Haley-Bug's 2nd Birthday

Here's a picture! Haley's 2nd Birthday cake!

It was Miss Buglette's 2nd birthday this past Saturday, September 10th. I was waiting to post until I had pictures of her birthday cake, but we have misplaced Mom's camera and for now the pictures are hiding from us. When we find the camera, I'll post pictures retroactively. :)

Saturday was a beautiful day, 70's and sunshine-y. It was a beautiful day last year for her first birthday too, and while I suppose that some year on September 10th the weather will be crummy, these last 2 years it makes it feel like Haley's smiling down on us.

Last year we started a tradition for Haley's birthday that was suggested to us by a friend who also had a daughter who passed away. Each year on her birthday, we go to the cemetery and release one balloon for every year old she would be. Katy & Greg are awesome enough to pick up balloons at Children's Hospital for us on their way down to Logan. (Children's Hospital is the pinnacle of fancy balloon selection, Logan's balloon selection leaves something to be desired.) This year Haley had a GIANT dragonfly balloon, and then an iridescent "Happy Birthday" balloon to go with it. Mom, Dad, Katy, Greg, Chadmo, & I headed out to visit Haley's gravesite, and then we released the balloons with little notes tied to them. We watch them until they get so far away that you can't see them anymore, which takes a surprisingly long time, especially with the big ones. The winds were blowing a different direction this year than they were last year, in fact pretty much the exact opposite direction, and I'm sure my superstitious self could construe that to mean all sorts of different things. ;) In any case, it's nice to visit her grave when the weather is beautiful, the grass has all grown in where she is buried, the landscaping we planted is doing well, and the birds are chirping - it makes it all seem extra peaceful.

After the cemetery, we all headed back to Mom & Dad's for Haley's birthday dinner & her traditional birthday cake with pink frosting. We're making this part of the tradition too, there's some 'Mommy' part of me that just needs to bake my baby a cake on her birthday. No singing "Happy Birthday", that's too weird for us, but it's good to eat dinner & cake & celebrate Haley & laugh & smile while we think about her. To quote from the back of her gravestone:

& for me, it will always be this way,

walking in the light,

remembering being alive together

(Living Memory, by Brian Andreas)

To complete the evening (though I doubt this will become part of the birthday tradition, but I guess you never know), we played a fun new game called BezzerWizzer. It's a trivia game of sorts, but much more fun than Trivial Pursuit in my opinion, and we're big fans. Dad won, but it was a close game and everyone played well which is always more fun that just having someone annihilate you. I imagine next year that Dylan won't be quite old enough to play yet, so she might convince us to do something more to her taste. :) All in all, it was as good of a day as we could've hoped for. Also, we sincerely appreciate all the sweet thoughts, prayers, phone calls, notes, cards, and messages from people who thought about Haley & us on her birthday. We are beyond lucky to have such caring and thoughtful family and friends. <3