June 28, 2009: Bday Postgame

that propeller twirls!
After three years, Haley finally celebrated a birthday simply because she was born. Medical repurcussions of the bone marrow transplant has made us all careful about celebrating anything about Haley too soon. But while planning big sister Anna’s birthday party, Anna insisted that if Haley wasn’t going to have a party all her own, she would share the day. “She better like hello kitty, though,” was Anna’s caveat. So be it.
The party was a joint Anna/Haley Hello-Kitty SlipnSlide party at Grammy and Gramps. Many friends and family came around to slip, slide, and celebrate, and place was awash in Hello Kitty. After three years, it felt good to sing to Haley other than Diana Ross, Bob Marley, or Mindy Smith.
Haley also had her own celebration this past Friday, with a few friends and family. Just as Anna had a hello-kitty cake, Haley had a Pablo (backyardigans) cake. Thank goodness we had a graphic artist on hand to help with his facial expression.
Haley also went swimming for the first time ever (slip n slides don’t count as swimming). It was wonderful– especially when she scraped the top of her toes against the bottom of the pool. Before, such a thing would have sent Haley into the hospital. Even though she sees her scrapes as a bunch of boo-boos , i see a wonderful web of working platelets.
Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate– it was a wonderful “first” birthday for a 3 year-old who has lived about 3 years longer than she was supposed to.































