Happy 3rd Birthday!

What a weekend!! From Friday morning it was run, run run. So here's the lowdown: Friday was orthopedic clinic. All was well and Dakin's scoliosis is 'not as bad as it looks.' So yay. We hurried home and got ready for...

A birthday party!! We held it at a local Rotary Club park, which is specifically set up for handicapped people. It's perfect--the tables are all longer on the ends, the playset can accomodate a wheelchair, etc. And as I had made a pact with the weather gods to have a sunny day (sorry, East Texas, as a result of that pact, I'm afraid some ugly weather is coming our way!) it was absolutely beautiful on Saturday. We decorated pumpkins and cupcakes and attempted to break Dakin's pinata--boy, that didn't go well. When he saw everyone beating his ghost with a bat he got really upset. So we broke the candy out of the bottom and the ghost is sitting here in my living room intact.



It went great, considering this is the first birthday party we have had with actual children. We had a great group of kids--dressed adorably in their costumes, but I didn't get permission to put up their pics, so you'll just have to imagine.



Saturday evening we had the Trunk or Treat at the church. Dakin and Mommy, who tried to do a Snooki pouf. Boy, was that a lot of hairspray.

And then today, Dakin's actual birthday. We went to church, relaxed, had dinner and cake, and opened presents. Dakin's cake was supposed to be the awesome pumpkin one from last year's Disney Family Fun magazine, but I ran out of time. So there you go. He knew it was a birthday cake, though, and said so very clearly.

He made out like a bandit, as usual. He got cars and a ton of markers and coloring books, as well as some clothes and toys. In this pic he's holding the Toodles from his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playset.

So that was our weekend. I remember shortly after Dakin was suspected of having SMARD, we found another SMARD family whose kiddo had just turned three, and I remember feeling hope that we would get to that point. And here we are.

Dakin is not just surviving. He is literally thriving. He is joyful, full of life and love and happiness and attitude and kisses and music and light. I don't know if I can properly express how proud we are of him. Dakin, we love you more than words can say. You give so much more to us every day than we could ever give to you, and we thank you for it. You are our light, our inspiration, our reason for being and our reason for joy. So we hope you had the happiest of 3rd birthdays, and look forward to a million more.

We love you.