Planning a birthday party for my special little angel was so joyful...I took it to the "Martha Stewart" level in fact. Personalized printed birthday cards, personalized 1st birthday shirt, personalized party hat, personalized birthday cake, personalized banner, catering, planning planning planning and more PLANNING. I was ahead of the game. My husband thought I was going completely overboard, and I WAS! this is my first child and no one was standing in my way. I was going to have the picture perfect 1st birthday party and that was THAT! The guest list was pretty big...about 35 people...It was going to be the party of the year...everyone would be talking about it for years to come. I was right about one thing, we will be talking about it for years to come. It was truly unforgettable!
My beautiful baby boy turned one years old on April 10th a beautiful sunny day here in Oregon, everything seemed perfect... When I looked out the window I was instantly on cloud 9 when I saw even the weather was cooperating. Elijah woke up around 6 a.m. typical time to nurse and fall back asleep. Snuggled between Mommy and Daddy until we would all wake up together happily about 8:30...this was the norm...but not on this special day. I picked Elijah out of his crib and he coughed and then gagged- nothing came out but I was thinking to myself, hmmm... that was strange...must have been a little saliva in the back of his throat... I layed him down with me and he nursed him for about 5 minutes... he rolled over on his side facing me, I was looking at my beautiful little 1 year old and remembering the day he was born...sugar plums dancing through my head about how wonderful this perfect birthday party celebration would be "Martha Stewart" style when all of a sudden Elijah picked up his head off the mattress and threw up all over me. I was stunned and worried. My husband who is the total optimist got up and helped us all clean up. As I sat there worrying about Elijah and the birthday party my optimist "the cup is half full" husband told me it was probably just some post nasal drip that our little boy gagged on and all was fine. At that moment denial sunk in and all Mommy instincts were put on the back burner. I knew my baby looked pale... he just threw up on me but I just couldn't admit that he was sick on his FIRST birthday. Elijah slept in until 10:30 that morning...so not the norm...BUT Daddy got him up while I ran around the house getting the perfect "Martha Stewart" birthday party set up...Elijah seemed fine after his long morning rest and bath...still pale...but he seemed happy, we managed to feed him a little breakfast and get him into his cute perfect little birthday boy outfit. We drove to my husbands parents house who have a big house for the perfect "Martha Stewart" birthday party and big enough to fit the 35 people. Elijah crawled around Grandpa and Grandmas house while we all set up for the perfect birthday party when all of a sudden we heard a cough cough cough and GAG...out came Elijah's breakfast all over the floor- Oh god...HOW IS THIS HAPPENING! Let's just say he wasn't feeling so well and my denial was now totally out of the question. It was official our baby boy was ill for his perfect birthday party. My Mother in law (another total optimist) said the show must go on...everyone is on there way...so a first birthday party is what we shall have. We we're able to get the beautiful picture above attached with this blog and he was such a good baby considering. Elijah didn't eat any of his special party food and never even touched his home made healthy carrot cake that Mommy made...in fact my Mother in law put a dab of cream cheese frosting on her finger and gave him a taste...he gagged and gagged...heaved and heaved some more...thankfully nothing came out with all 35 people watching, horrified that Elijah may explode. We managed to get through the rest of party...I can't say it was what I had imagined. In fact all that planning and money seemed wasted. I am sure guests enjoyed themselves but Mommy Daddy and Elijah were not having a very perfect party time. Everyone left and I breast fed Elijah again hoping to give him some nourishment and he seemed fine until he threw up all over me AGAIN- I felt so bad for him. We packed up the car which seemed to take hours...we got into our heavily weighed down jeep and I could feel Daddy's eyes upon me- I knew what he was thinking without him needing to say a word. I just wanted to crawl under a rock and put the whole day behind me. All I wanted was to have the perfect birthday party...ha ha...it's so ridiculous now that I thought about it...I could have gotten Elijah a couple balloons and he would've been happy...I sat there as we drove home thinking who I was really having this perfect party for anyhow?! I couldn't wait to get home...safe wonderful home.
Well...God had other plans...we arrived home...pulled into our parking spot. Kyle carrying Elijah over his shoulder- little boy was so pale and tired...I just wanted to put him in his Jammie's and rock him to sleep. Thank god we were home- YAY! Kyle opened up the door to our beautiful sanctuary with delight....the day was over and we could have a peaceful evening at home and nurse our baby back to health. We talked about how wonderful it was to be home when all of a sudden a horrible stinging smell burned our noses... at this point everything went into slow motion...Kyle's voice blurted out..."OH MY GOD, SAGE pooped all over the house!" As I looked around the apartment floor I was in disbelief...how could this be happening? Our sweet 5 year old dog had diarrhea all OVER our house she even managed to poop on some of Elijah's toys. Kyle and I we're both standing there in shock surveying the poop infested war zone we call home for about 10 seconds when all of a sudden Elijah throws up all over Kyle and all over the carpet! It was like a crop duster came through with vomit and dog poop all over our house. Let's just say I felt like I was in a movie...A comedy where the audience would be laughing in hysterics! The dog and the baby both ill on the SAME DAY, Are you kidding me?! I grabbed the baby and cleaned him up while my husband cleaned up after the dog...there is more to this story that happened after but I will spare you the smelly details.
Elijah was very sick for 2 days...I ended up taking him to the pediatrician the next day. Sage was better the next day...we realized she had gotten into a half eaten YO- Baby yogurt snack that was left on the counter and let's just say the live active cultures cleaned her doggy system out- A colonic couldn't have done better work on our sweet furry family member!
As I blog this I still can't believe it all happened. I wanted a memorable first birthday party for Elijah and I sure got one...Can't say it's exactly what I wanted or envisioned but it's something that we will all be talking about for years to come.
