Happy First Birthday Hailey!!

Monday we celebrated Hailey's first birthday with a picnic in the park by the lake with a few great friends. Hailey had a blast with the other recently turned one year olds playing in the grass and watching the crazy seagulls that were circling and pressing in on our party in a very Hitchcockian way. They eventually took off with the container of cous cous and if birds can, they licked it clean. Birds aside, it was an awesome way to celebrate an amazing first year with Hailey. We laid out blankets in the grass and hung decorations in the trees, had a spread of food and a pumpkin pie with a star sparkler for birthday cake. I chose the star because I like to think Hailey rode in from heaven on a shooting star one night in February when we were at the coast and were about to find out she was with us. What a beautiful soul, brighter even than that star, she has been the greatest blessing to us in so many ways. She truly is a beautiful person with kindness in her eyes and a sweet, happy disposition. Right now she is rolling around on the floor, looking at some books she was given at her birthday and now heading for a new adventure down the hall. What a miracle to watch her grow and learn, every day seems faster. She's nearly running, working on some words, putting out teeth, learning to put things back together (yay!!) rather than just take apart. She understands many things I say like hug, bye-bye, kiss, shake, bounce, dance, no way jose... and this week when someone said to her "Your blue eyes match your shoes." she looked down at her shoes. It's so simple, but quite amazing to see so many truly amazing things come together in a little person. We love her so much and pray every day for the ability to be the best parents we can for her. She sure is the best little Hailey for us.  

We played a traditional Korean first birthday game called the Doljabee where you place a number of meaningful objects on a table or blanket, let the birthday boy or girl get a good look at everything and then watch to see what object they choose first. The first choice is most important and second has some bearing too I guess. They represent what they will do or be good at as they grow up or something like that! We went with some of the traditional things and also put in a few of our own invention - Money (you'll have it), a pen (a writer), a whisk (a good cook), a maraca (musical), a weight (sporty), string (long life), a paintbrush (artistic), and a thermometer (doctor). Hailey went straight for the maraca - a gift from Grama Cathy- and then the paint brush. Milla and Stella then swooped in on the whisk and thermometer respectively. Tom and Alex are both amazing cooks, so no surprise Milla may pick up on that! Stella has a set of very smart parents as well and Hailey has been musical and on the beat from the womb, so I'm going to say this experiment seems to have been accurate!

Hailey was in awe of the sky and the birds and was making the happiest noises watching them.