MY 1st BIRTHDAY PARTY - Round Two!!

This is me at my party with the DeKeyrel's! I'm sitting on Sherie's lap. I'm the princess again!
Grandma Billie helps me with my presents. Actually, I just watched my mom open them.
This is me with my "almost teenage" cousin, Lindsay. Her birthday is coming up soon too! She is soooo sweet.
This is me with Lindsay again and one of my favorite cousins, Collin! We just love him in that leather jacket.
This is me with another one of my cousins, Madison! I was so glad she could come.

This is me enjoying some time with Sherie!
Here I sit (and kind of grin) with my Great Aunt Peggy and Great Uncle Darrell! They care about me a lot too!
Here I am with another favorite cousin, Matt and my great friend, Juli! I missed Mitchell and Mason, so I hope they can come over soon.
Here I'm getting hugs from my beautiful Aunt Danette and my sweet Uncle Gary! They care about me tons too.

This is me and my Grandma Billie and Grandpa Richard. They are two of the best grandparents I could ever ask for!
This is me with my sweet Great Aunt Dixie and my crazy Great Uncle Bob! They also care about me a lot!
This is me with my beautiful Great Grandma Alice. Doesn't she look great! Alice, we love you!
This is me getting tired and frustrated on my Great Aunt Maxine's lap. She held me tight and put me to sleep!! Thank you! I just wasn't feeling too good all night. I have a bad cold and a stuffy nose.

First of all, thank you to each and every one of you for coming to Alayna's party. It was a nice way to celebrate her first year. Family means so much to us and spending the evening with all of you made her birthday extra special. It is apparent through actions and words just how much all of you care about Alayna. We are very blessed to have the families that we have. It is difficult to express in words the gratitude and support we feel from everyone. And for those who were not at the party, we still thank you for your birthday wishes!

Alayna has come down with a cold. This all began at 2:12 am on Friday morning! UGH, just in time for the party. Friday was a tough day to get her to eat a bottle. Fortunately, she drank some for Patti because she might have had 1 ounce the entire night here at home! She is battling the stuffy nose and just feeling cranky and unsettled. We couldn't get her to eat. Even with all of this though, she made it through the party and was a trooper the entire night. We just didn't do the cake thing because she wasn't up to it! I can't wait to see what she does with her cake at her 2 year party!

Alayna was blessed by recieving many gifts including a princess bank, a princess blanket, lots of outfits, a Shining Stars pink bear, an heirloom bracelet, and money to put away in the bank for something important in the future. We still aren't sure what that will be, but we are so thankful to be able to start her a savings because we know there will be things she will need. A huge thanks to everyone again.

Now that the parties are all over and she is officially one year old, I still find it hard to believe! Wow, time flies and what a year it has been. She continues to make progress and do new things. She is beginning to do additional occupational and physical therapy at Comprehensive Rehab in Muscatine two times a week for 40 minutes each session. Again, we can't thank Patti, her babysitter, enough for her willingness to head up this task! 80 minutes of therapy is a lot for Alayna to accomplish in one day, so we'll see how it goes. If she gets tired and so fussy that the therapists are unable to work with her, she just might have to quit early. They would ultimately like to see her Monday-Thursday for one 40 minute session each day, but right now that is a huge committment that I hesitate to jump into right now for a variety of reasons. But Patti says that she has noticed some improvement and I'm thrilled about that!

I'll continue to keep you informed about Alayna and all of her accomplishments. Thank you for your continual loyalty to her blog.