One Year Later and It's a Celebration For Me!!! My Oh My, Look How I have Grown :)

 

May 11th 2012, do you all remember what happened that day? Do you remember that pretty little girl up there??? You should!!! BUT if you can’t remember be sure to click here May 11th, 2012 Yep that's when this little princess came into this world! A whole 2 pounds 3 ounces!! Now look at me 367 days later weighing in at almost 20 pounds!! Think about that now for just one moment and you too will realize how amazing that whole last line was, 26 weeks aka 3 months premature and here I am today perfectly happy and healthy. A LOT has happened during these past 367 days, and as you know 99% of all of it has been written in this blog, aka my life story. This blog started exactly one year ago today, as a gift to mommy for mother’s day, it was a way of letting her know through my own voice (aka Daddy) that I was going to be ok, and even though she could not see me for the first 2 days of my life that I was going to fight to be with her and my family. It was also a gift to you people, my readers, my family and friends, and everyone else that needed to know how I was doing and how I was going to make it through all of this to see myself at home where I belong. It was also a gift to all the other families out there with preemies of their own that needed to know how all of this works, how to show them that with just a little bit of love and hope that they too could be rewarded with seeing their little preemie come home for the first time. Sadly though not all preemies were as lucky as I am. Some, simply put, were just not ready enough to come out and were sadly were never able to make it home. This was quite simply the saddest and worst thing about being in the ICU for so long. I believe there is a reason for everything, and even though I do not know why I was chosen to be one of the lucky ones, I know I will do everything I can to have an impact in this world. This was why last week’s walk was soooo important; it gives us preemies a chance at life. Most babies come out at 9 months but sometimes something’s happen that no one can control and it’s the people like the March Of Dimes that help make the best of a scary situation. So like I said last week I will continue to spread the word for the March For Babies Walk every year so I can know in my heart that every preemie born from here on out will have the same chance I did and will hopefully have the chance to come home for the first time… 

Wow look at me now! Crazy what a years worth of beauty sleep will do :) Normally a year would seem like a SUPER LONG TIME for a baby but realistically time flew once I was home. The 99 days in the hospital on the other hand did not; everyday in there was a new adventure of good news and bad news. But all of those bad times were always followed up with good because for the power of love and hope from all of you. I have said it before on here a million times I would not be where I am today without your love and prayers. I fought to be home but you all willed me to be there as well. Every time I had something bad happen to me it was fixed, cured or solved very quickly. It is almost quite remarkable how I made it this far virtually unscaved from my entire time in the ICU. If you would look at me now I DO IN FACT look like a one year old baby, even though inside I really am only 9 months old. I grew and grew and now here I am without a setback to even mention any longer. This all cannot be just because of dumb luck, there is a higher power up there somewhere and I am eternally grateful for it :) My blog may be technically ending today one year later after its inception but my life is just beginning, it’s like I said when I first got home, one chapter is over and the next is just beginning all I have to do is just turn the page :) Some of you have made this blog part of your weekly routine and I’m sorry that I have to end it, but I promise to always update it with my new accomplishments and achievements and to promote my March for Babies walks every year. Now the posts from here on out probably will not be as long as before but I promise you will still feel like a part of my life when you read them, and that is what this is all about :) You are ALL a part of my life and thank you all with all of my heart for joining me on this incredible journey :) So here we go! 133 posts later and 42 thousand visits from people around the world and we are at my first birthday party!! The perfect last chapter from my journey home to my beginnings at home :)

Look at me in my birthday outfit! I'm just hanging out with my good friend Heighlee as you can see :) But I will get to my birthday party here in a sec. Now this week went by as most of the other weeks have with one GIANT exception!! I SLEPT THROUGH THE WHOLE NIGHT!!! Almost 5 days in a row!! Only twice last week did I actually wake up for a bottle!! I don't honestly know what changed but I know mommy and daddy have to be loving the new me :) Because of my new ability of being able to sit on my bottom all by myself and my recent attempts on pulling myself up using my crib bars daddy has lowered my bed almost all the way to the bottom :( So that means my crib (AKA Jail Cell) is now once again too tall for me to scale :( Oh well guess I just need to grow some more again so I can figure out how to sneak out of my crib at night to play with my toys :) For the most part I think it has finally sunk in that when it is bed time, IT IS BED TIME and that means just go to sleep and get it over with so by the time I wake up I can be back at it again :) This past week i have been really smiley and very happy, no real fussiness from me, all I do is sit on the ground and play with my toys and TRY to crawl, AND GUESS WHAT!!!! YEP THAT'S RIGHT!!! I still can't crawl :( UGH!! I really wanted to master this BEFORE my birthday party and alas I STILL have not been able to get past just bouncing on my knees and lunging forward, Mama and Grandma both try to help me but I just can't seem to get these arms and hands to move in the right order. :( Oh well try and try again I guess :) Still no more teeth either and that was pretty much it for my week so Bye bye everybody!!!!

Ok Just joking now I will get to the PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTY!!!!!!!!! YES!!! My FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY EVER!!!! YES !!!! THE ONE THAT IS JUST FOR ME!!!! Woooohoooo <---- as you can see it may have been a couple days ago but the excitement over it still has not left me :) Soooo with out further ado here is what happened at my party!! First let me show you all my pretty decorations and my cake!! :)

 Here you see the decorations my mama made, she printed up a picture from every month since I was born, she got the idea from my auntie Vicki, looks great mama :) Also on the table is all the mother's day gifts I had my mama make for all our guests that were mamma's too :)

 Here is my throne :) Aka where the LONG awaited cake eating and candle blowing will happen!!

 Here are all the gifts I got!!! My oh my there is A LOT of presents for little ole me :) Thank you all sooooo much!!!

And here is my GIANT Happy Birthday Sign!! Complete with my happy birthday balloons!!

And FINALLY here is my cake!! My grandma Rolene made me the cakes too!! The one on the far right is just for me :) Oh man I can't wait!!! Now one last thing before I get to my party I got to let you know about all the guests that showed up!!

Here is me and my Grandma Berta!!! 

And me and my Auntie Sarah!! 

And My Great GREAT Aunt Lorrie!! My Great GREAT Uncle Don came too but daddy forgot to get the pic :(

And my GREAT GREAT Aunt Connie!! 

And Here is my Uncle Joey and I!!! 

And Good Ole' Dominic and I!! 

Grandpa Andy Came too Of Course!! 

Grandma Rolene came as well!!! 

Oh Look here is Auntie Jade and I too!! 

And here is me and my God Mamma Amber!!, Chad came too but I guess he forgot to get in a picture with me :( Awe shucks!! And there were also others that I forgot to get pictures with, but I just HAVE to mention them!! Like my Auntie Vicki and my cousins Sammi and Matti! There was also my good friend Sam and and her three kids Dylon, Emmie and Heighlee!! Finally my Auntie Krista came too and brought her kids Brookie and Jesten :) Thank you all for coming and if I forgot someone I am really sorry but my little brain just can't remember everything ya know!! :)

And now its time to get this party started!! As you can see above I got to sit in my little throne and I was pretty interested in the decor around my eating tray! So much so that I grabbed it and completely pulled it off!! Then I proceeded to try and eat it!! Eventually Grandma Berta came by and took it from me so I could get my hands on the one thing I TRUELY wanted to try out MORE THAN ANYTHING, MY CAKE!!!!

FINALLY!! At LONG LAST I get to try my VERY OWN cake!!! This sugary goodness was finally within reach!! After a birthday song just for me and a candle blowing that mama helped out with, I reached out grabbed me a handful of this forbidden desert!! And you will NEVER believe what happen next!! I got myself 2 bites of this sugary dream and BOOM I threw it all up :( Yep EVERYTHING :( I got me a sugar rush that my little body had no clue what to do with and out it all came :( And ya pretty much after that I was over the whole cake thing :( I will have to try this all again later because that was pretty disappointing :( And don't you worry grandma Rolene it wasn't the cake just my upset tummy... UGH! I wanted it soooooo bad too!! But alas it didnt work out for me this time around but you mark my words cake we WILL meet again.... :)

Well after the unexpected cake fiasco with my tummy, I was escorted away from my throne to the living room with my mama and all my presents!!! Here you can see my mommy with Krista and Sam checking out my presents!! :) Now of course I was more intested in trying to eat the paper instead of what was actually underneath the wrapping so mama had to help me out!! So we all gathered around while I went one by one with opening all my gifts :)

 Yep here I go again trying to eat the paper!! I think my mama had to spend more time pulling ribbons and paper out of my mouth than actually trying to open my presents with me!! Oh well. I was confused, it looked like a GIANT cake and ya I got excited hehehe.  Now if i was going to tell you EVERYTHING I got for my birthday that would be one REALLY long blog post so I'll just try to sum it up. First of all I got LOTS of pretty clothes for the summer time :) Lots of pretty sun dresses and hats and shoes to go with it too :) I even got some sun glasses too!! (You remember that picture from above!) And I think everyone noticed how much I LOVE the water in previous blog posts because I got at least 7 different bathing suits!! Oh man now I am REALLY excited to get out in the sun and try on all these beautiful outfits :) Besides all the wonderful outfits, I got me some cool new toys too!! I have a bear that sings me songs and even knows my name! A crazy worm that spells out the ABC's for me, a beautiful mirror toy and makes me feel pretty, (like I needed a mirror for that!!) and even a crazy Dinosaur that shots balls up in the air for me to catch :) Very FUN stuff indeed!!

I also got a VERY beautiful blanket that was made just for me, some swimming diapers (for all my bathing suits of course!) a book I can chew on thats all about animals, a very pretty stuffed animal bunny I can snuggle with :),  a comfy seat thingie I can use in shopping carts and at restaurants to keep me safe and comfy, and finally 2 different walkers!!! One for learning to walk and one for me to move around in until I learn to walk!! (But I need to learn to crawl first before I can use these ugh!!) All and all I was a very spoiled baby!! I LOVE ALL my gifts everyone and I thank you all so much :) I cant wait to strut my stuff in all my new clothes :) I'll be sure to have my mommy take all kinds of pictures with me in them to send you all :) It's days like this I feel like the luckiest and most blessed baby in the whole world :)

 Here you can see all the cards I got on this special day of mine :) I also got this awesome stuffed animal bear that everyone got to sign, kinda like a guest book :) I am gonna really enjoy looking back on all of this later in life :) Thank you to all you who joined me on my special day, and to all you that could not make it I completely understand, you were all there with me  in my heart trust me :) It's been one heck of a ride this year and once again you guys were the reason why it was all worth it :) My family and I will never forget this past year, we all grew closer together, more closely than ever before and now I completely understand what the power of love can do. I could not have asked for a better beginning or a better family, or a better group of friends and fans. Blessed I am and trust me I will never forget that :) Be sure to check back in on this blog from time to time, Im sure I will have some kind of update worth reading every now and then :) I can't just completely stop writing to you guys I will go crazy!! Thank you all again for making feel soooo special and incredibly happy, the kind comments, the donations, and the contributions to my March for Babies team will never be forgotten and I dont even know how I can ever begin to thank you all, just know I always appreciated everything you all did and I love you all for it!! Nothing compares to the unwavering support from you all, dating all the way back to beginning of all of this, and so for the millionth time thank you, Thank You, THANK YOU!! :)

Now I will end this post in the same form I ended it one year ago today, as a dedication for my mommy and all mommy's everywhere :) This picture is the first time my mother and I ever met, and I will never forget the smiles and warms touches of love she gave to me for the first time. There is NOTHING compared to a mothers love (Sorry Daddy) and I am extremely thankful for you mommy :) And do me a favor mommy don't you EVER think that the reason I was a preemie was because of you either!! I wanted out as soon as possible for one reason and one reason only to MEET YOU, and would you look at that I got my wish :) Even though I had to work a bit harder by myself when I got out to get home it was all worth it, it made me stronger, you made me stronger, and it made the bond between us unbreakable :) I love you with all my heart mommy and Happy Mothers day :)

Goodnight to all of you, and trust me you will certainly see me around I am sure of it :)