Goodbye 2007

December 31, 2007

Goodbye 2007

Tonight we celebrated Oliver's first birthday. As you can see, Waverly enjoyed the party hats and Oliver REALLY enjoyed his pig cupcake. He was timid at first, but then dug in and loved every bite. He screamed when we had to take it away from him. He also had a lot of fun opening up the gifts people sent (thanks for thinking of him). He thought his ride-on lion was very fun....as did Wavey. We hope you all have a wonderful new year's eve. Here's to 2008 and all of the adventures it holds. Cheers!

Comments

Blaza said…

I can't believe what a big boy Oliver is. He looks especially grown-up riding on his new lion!

December 31, 2007 at 7:36 PM

Ellen said…

I love that you have him pigging out on his piggy cupcake! So cute! Happy Birthday, Oliver!

January 1, 2008 at 1:12 AM

Anonymous said…

Fabulous pictures! I can't wait to meet this little guy!!!! Hopefully before he's a teenager!

January 1, 2008 at 11:33 AM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.