Birthday Fun

Every year I marvel as Kai grows older.  From the small three pound baby he was to the solid almost kindergartner he is now.  I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again: five years ago I couldn't even envision him now.  I couldn't see past the day to day, let alone even think about future Kai.  I scoffed at words like wheelchair and school because I was just trying to get through "now," and he was literally fighting for his life every day.  We were terrified of the ventilator--not because of the vent itself, but because what it represented.  To us it meant regression.  We saw how he hated and fought it in the NICU.  We worried that it would lower his quality of life--being tied to one more machine.  However, the opposite occurred.  He started to thrive.  We were able to get on the TC Waiver program, giving us respite nursing, which has saved our sanity, and we were able to start looking beyond the immediate day to the next week, to the next month, to the next year.  Suddenly, the future not only seemed possible, but expected and anticipated.

 Now our Little Mister is turning five.  Five.  He has taught me so much.  I am a different person because of him.  Hopefully better than I was before.  I value life and friends and family so much more because I have seen how fleeting it can be.  Everything can change in an instant. 

So we celebrate.  Kai's birthday weekend started off early with his school nurse bringing him a couple presents.  Kai has been showing more interest and awareness in toys, so she gave him Spiderman and a Transformer car.  He was pretty funny exploring Spiderman for the first time.  We put it by his side and he immediately lifted his foot up, exploring first with his foot, then cautiously with his hand--never letting go of his ballard until he must have deemed it as safe.

  We celebrated Zuri's and Kai's birthday together.  The idea was to go to the park and let the kids play in the splash pad and on the playground, but the splash pad doesn't open until Memorial Day and it was super windy.  We made it through eating lunch/dinner, but decided to do cake and presents back at our house.  I've decided that I'm not going to host any more outdoor events because it seems that every time I host something outdoors the weather doesn't cooperate.

Alisia and Maria made Zuri's and Kai's cake.  Didn't they turn out amazing?

The kids had fun playing on the playground though, so at least that part went well.

Ridge

Kai was spoiled for his fifth birthday this year.  His big present was a swing from J's side of the family.  It was a hit!  Not only with Kai, but the other kiddos as well.

It was fun to watch as Kai's level of comfort increased the longer he was on the swing.  He started off with his hand covering his eyes--his way of blocking out the world.  As we swung him, he laughed and laughed.  Slowly he lowered his arm and started chewing on his ballard while still laughing.

Once Kai was done, the other kids got on and had a blast.  We started with two and kept adding kids.  We ended with five kids, but there was room for a sixth.  They loved it! 

River was put down to bed, but she likes to play in the window.  We were outside, just enjoying the nice evening (of course it would be nice after the party was over), and I heard a little voice.  River was watching us from her window.  It was so adorable I had to get a picture.