Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Celebrate! Will is 3

Ahh, my little boy is three. Toss all this Mito crap out the window. I still remember bringing Will home from the hospital, scared that I was going to screw it up, excited that we had such a beautiful perfect baby. That little guy changed my life, our lives, in so so many incredible ways. Again, minus all that Mito crap having a baby changes everything. I love when my little guy still wants to give hugs and cuddle up in my arms like a little baby.

So, add some of that Mito crap back in and I decided Will needed – ok, I NEEDED – a freaking kick butt birthday party. If this is the last one it was going to be the best one. I suppose if I keep this up next year we’ll have a Ringling Brother attend the party. That’s totally a joke, btw.

One night a few weeks ago, my sister Lisa and I were sitting around brainstorming party themes and the circus party idea was hatched. From there I just kind of went a tad over board. Not totally, but just enough.

So on Saturday we had the birthday party. We asked that in lieu of gifts to consider making a donation to Will’s Mito clinic through the Memorial Hermann Foundation. We were able to raise nearly $1,300! If anyone else would like to add to the contributions please let me know. It was really an amazing feeling to be able to give back to a group that has given us so much in such a short amount of time.


The cupcake decorating party with my mom and sisters.


The awesome banner Lisa made "Celebrate Will is 3"

So I'm totally bragging on myself here, but I made the cake.

Snocone cupcakes, popcorn cupcakes and an attempted, but dismal failure for cotton candy cupcakes which turned into sprinkles.




Getting chased by daddy in the carousel bounce house

Hanging out with Papa and Grandpa and the balloon sword of course.


Getting his face painted with an Elmo

Birthday boy blowing out his candles


Unwrapping some gifts with Carson

On Tuesday, Will’s actual birthday, we started the day with a visit to Dr. Koenig’s office. We brought donuts and money – a winning combo. Sweet Missy got Will a birthday boy balloon and he was pretty pumped about it. He also picked out some really girly stickers, but that’s ok. He had all the ladies around for his b-day.

Mito update: this might have been the first Dr. Koenig appointment that I actually didn’t cry and left feeling like I can do this. I won’t detail the previous ones, too painful. She thought Will was looking really good and that his walking had improved as well. She thought she might have noticed an increase in what I’d call fidgeting but medically is known as chorea. It’s non-stop movement. So, we just need to watch out for that.

We’re also going to get his eyes checked. With all the things he knows and can pull from memory, he doesn’t know any of his colors. He can do some counting, animal noise associations and he can tell you everyone’s lunch box at school and places he’s been, but no colors. That’s just weird to me. So, we talked about him possibly being color blind etc. Not a crisis here as I don’t care if he knows his colors or not, but I’d like to understand why everything is blue, according to Will.

So, back to his birthday. Dropped him off at school where he had cupcakes as a special snack. His teacher snapped a few pictures and sent them to me!





Neil picked Will up and we all went to dinner at a local favorite, then we stopped by Fire Station #6 as a big surprise for Will. He LOVED it. He started crying when we left and wouldn’t even tell the firemen thank you because he was so mad (and tired) to go home.



His little boots wouldn't even fit in the fireman's big boots!

But the heavy coat worked out along with his birthday boy crown from school.




After the fire station we came home to Papa on the front porch so that was a big surprise for Will too. They listened to music in my dad’s car – a huge favorite for Will. After he left we sang happy birthday, had a cupcake took a bath and went to bed.




All our pictures from the birthday party and fire station visit are posted here.

Will has been coughing on and off since he went to sleep. I’m really REALLY hoping that this cough/congestion stuff makes a quick departure. He’s almost back to baseline from his March hospitalization and he really needs a chance to catch back up.

Happy Birthday Baby Bear. Mommy and Daddy love you forever and ever and always. We're so proud and honored to be your parents. Thank you for the gift of you.

8 comments:

  1. What a happy day and celebration! I love the circus theme and you didn't awesome on the cake and have every right to brag! It always brings a tear to my eye seeing a parent's love for their child but especially reading this post knowing all you guys went through this year. Many blessings to the birthday boy!

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  2. WOW! the cake is amazing! Is that fondant?? Impressive! snowcone cupcakes were adorable too! I saw Will yesterday when I picked Vincent up from school with his crown on. WHAT A DOLL! He is just so precious, Lori! I told him Happy Birthday, and he was of course, Mr. Polite and said thank you. He is so polite and sweet all the time (well, I know not all the time, but all the time I see him. ha, ha). He was so proud to show me his balloon ("that's my birthday boon!"). And then he went over to where a friend was doing flower arranging table work and he told me "she doing table work." and helped put some flowers in, etc. Just chatted it up with me. He's talking so much! I asked him what his birthday dinner would be and he told me "I don't know." Typical boy;) He is just such a peanut. The fire house visit is too cool. Vincent would have tantrummed leaving there too! ;) Biggest congratulations to mama, daddy, and Will. Our boys are so big! Seems like yesterday that they were out in Judi's class and were still very much babies.
    XOXO
    Beth

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  3. oh, and in regards to the color thing. can he sort by color? that might be a way to tease out if he truly cannot see the differences between the colors, or its more of a language issue and not being able to keep the labels straight. just a thought. my nephew had a very hard time with colors also. for me it was telling my LEFT and RIGHT apart and telling time. anyhow, taking my SLP hat off, but wanted to throw that out there.
    XOXO
    B

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  4. So glad the birthday party was a success- everything looked fabulous! Happy Birthday Will!

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  5. We had so much fun at Will's birthday party! Caroline did NOT want to leave. You all did a wonderful job! Thank you for letting us be a part of this special celebration. Happy Birthday sweet Will! I hope you got Caroline's voicemail!

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  6. I feel like I've been to the party. Thanks for the update on Will. He (and you) continue to inspire me.
    Hugs and smiles!

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  7. Hello,Happy birthday Will,My kids are having birthday next week,Nina 4 years with Leigh disease and Darin,1 year, the same mutation,we just find out last week, i hope we can celebrate their birthdays in good mood,i read all your post,i wrote you email also,when you have time we can exchange experiences
    Lots of love
    Dimkovski

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  8. Hello,Happy birthday Will,My kids are having birthday next week,Nina 4 years with Leigh disease and Darin,1 year, the same mutation,we just find out last week, i hope we can celebrate their birthdays in good mood,i read all your post,i wrote you email also,when you have time we can exchange experiences
    Lots of love
    Dimkovski

    ReplyDelete