Getting Bigger Every Day!

    

Lily is becoming such a big girl and I still can't believe she is 17 months old now. She is weighing in at a whopping 25lbs and feels like a sack of potatoes when you are holding her. I am so happy with how well she is growing and so are her doctors as well. She is growing better than they expected in the beginning and now she is almost the same size as babies her age. Even after all this time the "weigh in" at the doctors office always gets my stomach in knots.

I know everyone says this about their children but I think Lily is the smartest little girl. She amazes us with all she knows and how many new things she learns everyday. She is talking up a storm to anyone who will listen!! Since she was so premature we were advised never to compare her development to other children and for sanity sake throw out all books we had on it. So I never obsess what she is and isn't doing because the doctors say she is special and on her own plan. Either way, I know she is a clever little girl who amazes us everyday. Sometimes way too clever for her own good, haha.

Happy New Year!

 Lily and I in the hospital at 1 1/2 months old. My favorite picture of us together. Still makes me cry but a good cry. No matter what is going on in my life I can look at this picture and I can feel HOPE.  Life doesn't always happen the way we picture it but you have to roll with the punches and see light in every situation. I would sit everyday in the hospital and say "maybe today I can hold her". Then another day it would be "maybe today they can take off the oxygen tubes so I can see her face." Then another week it would be "maybe she can come out of the incubator for more than 5 minutes." I would sit and pray(yes pray even though I am not the praying kind typically) that today would be the day I could hold her to my skin and feel normal. Like a real mom and just be able to sit with my baby and not have to worry if her heart rate was going up, what wires might disconnect, or what her body temperature dropped to, or if  her oxygen levels were going down while nervously staring down monitors. Just to be able to hold her tiny hand and stare at her like so many other moms do everyday. This picture was that day and it makes me smile, cry, and reminds me always to have faith. I waited so long for that day and sometimes thought that it would never come. Things may not come easy and at times you feel like given up but then you would miss out on days like this. Ones that some people wait a lifetime for. Please keep the hope and faith going. Donate TODAY :)