Not How I Planned….

I’ve been planning Jackson’s 1st birthday party since he was six-months-old.

The theme was Little Blue Truck (one of our favorite books). There would be milk bottles to drink from, a special high chair for Jackson to sit in when he smashed his cake, and lots of gifts to open.

A trip to urgent care and an RSV diagnosis was not part of the plan. It’s been a rough couple of days, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t completely devastated that his party didn’t happen like I had planned. I cried. I called all his friends to tell them the party was off. I called my best friend and vented. I was devastated that he was sick on the day of his 1st Birthday party.

I was so disappointed that his little friends couldn’t be at the party. I was bummed that he didn’t get to enjoy digging in his cake the way he would have had he felt better. I was sad when I realized I didn’t even get a photo of him with my mom and dad.

Here’s a little secret about me….I get my hopes up and get this picture in my head about how things are supposed to be and most of the time I end up disappointed and let down. Can anyone relate?

Instead of focusing on the good, I dwell on how things didn’t happen how I had planned.

I should have been thankful that Jackson wasn’t in the hospital. Thankful that he felt good enough to open his gifts, eat a few bites of cake, smile when we sang Happy Birthday, and loved every minute of riding in his Little Blue Truck- even though we had to spread his party out over the entire day so that he could nap in between activities.

It was still a good day. It was still a great 1st birthday, even though it wasn’t how I had pictured it. Here’s a few photos from Jackson’s special day….

Here’s the decorations. I made the banner and just loved how it turned out. We had a dump truck stuck in the mud like in the book. We also enjoyed the cutest and yummiest sugar cookies in the shapes of farm animals and #1.

Here’s the cake. The same lady from Texas that made many of my birthday cakes made Jackson’s. She does such a great job and the cake is amazing! We call them Kay Cakes 🙂

Mommy and daddy with the birthday boy. At this point he was still hamming it up! It wasn’t until later that he really started feeling terrible.

Jackson loved the balloons! This is one of my favorite photos from the day.

He loved when we sang Happy Birthday to him. He smiled and smiled.

Tasting his cake. I think he would have made a much bigger mess had he felt better. This boy NEVER turns down food unless he is sick.

Jackson got so many gifts! He absolutely loves his Little Blue Truck and actually fell asleep in it while he was being pushed around. He also got his own recliner from his Aunt and Uncle.

Loving his Little Blue Truck! The horn actually honks and he holds on to the steering wheel as we push him around. 🙂