One Year Ago...

One year ago today we were finally became "parents."

Sophie and I stayed together in the hospital for a few days. I was recovering from my c-section and she was being closely watched by the doctors. When I left the hospital on the 26th, I had to leave Sophie without me. She had jaundice which needed to be taken care of. So while she was "sun bathing" under the bili lights, Joe and I had to go home alone. It was the worst car ride I had ever been on.

We went every day (multiple times) to visit Sophie in the hospital. Each night when I would wake up to pump, I would call to check on her. Even back then we had to worry about her food intake. Even after her jaundice levels went down, they kept her to work on getting her to eat on her own.

On August 31, 2010 the doctors finally said she could go home! Words can't explain how happy I felt. We finally were able to become new parents...you know, those sleep deprived zombies who can't help but smile like a fool every second of the day. No more doctors or nurses to help us, we were finally on our own. It was so terrifying and exhilarating.

August 31, 2010
Leaving our corner of the Special Care Nursery

Sleeping in her crib for the first time

I am so thankful that we only had to spend a few nights away from Sophie. I know that we were very fortunate in this aspect. Some people are separated for weeks, months, lifetimes from their children. Still, it wasn't any easier to be apart from our little girl. Even though we have our rough days/nights, I cherish each day that I have with Sophie. She is the best thing to ever happen to me.

August 31, 2011

Party Time!

Today was Sophie's birthday party!

We were a little nervous that we would have to cancel her party. We could not get rid of her fever. In the morning it was 102° and later on in the day it crept up to 104.7°! Luckily her Daddy stayed home with her and cared for her. By the evening though her temperature stayed around 100° (not good, but not as bad either). Even when she isn't feeling well, Sophie is such a good sport about things. She will still smile, play, and doesn't mind getting passed around to people.

We had a packed house for the party. The grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins were all there. Even though she was sick, she loved seeing all of her family. She spent time with everyone and enjoyed watching what they were all doing. She really liked playing with her cousins and watching them run around. Sophie was so excited that both of her grandpas were there. She loves both of them so much and always goes straight for them whenever she sees them. So tonight she kept going back and forth between them.

When we sat Sophie down in front of the cake she started to reach for it, but then I light the candle and she hung back. Everyone sang and cheered for her and she just looked around in amazement. She ignored the cake at first (too busy being nosy) and I had to help her along by sticking her fingers in the cake. She stared at her hand and opened and closed her fingers to feel the icing. Then she really started to play in it. It took awhile for her to take a bite of the cake though. 

Next came the presents (after a clothing change and clean up, of course). She didn't really rip into the gifts today, but still enjoyed the wrapping paper. (Everything goes into her mouth these days.) Sophie received so many wonderful presents from everyone! What a spoiled and loved little girl I have! We really appreciate every one's generosity.

After most people left, we decided to let Sophie try some more cake. She really went to town on the cake this time! Maybe she just had stage fright with the first cake.

Even though she wasn't feeling better, I think Sophie had a good time at her party. It was great having all of our family get together to celebrate the first year of Sophie's life.

Enjoy a lot more pictures after the jump.

Sophie's cake (made by Aunt Sara)

The cake for the guests (made by Aunt Kathy)

The cousins

Birthday Girl

Happy birthday to Sophie! Where has the time gone? It really feels like just yesterday when I was at the hospital holding my tiny baby for the first time. I really can't believe that she is one. 

I took today off so that I could spend it with Sophie. Sophie was still tired after she woke up, so we had a nice lazy morning. She even took her nap in bed with me up on my shoulder. She hasn't done this in over a month and I have missed it! It was like she knew I was sad about 'losing' my baby, so that was her anniversary of having a baby present to me. I loved it!

After our nap and lunch, I had to take Sophie to doctor's office for her one year check-up. I always feel a little defensive when I take Sophie to the doctor because of her size. If doctors aren't familiar with Sophie they tend to focus on her slow weight gain. The doctor that we saw today was one that she hasn't seen since after she was born. Luckily he was 'cool' and didn't stress over her size. She is 13lbs 8oz and 26 1/2 inches long. She still isn't on any chart, but she does follow her own growth curve. The doctor's only concern is making sure that she is getting enough calories each day (which we constanly worry about). Other than things were great with Sophie. She took her shots (3 of them and a toe prick) like a champ and only cried for a minute.

After the doctor's visit we ran a few errands. She slept part of the time but was awake at our last stop, the Dollar Tree. Their carts are a little smaller than those at other stores. When I put Sophie in the seat she was so excited because she could grab both sides of the cart. She was holding on with such a big grin on her face. It was obvious how proud she was of herself for being able to hold the cart. She was also very excited to play with the balloons that I bought. She stared up at them with wide eyes. When I showed her how to pull the string to make them move, she was in heaven. She played with them the whole way home.

When Joe got home from work, we let her open up her presents from us. She was very timid about the whole ordeal. She looked carefully at the card we bought her and really seemed to listen when Joe read it to her. She didn't quite know what to do about unwrapping gifts. She would make little tears so we had to help her out. Once there was a big enough tear for her to hold onto, she would give a big pull and rip off sections of wrapping paper. Of course she was more interested in eating the paper than the gifts that she unwrapped. She did take time though and touched each thing and play a little with them after unwrapping them. Such a sweetie.

As the night went on, the shots that she got at the doctor's office started to take their toll on her. She had a fever and became very irritable and clingy (rightfully so). Poor thing. It continued throughout the night. We tried everything to bring the fever down, but they were only quick fixes; soon she would be up again.  Nothing seemed to soothe her either. I feel so helpless when this happens. What a cruddy end to her first birthday! Still, it was a wonderful day.

Happy birthday, my wonderful little girl!

More pictures after the jump

Playing with her new water table

Reading her card from Mommy and Daddy

Carefully tearing the paper off her present

She just started putting up one finger the past few days. It is like she knows how old she is!

My favorite present

Welcome to the life of a one year old!

When Sophie was born, I decided that I was going to take a picture of her every day. Babies grow fast (well, this is debatable for Sophie), so I wanted to have a visual record of her growth. I really enjoyed my little project and now I want to do more. I somewhat blogged about her life last year, but it was generally just once a month and I would forget details at that point. Sophie is growing up so fast and I don't want to forget a moment of it! With that being said, I have decided that this year in addition to taking a picture of Sophie each day, I am going to blog at least once a week about her and the things she is learning to do. Sophie is an amazing little girl and I am proud to share her life with you.