Dearest Avery Girl,
Happy 1st birthday!!!!
Words can't express how much I love you and am so excited to be celebrating your FIRST birthday! I mean, look at you, even if I didn't know that you are a strong-willed, happy, stubborn, and brave fighter, I'd guess almost as much just by looking at your sweet face. You have rocked our world in SO many ways, but we are so thankful for it.
One year ago you surprised us by deciding to come a little earlier than we expected! It's just like you to do things your own way :) Shortly after you joined our family, we got THE news, and though I wish it wasn't something that defined you, I must admit that it's been something that maybe hasn't defined us, but certainly has shaped us. This past year has seen its ups and downs, sometimes more downs than ups. And sometimes I haven't weathered them all that well. Sometimes I've cried, sometimes I've been angry, sometimes I've been frustrated, sometimes I've been happy. But ALL the time, I've been in love. You are my sweet baby girl, and no matter how many short-comings of my own you'll discover over the years, I hope that you'll always know that I love you so much and will always be by your side whenever you need me (and probably even when you don't).
We celebrate this birthday knowing that each birthday of yours is a victory. One more year you've fought and won. We hope there are MANY of these birthdays to come. I will ALWAYS celebrate it with you. Always.
There's been so much that's happened this year, and I'm thankful that I captured a lot of it in your monthly updates. I mean, look how much you've grown (from less than 5.5lbs all the way to almost 19lbs!).
You finally started "crawling" in the last few weeks!!! You still are hesitant to full-on crawl, but you can get places, even if slowly, and you are always very proud of yourself when you do!! We're so proud of you too :) Now, on to walking! ;)
You like to balance (by letting go of whatever you're holding on to) and hold your hands up like you're performing a magic trick. It's pretty hilarious, and another thing you're very proud of!
You LOVE your brother. There's no other way to describe it. He brightens your day and your mood, and you love listening to him talk/sing at night and can't go to bed without him right there in his bed too. You love pulling his hair, playing ball with him, and just generally hanging out with him. It makes my heart so happy!
You love to "talk" though it's still just the "mamamama" and "tatata" that aren't totally related to either your mom or dad.
And there's a whole lot of other things I could talk about, but no one wants to spend an hour reading this! Here's a few other things:
* your hair is SUPER blonde. But not growing very quickly!
* you love to drink milk. As in, you could drink more than one gallon a week by yourself! (Thank goodness for Costco milk!)
* you always laugh when other people laugh with you. It's so endearing!
* you've finally warmed up to people and are starting to be a little more adventurous :)
* you LOVE doggies.
* you love the water (swimming, baths, splashing, whatever!).
* you don't like to be alone and prefer that Benjamin is nearby at all times.
* you love to give kisses and hugs (and they always melt our hearts!).
And a little over a week ago, we took another big step on your journey with CF. After an AMAZING one year checkup at the CF Clinic (your growth has been stellar, they were so proud of you! And your lung x-ray looked great!), we were sad to hear that your throat culture came back showing pseudomonas. Unfortunately, this is THE bacteria that we never want to hear about. It's this nasty little guy that doesn't do much to the rest of us, but loves to take hold of CF lungs. It's a tricky little guy, so it's something they look for regularly. Your doctor said that about 30% of the infant and toddlers at their clinic get psuedomonas before school-age, so we were pretty sad to have to face this so early on. This tricky guy has to be treated with an inhaled antibiotic, so we picked up your very first nebulizer and were taught how to do your treatments (2 albuterol "puffs" from the inhaler, 10-15 minutes of CPT, and 20 minutes on the nebulizer; repeat morning and night for a month). This was a difficult time for all of us, sweet girl, not because we're the ones that have to have a mask on our face for 45 minutes a day, but because we have to watch you go through this. Because it was yet another dose of reality that your life will include many "tricky" things along the way, and this darn nebulizer is just one of them. Someday in the near future, you'll be using this daily anyway. It was just hard to see it so soon. Your mama's heart feels heavy whenever we're reminded that your life isn't quite the same as many others. No mama wants to see their child have to do things the hard way, every day. So, this news and this new treatment has been a bump in the road, but we know it's just a bump and we're getting through it one breath at a time! You really hated it at first (of course!), but each treatment gets a little easier. And at the end of the day, we know that we'd do this ALL day long if it meant you'd stay healthy. So know that we love you and sigh with you through this rough patches, but we hope for brighter days ahead!
Of course I had to document this new journey of yours so someday you can share it with others.
We had to go back after you had a bad episode during your first treatment at home, but thankfully it's gotten much better!
Success!!! Lots of books, songs, dancing, and tv. :)
Look at you, brave girl. You're my HERO.
We are so thankful for the gift that you are to our family, sweet Avery Virginia. It has certainly been a hard year, the hardest maybe, but we know that every moment has been worth it. We'll be there with you through the next hard years too. No matter when they are (we just hope they aren't often!).
{And some more pics just because!}
Happiest of birthdays, big girl!!!
Love,
Mom & Dad
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