Spicy Dragons & Dinosaurs

For Julia's birthday, I wanted to give her a party, but I just couldn't get myself in gear for it. It was yesterday, Thursday before Sunday's birthday, that I remembered that last year I did give Julia a party with David in the hospital for the first time for his heart. Gosh, I was trying to do everything and with the help of one of Julia's therapists we had a party and it was fun. And later, we opened Julia's last few presents with David in his hospital room and shared some cake with him. I just wasn't ready to do that again.

And so, I called my friend, Amy, and we arranged a play date for Monday (MLK Day) at a pottery painting place. Maybe we will have a little cake but it should be fun and something different for Julia.

I also bought a balloon bouquet and stuff to decorate the house. Julia loved the balloons! And I hope that even without an official party we can have a fun weekend. We will celebrate all weekend along with small special things.

I just could not do what I had tried to do last year. I had to mix it up some. I am getting better at taking care of myself.

I went back to last years writing to figure out when David went into the hospital and started reading some entries. I was startled to see how much Julia has changed! I wrote about tantrums, difficulties in school, worrying about the principal calling. At that point we had not found the right mix of meds for her and looking at it now, I see her reacting to how stressed we were at home. She has had a growing year.