Happy 1st Birthday Baby Aspen!!!!

We cannot believe how fast this past year went, we wish we could have slowed the clock down... we loved every moment of her baby stage, and are loving every moment as she is growing and exploring and becoming quite mobile. We got to celebrate her birthday several times! We had one party at home, one on her birthday with just the 4 of us, and one with our families. We got to fly to Utah the day before Aspen's birthday for 4 days (David was lecturing at a surgical convention there).

For the party at home, we went with a "bear" theme as Aspen loves to play with her stuffed animals, esp the bears. I took some photos of her with her bears and blew it up to a big poster size to display (see the first photo above). The cake we made for her at home was a family effort, it was made to look like a Panda bear. David baked the cake and helped with some of the icing. Brenda was the creative energy and planning and shopping, and assistant to Claire who was the primary decorator. It was lots of fun. The cupcakes were made to look like Panda's and Koala's. They were so cute!! We also made a vegatable dip centerpiece that looked like an "insect buggy". We sang Happy Birthday to Aspen and let her try eat her cake, but she was not too thrilled about it, she ended up just rubbing frosting all over her face and did not try taste the cake. Since the Panda cake was decorated with black and white icing, she ended up with black icing all over..... she looked like she was wearing war paint!! I meant to take a photo but the camera was on video mode...so here is a very short video.

Here is Claire giving Aspen a piggy back ride when we had her birthday celebration. Aspen LOVES her big sister.

On her actual birthday, Thursday 05 Feb, we were at the hotel where David was lecturing. We had quite the fun, busy day celebrating her birthday. We woke up that morning to snow!!! The girls were both so delighted to watch through the window as the big snowflakes were falling. So we took advantage fo the beautiful snowfall!! That morning, David and I took turns skiing and playing in the snow with Claire

while the other would play with Aspen. She is working hard to try walk more than 5 steps at a time without falling down. After she woke from her 3 hour nap, then we went and played in the snow. Claire was so excited to pull her around in a tube in the snow.

Here is a video of Claire pulling Aspen.

Aspen was so delighted and was all smiles and laughs.

She got to sit on some little tubes that pulled her around in a circle (which she LOVED). I put my gloves on her hands so they wouldn't get cold, so she looks so funny! We call this photo "Little Baby, Big hands!"

Here is a video of her on the tube being pulled.
Claire got to go tubing and snowmobile riding with her cousins which was lots of fun for her. Here is a video of her on the snowmobile she got to drive by herself in the kids area.

Then we went back to the hotel and played in the pool for a few hours, which delighed the birthday baby even more. She had so much fun splashing and playing with us in the water. She drew lots of attention from other people and kids there as she was so happy and laughing so cute. I didn't get any photos as I was in the water with her the whole time. After swimming we went to dinner.

Here is a short clip of singing Happy Birthday to Aspen...

Aspen had more cake that evening ....

This time she loved eating her cake, it was apple! Many thanks to Aspen's birth family for the sweet birthday card and bracelet they sent Aspen for her birthday. Aspen is wearing an outfit that Claire gave her for her birthday. Here are some photos.

I have hardly had time to add more to our blog since December as Aspen has kept me even busier than normal due to being sick. It turns out that Aspen has "Reactive Airway Disease" and any time she gets a runny nose or a cold or an ear infection, it triggers breathing problems in her little lungs. I've been to the pediatrician and pulmonary specialist with her now so many times I can't count. We have to give her breathing treatments every 4 hours around the clock when she has a breathing episode. She has been a trooper, though she really does not care for the breathing treatments. I almost had to take her to the hospital yesterday to be admitted for oxygen treatment as her oxygen saturation levels were not normal, but her very kind and patient doctor kept us in the office all day and treated her until she was moving air through her lungs better. We have to keep her diet dairy and wheat free for now as her immune system is so reactive right now. Claire has been so helpful. The first time we had to give Aspen her breathing treatment, Claire was so sad for her and asked if she could do it for her so Aspen didn't have to cry. So sweet. Now we have learned to turn on Aspen's Baby Bach or Baby Einstein video while she is being treated and that usually keeps her happy.

Here is a video we are especially fond of. Claire was making Aspen do her belly laugh one day after Aspen was upset from her breathing treatments...it's so cute..watch away...

Here is a video of Aspen trying to say "hello", she is really starting to "talk" alot. We only understand "Mommy", "Daddy", "Ah oh" and "Hello".

Aspen is really trying to walk. Some of her cousins gave her a push wagon for Christmas, and she loves to stand and walk and push her little wagon. Here is a video of her pushing her wagon.

One day shortly before Aspen's birthday, I took the girls to an indoor bounce house place, and this was lots of fun for baby! She loved crawling around and playing. Here is the last video for this posting.

The last of the photos for now are 2 of Claire playing with her cousins in Utah last week.

That's all for now!! Our next big event coming up is Claire's 9th Birthday...she can hardly wait!!!
I finally finished 2 other posts I started awhile ago, just scroll down to see them.