10Feb08 - Wedding Sleeper

Lucy has continued to struggle with her latest bug and has had a temperature for most of the weekend. We made the decision to still take her to a wedding on Saturday, not least because she had a gorgeous new outfit to wear. Lucy looked amazing in matching pastel blue and cream. She even had matching shoes!At big events we have come to accept that Lucy will attract curious attention which is only natural I suppose. We wanted to make sure that there was more than one reason to look at Lucy and it worked. We had loads of comments about how pretty she looked and that made the effort worth while. In fact it made me feel like I wanted to show Lucy off to everybody rather than shield her from strange looks and glances. Both Dawn and I made an unconscious decision to enjoy the day with our children and friends and I think our positive attitude made a big difference.
We had suspected that she would spend a lot of the day sleeping and we were not wrong, Lucy was asleep when we arrived early to feed her before the ceremony.Weddings can be emotional for lots of different reasons. We have known the bride and her parents for a long time and they are a really lovely, close family. We knew how much it meant for Chris and Jane, Katies parents and how important this one day was. It was a beautiful ceremony and must have been very special for them. It was Dawn that felt it first, the recurring realisation that we are never going to have this day with our daughter. There is going to be no groom waiting nervously as all the guests turn to catch a glimpse of her. Dawn will never get Lucy ready for her big day. I am never going to get to walk my only daughter down the aisle. It is just immensely sad and so unfair.

After the ceremony I had to think about trying to get Lucy to eat and drink which was a welcome distraction. Worrying about getting sticky food splattered on my new suit soon put those thoughts to the back of my mind. Jane had made a special effort to accomodate Lucy which was a really nice touch. She had arranged for an escort to get as to the room where the wedding ceremony was held avoiding the stairs and even arranged for ribbons to be tied to Lucy's chair to match the seats for the afternoon reception. It was lovely that Lucy had been included. There was even a little cuddly doll waiting for Lucy at her place on the table.Lucy fell asleep again only to wake up just in time for the main course so as usual a had a little person sitting on my knee while I attempted to eat without dropping my food on her new clothes. I didn't mind and anyway I am quite good at it now. After struggling with Lucy who had by this time had become a bit unhappy I was only to pleased to hand Lucy over to Jane. After a couple of minutes of Jane's cuddles, Lucy was back in dream land again. I love it when people genuinely want to see her and hold her without being apprehensive about how to do it. Lucy was handed around and treated just like any cuddly little girl which was lovely to see.Lucy coped really well to say she wasn't feeling her best. Her new outfit must have had a part to play!