Happy Birthday Jack!

We had the absolute pleasure and privilege of celebrating Jack's first birthday this weekend with the help of friends and family.  We had a cookie-themed first birthday party on Saturday, and were reminded once again just how blessed we are by the people in our lives.  Mr. C's parents and my mom and sister were on hand to represent all the amazing grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins that have been by our side this past year, and we had some of my favorite mommy friends on hand with their absolutely precious children to represent our amazing network of friend support that has kept us sane (especially me!) this past year.

Jack's first year flew by even faster than Carter's first year, even though I didn't think that was possible!  It really snuck up on me, though, and I turned to Etsy to help me with some of the party planning, ordering a birthday banner for Jack and some cute little favor tags.  Unfortunately, they were all sent to our old address, and I was stuck at the eleventh hour with nothing.  My amazing family came to the rescue, though.  Mr. C took over with the kids Friday evening, and then, after they were in bed, cleaned, straightened up the house and did dishes, and basically secured his title as husband-of-the year for the 6th year in a row.  Mom was amazing, as always, baking cookies (which I had planned to do), so I could focus on printing and cutting and glueing away with my sister who was an absolute life saver, staying up with me until 4am creating a new birthday banner and favor tags, and even a door sign and birthday garland.  We had so much fun catching up and talking and visiting that I can honestly say, despite the stress and lack of sleep, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

One of the best parts about Friday night was recounting everyone's version of the story from the year before.  Since we all had different perspectives on the car accident and the events that transpired, it was interesting to look at the clock periodically and say "well, one year ago at this time, I had just been checked into my room and the phone rang.  It was Jenny (my best friend from HS) who was calling to see if I was ok because she had heard about the accident on facebook!"  Stephen would chime in with "one year ago at this time, I was rifling through your underwear drawer trying to find the random things on the list you had told me to get from the house for you" and mom would add "Gary and Alice were just getting to the house to watch Carter so I could come meet you at the hospital." Funny little memory points would pop up like the amazing chopped beef sandwiches the Childresses brought from Hinzes Barbecue for Stephen, that they sent with Mom to the hospital, and that Stephen shared with me as my first meal in 32 hours after Jack was born (may have been the best thing I've ever eaten in my entire life).  Or the fact that Memorial Herman has a floor that's not on any of the elevator buttons (it's used for storage), but of course Stephen was initially told I was on that floor.  Surrounded by the warm smell of cookies, and the sound of laughter, and the wonderful feeling of knowing Jack was safe and sound and healthy and thriving and sound asleep in his crib upstairs, it was just the perfect way to remember how incredibly lucky and blessed we were by the miracle of Jack's birth.

So thank you (!!!) to our friends and family that helped us a year ago when we were coping with the unexpected arrival of our little guy and helped again this year to celebrate, and Happy Birthday to my sweet precious baby boy.  You are such a light in our lives and our family wasn't complete until you came along.