Hayden's Birthday

Wow!  I must say the past week has been CRAZY busy! I have had SOOO much that I have wanted to write about! I have wanted to tell you all about Hayden's Birthday. I have wanted to share information about his hope bracelets. I have wanted to inform you of some awesome gifts and cards that he received. I have also wanted to inform you of our seizure increase.

I love using my blog as a journal from the past year or so. I have decided to break his birthday party into 3 sections so that I will be able to smile to precious memories in our future.

1. Planning/Decorating/ Meaning

2. Gifts/ Icing Smiles

3. Caring Loved Ones

On July 18, 2011, our life was changed forever. We were in a hospital room hearing that our precious 6 week old would live a critical life. I remember Dr. Davis informing us that our child had white matter damage. I remember my father-in-law being there only because he could not find a rental car in Jackson. (God's way of making sure he would be here with us to hear this devastating news. ) I remember my best friend Whitney never leaving my side. I remember my mom and mother in law making sure we ate. I remember crying and hitting the floor begging and screaming that my life was over. In September, I heard that my child would never walk or talk. I remember hearing that he would live a short life. Really???? How much can a young couple handle? How much pain can a 3 month old endure? How many needles and IVs? In January, I remember calling my husband saying HELP, He is not breathing. I remember heading to Jackson via ambulance with a 3.5 hour seizure. WOOO, Hayden was 7 months old. We had experienced a rollercoaster. We started preparing for our future. We started facing reality. Wow, A NIGHTMARE. Little to say, I will never complain about stupid things in life anymore. Instead, I will complain about how to keep my child comfortable and out of pain.

When we came home from the hospital, I placed a goal. I started to beg, plead, and pray to make it to a year. I decided that I would start decorating and planning. I informed Lauren, Holly, Whitney, and Lisa what I wanted to do. I informed them to look in my upstairs bedroom for decorations if they ever needed to bring them to the hospital. I was determined that Hayden would have a YOU ARE MY SUNSHINE birthday party. We would celebrate early if we had too. I was going to plan early so that I could have it all together incase of a tragedy. I prayed so often that we would have a 1st birthday. In April, reality struck again. Hayden had another spell. I became hard headed and determined. I wanted to have the sweetest sunshine party ever. We always sing "You are my sunshine" to Hayden during good and bad times.

I started by shopping on ETSY, pinterest, and facebook. I found Tali from A Party Studio. She helped design it all! She was my angel on Earth! I would highly recommend her! Below is pictures of decorations and the meaning behing each of them.

Hershey Kisses: Hayden receives more kisses than anyone in the world. I sometimes kiss him 50 plus times a day. Hayden is also sweet. We decided to use kisses to represent our love for our angel. We hand glued his name, sunshines, happy birthday etc on the bottom of the kisses. Our SWEET and KISSABLE angel was finally getting to celebrate his SUNSHINE DAY!

 Hayden helped mommy work on the door decoration. Many balloons were pinned to this wreath. I had seen the balloon wreath on Pinterest. Sunflowers remind us of a pretty spring day without seizures. Sunflowers remind us of happiness. Sunflowers remind us of God's Miracle that we are the parents of :)

 ??? Does this confuse you? I had the sweetest Great Aunt and Great Uncle. I know Uncle Lee and Aunt Jerry are watching over Hayden in Heaven. They both past away last spring. Their daughter (my 2nd cousin) drove 14 hours for Hayden's party on her 50th birthday. So we decided to SUPRISE her too!

 Orange, Yellow, and Blue. The main colors of the birthday party. These colors are bright and happy. Happiness was the main key for Hayden's birthday party!

 My grandfather's cousin gave me this frame before Hayden's Gtube surgery. HOPE: Hope is what helped us make it to the 1st birthday. We never stopped believing in our angel. This frame was displayed to show our love and hope for Hayden. The other frame says "MY FIRST HUNT" : Hayden and Marley are sitting with their ducks. This is a dream crushed for our family. We would love to watch Hayden play sports and hunt. As Dana Warrington told me after Hayden's diagnosis "it's okay, we will do it for him" See Hayden still received his first hunt. Brent and I will continue to play, run, talk, hunt, etc for him!

 Hayden is our light. Hayden  is our joy. Hayden is our SUNSHINE. These paintings are done by Hayden's Thumb. He has a special art talent. I love his artwork! We spent countless hours making this perfect.

 Sunshine represents happiness. Happiness occurs when the sun is shining. In the Delta, you see tractors outside on sunny days. We decided to represent our hometown by using tractors in the decorations. The tractors have a sun tying them together. We chose to only drink bright colored drinks and ofcourse water. The water was labeled with suns. Are you getting the picture yet???? The party was bright and happy.

 Hayden's Guest Book: Hayden's guest book was a picture walk of the good and bad days from the past year. Many people cried as they signed the book. He was so healthy and peaceful in the beginning. Towards the end, he was spending so much time in a hospital bed. Man oh Man how time changes.

 The book is now filled with favorite memories from each of the guest. Some people encouraged him to keep fighting and stay strong. Some people told him how awesome he was. My favorite was from Kelli Davis: She discussed the facial expression on Brent's face as he cut the cake to see the color BLUE. We were having a BABY BOY. We were proud of you then. We are even prouder of you now.

 Food: Whats a party without Yummy Food??? We had bright platters, napkins, and silverware. We were so proud of our angel for turning one!

 Hershey Bars and a DUM DUM bouquet for OUR SWEET and KISSABLE ANGEL!

 I am obsessed with photobooks. We had photobooks from the past year displayed for people to look at. The brown one is my mother in laws. She suprised Brent and I with it on his birthday.

 Whats a party without favors? Bubbles for the kids. Hershey Bars for the teenagers. Hope for Hayden bracelets for everyone:) (More to come on this topic later)

 A timeline of Hayden's first year. The yellow flowers are representing happiness, blessings, and faith. I wrote at the bottom a description of each picture for a photo album in the future.
1 Week: Outfit from Emily Lewis
Month 1: Outfit from Robby and Meg at the Beach
Month 2: Photo session by Beth Giachelli at Photo Tech
Month 3: Another photo session by Beth, on the day of our first emergency room visit in Greenville.
Month 4: First Smile in Jackson
Month 5: Halloween as a Puppy
Month 6: Photo Session by Cindy Hensley Self in Lake Village
Month 6.5: Christmas
Month 7: First Wagon ride outside
Month 8: Lolly Wolly Doodle Shamrock outfit pictures at 27 break
Month 9: Nana's Condo in my outfit from Smockaroos
Month 10: Easter Party (day before 3 weeks in the hospital)
Month 11: Beach trip with the Oakes
Month 12: Onesie from Mandy Warbington with a sunshine, tractor, and the number one:) How fitting and perfect?

 I found this frame while shopping in Baytowne. I chose this picture from Florida. Hayden was pain free and peaceful in this picture. Oh what a happy sight!

 Sweets once again for an extra sweet little boy!

 Cheese and grape platter to represents our happiness. Thank you Lord for blessing us with a happy and good 1st birthday.

 Table Decorations: WOW, I bet Hayden was worn out. His precious hands helped me paint the Dollar tree mason jars blue.

 Sunshines and Tractors are such a simple reminder of the Mississippi Delta. The Delta is our HOME. We love the memories in which we have made at home. These items are not found in Jackson. These items are not found near the hospital. These items represent happiness of being healthy and home:)

We had the best birthday ever! Hayden woke up early. He tried so hard to smile. He NEVER cried until bed time. He had the BEST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER! I hope you are excited to hear the story coming up next about Icing Smiles and The Sweetery teaming up to make the most incredible birthday cake ever!

God answers prayers. The pictures from above would not be displayed on my blog if it was not for answered prayers. Thank you God for allowing us to fight through the bad days to have a 70 degree not a cloud in the sky type of birthday!