(I think those kids used a few gallons of dishwashing detergent and handsoap to make it extra slippery) and finally Aidan watched while Spencer and the other kids jumped off the pier into the water. By that time I had broken the news to Aidan that it was time to leave and he was too upset to even consider jumping off the pier. We had a great afternoon. It is always nice to be with family and friends on joyous occasions and many of the guests at the party I have known long enough to consider family. We finished off the afternoon with a quick trip by Nan's house (my mom) before returning to Birmingham. She and Aidan rode around the driveway on the golf cart, checked out some of Nan's new projects(if you know my mother you know she ALWAYS has a new project going on), played a bit and then gave Charlie(mom's dachshund) a bath. Aidan thought it was great fun when a very wet Charlie escaped from the towel only to be chased around the house by Nan! Of course I didn't think it was very funny when Charlie stood near me and shook all the water off! After we left Nan's house Aidan was asleep in less than 3 minutes. It was quite the day!
While I was driving home(and Derek was snoozing) I had time to reflect on this past year of Abby's life. As a newborn she spent a few days in NICU but with no lasting effects and like many babies her age she has now come so far developmentally, physically, intellectually and even emotionally in such a relatively short amount of time. This past year has been a year of firsts for Abby. Her first smile, first bath, first coo, first real food, first laugh, first hand clap, first time to hold her head up, first time to sit, first attempt to crawl, first tooth, first time to spend the night at a grandparent's house, first step; all this leading to her 1st birthday. Our family has not had many firsts this year that we've celebrated. We've had so many lasts that are at the forefront of our memories. Daddy's last birthday, his last Halloween,last Thanksgiving, last Christmas, last New Year's, last anniversary and last moments with us. But through those short months before and these long months after his death we've had Abby and all of her firsts to smile at and marvel over. If there was one thing our family needed a year ago, it was a new, beautiful, happy, cuddly, loving baby Abby. Happy first Abby, you truly are a celebration.