Piper turns ONE!!

Technically Piper turned one yesterday, but it was such a terrible day that I simply couldn't post. Luckily, her birthday party on Sunday was a lot of fun :-) Although that didn't start off very well either ...

Rewind to Sunday, 4th of July, and the day of Piper's big party. Piper awoke at 5:45 with a fever of 102.1. Her first real fever and quite a time for it! After a dose of ibuprofen, I called the pediatrician's emergency line and was relieved to find out that the doc on call was Piper's regular pediatrician. I spoke with her, and she said that as long as Piper's fever came down, we could party on. Luckily, the fever came down and the show went on. Here she is at about 7:30 ... getting amped up for the afternoon with her Elvis face.
I will say that Piper wasn't in a great mood all day, but she put her best foot forward for coming down with a nasty virus. There were few smiles, and she didn't do nearly as much damage to the cake as I thought she was going to, but there were also no tears so no complaints from this end. Overall, it was great to see family and friends and celebrate such a huge milestone in Piper's life! Here are some cake pics ...

Actually Piper's favorite part of the day (I think it's her favorite part of every day), preceded cake - pool time! Here she is with her cousin Ellen, stealing Ellen's beer. We had to remind her that she was ONE, not 21 ... and then she also loved being a big girl on her own float. So cute!


And let me tell you, I am so thankful for our pool! It has been hotter then hot and disgustingly humid all week and our pool time is the highlight of both our days. Especially yesterday when Piper was totally out of sorts. She started off yesterday at 3:30 am coughing and crying. The only place she would sleep was on me, so from then until almost 7, she would sleep for a bit at a time, in between coughs, while I lay in our guest bed with her, trying to will myself to sleep. I wasn't super successful, which made the rest of the day for both of us a challenge! We went to the doctor's first thing in the morning and she was diagnosed with croup, which is apparently going around right now. The rest of the day she was in a terrible mood (as was I) and had her worst day of behavior ever. She bit me many many many times throughout the day ... basically threw tantrums all day since she only wanted things that she couldn't play with (my sunglasses, etc). Man it was a tough day and I was so depressed at the end as I felt like I spent her entire first birthday either trying to soothe her (unsuccessfully) or disciplining her. Not what I had envisioned, but another time when I am reminded that you just have to be flexible in life, especially with kids! She was exhausted and went to bed at 6. Reid and I went to bed at 7:30, both with sore throats and feeling terrible. Quite a day indeed, but today was better (for Piper and I, not for Reid though - boo) and hopefully tomorrow will be even better! I'm excited for her to kick this virus so we can see our friends again and have some fun.

Looking back over the year, so much has changed, in such crazy ways. And even though yesterday was tough, she is incredible. There have been many challenges, especially the sleepless nights for the first few months, but I would do them all over again many times over to have the amazing and simply FUN daughter that we have. Every day she cracks me up. Either with a giggle, a mischievous smile, diving into the pool, or any of her other little quarks. I'm proud to have her as our daughter and am excited to see what this year brings. Happy birthday, Piper!! We love you :-)