A Party Fit for a Princess

 

The birthday princess

It can safely be said that Everly's 6 month bash was a party fit for a princess! It was a perfect day in every sense.

We were so blessed to have so many hands on deck to make the party just right. I could not discuss the party without making mention of the special folks who did so much for it! Many thanks go out to those who just soared above and beyond for our sweet Everly. Here goes, in no particular order:

Gina & Lauren Deptula: overall party planning with me, floral arrangements, endless cutting, rolling and décor prep, running around getting supplies, you name it, they did it! (Check her out at Craftology 101 on FB)

 

Everly's beautiful dress, shoes, handmade socks, and tiara

Heather High: donating her time and talent to capture all our special moments at the party and all the editing after (Check her out at High Family Photography on FB)

Traci Heindorf: the adorable princess cake and meticulously handmade pea pod cupcakes (Let me know if you need a great cake or cupcakes for an event, I can give you her contact info.)

April Hetrick: tons of cookie favors individually decorated and wrapped

Kendra Drake: making tons of fruit wands and a special Princess Pea Pasta salad for the party

Sarah & Dan Edgar and kids: hours of set up and clean up combined

Melissa Perez and kids: hours of set up and clean up combined

Patricia & Michael Lesch: coming early and jumping right in to do whatever necessary for set up

Silly Little Girls: 1/2 birthday outfit and bloomers for sweet pea

Joanne Bishop: Thank you for Everly's surprise birthday outfit! What a perfect dress!

Kelly Adams & Christy/Bobby Barnes: for the huge sacrifice to make the long trip to Everly's birthday!

To all our guests: Thank you for making it a point to come to our daughter's party. We love you!

 

The food table.

To my parents: Thank you for pinch hitting whenever and however we need you on a constant basis. Our lives wouldn't be the same without you and our kids certainly wouldn't be who they are without you!

A big thank you to everyone who sent in a picture to make her Wall of Love!

Thank you all for your selfless devotion to making the day everything we hoped it would be for Everly!

Everly handled the party like a champ. She seemed to be fascinated with all the faces and people which didn't surprise us as she's never actually been anywhere with this many people at once. Mid-way through the party she was so tired that she quietly dozed off in her cushy throne. Sweet girl.

The room was literally transformed from blah to beautiful! Puffy lanterns were hung from the ceiling. Linen tablecloths with table runners and floral arrangements covered tables. Banners adorned the walls above the food and sweets tables. The dessert table covered in perfectly frosted cupcakes and a breathtaking princess cake. The Wall of Love full of pictures of families praying for Everly. The room was perfect.

 

Kelly Adams presenting us with the angel after the party

I was able to have some special time with Kelly Adams after the party that meant the world to me. Kelly made the trip from Jacksonville with two of her daughters to attend the party. What made this such a special meeting for me is that Kelly is Elizabeth Joy's mother, Everly's friend who went to be with Jesus on May 10 of this year. During our time visiting, she gave us a beautiful glass angel that has been passed to five other Trisomy babies, including Elizabeth, and now to Everly. What a special thing! She also brought with her and gave to Everly a one of a kind headband made for and called the Elizabeth Joy headband. It is made with the Trisomy Foundation colors and was worn proudly by Elizabeth Joy. It must have been such a moving decision to pass such a special item to our family that belonged to their daughter. Thank you, Kelly, for those truly special gifts. We treasure them!

 

Elizabeth Joy Adams 7/19/13 - 5/10/14 and Everly Marie Hopkins

We were so happy to see all the people who came out to celebrate such a big day in Everly's life. Such a blessing for us to celebrate 6 months with friends! It was such encouragement to hear everyone's thoughts and sentiments. To see everyone smiling and laughing and just loving on Everly was heartwarming. The love was plentiful in the room and for that we are so happy and thankful. It was a perfect day. Thanking God for the opportunity to love her for all this time!

I can't wait to invite everyone to her 1 year birthday party!! **Too many pictures to include with this entry so more will be added separately to the Photo section in the next day or so. Check back for those. Plus, we are working on trying to upload the video Jimmy made for the party here so you all can view it, too. I'll let you know when it's ready.**

With love and appreciation,

Crystal

Everly's 6 Months Old

Happy Birthday!!

This past Wednesday marked Everly's 6 month birthday which is a huge milestone for her!

Saturday will be her big Princess and the Pea bash and we hope you can join us!

However, if you are not able to due to location, illness or prior commitments, we would still love for you to "be" there. Please send me via text or email a picture of you or family to include in a "Wall of Love" for Everly to be displayed at her party. Following the party, the pictures will be placed in a special book for her (and us). We are blessed over and over by all those who pray for and support us in various ways. It would mean a lot to our family to have a picture of all of our prayer warriors and their families.

crystaldmm@earthlink.net

For real! We played dress up with swimsuits. I have a slight obsession.

Thank you for taking the time to send it to me! I'm preparing the board Friday for the party so send 'em on to me!

By the way, after the party and a few solid hours of sleep, I plan to post a healthy size update on Sunday. Stay tuned for that one! Plus, I will do an all party post, too, when I have pics to post and have compiled my thoughts.

Thank you for your continued prayers for Everly! She is "well" and illness-free and is ready to don her princess gear!

With love and appreciation,

Crystal

Yay! Splints to help open her hands. She will only wear them while sleeping. And, yes, she is asleep while the OT is measuring her for the custom fit splints.

An awesome therapy tool Daddy made for Everly to use in our home. Helps with balance, spatial positioning and more.

Morning photos by the natural light in her Princess and the Pea dress.

Little Sweet Pea

Listening very intently to her Nana singing to her.

Since we are still following the advice of our doctors in keeping Everly away from indoor spaces and large crowds, many of you haven't had a chance to get to know her personality as of yet. Still others are a distance away and aren't able to meet her. So I thought I would take this journal entry to give you an insiders view of her personality, complete with a video clip.
 
She is the cutest thing I've ever laid eyes on. I can hardly wait to wake her in the morning. The way she stretches and scrunches her whole body when I lift her from her bassinet. The way she opens her little eyes and focuses on me just melts my heart. I love to nuzzle her cheeks and her chubby neck. Her big eyes look at me when I bend down to kiss her and it just makes me smile. Some mornings she will just rest in your arms and stare at you as if she's memorizing your face. She is in deep concentration and you don't want to break the stare. It's so special! I can't get enough of her!

Such a sweetie pie!

She has become so expressive in the last few weeks. She is starting to make little sounds. We've also begun to notice that her face changes depending on the activity or even how interested she is in something. She has the faintest smile on sometimes when we are singing play songs with her. That is the newest thing and it has been so fantastic to see her change. I love to count to three before we start a song to give her "heads up" and maybe teach her a cue of what is coming. Just today we got lucky (well phooey on that...God blessed us) with capturing it on video!! I'm going to try to get it uploaded at the end of this entry. I gasped out loud when I saw the little corner of her mouth move upwards. It was a magical moment!


She has taken a great interest in her toys and surroundings the last couple of weeks as well. We are working on tracking with toys and helping her to turn her head and follow them left and right. She waves her arms and moves her legs while having playtime on the floor. This is great for her physical development so it's thrilling to see. She has favorite toys that clearly prefers because she focuses on them for great periods of time, like her cow, a pink dog and a baby doll (thanks Melissa, Sandy, and Susie!). She is so much fun! She is a curious being and loves to be carried around to check out her surroundings, too. One of her absolute favorite things currently are lights. Flashlights, fan lights, ceiling lights and now we have her two projector lights. One I bought with ocean waves and one we were gifted (thanks Cindy!) with stars. She can fall asleep just staring at them.
 

Love the little tongue sticking out!

She is a very happy and easy baby. She rarely cries and the times she does we can predict because we know what she doesn't like. For example, you can put money on the fact that she will cry when you take her out of the tub. She is wrapped snug in a thick towel the second she leaves the water but she will cry anyway. She goes with the flow typically and seems to be content with most things.
 
We have become very comfortable with her after twelve weeks. A couple of weeks ago, we decided to remove her from constant monitoring with the pulse ox machine. The beeps were stressful and we know her well enough to see when she needs oxygen or stimulation. She does still have the monitoring in the car, during naps when she's not closely attended and throughout the night, though. We have enjoyed the flexibility we all have without the machine so much more. She can be moved throughout the house with ease, can be lifted without setting off the sensors and does not have the cords attached 24/7 now. We are all breathing a sigh of relief!

Everly swimming in her tub at the pool. Look at her cute swimsuit!

As the mommy of a special needs baby, I am seeing how little milestones like smiling or recognizing faces are huge! Everly because of her Trisomy is cognitively and physically severely delayed so to see this progress is so exciting! The little things I know we as parents with healthy children take for granted...first smiles, recognizing family, holding her head up, giggles. But it makes those moments all the more special when they happen because for us since they aren't guaranteed to happen. So, it's like a Christmas present when they occur! 

We continue to be amazed every day as she thrives and defies the odds so very clearly set for babies with Trisomy 18. We are just in awe of this little girl!
 
Please continue to share her Facebook page Love For Everly and her website to spread awareness about Trisomy 18. Let's help the medical community see that their research is not everything!
 
"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17
 
With love and appreciation,
 
Crystal