Perspective

Today, we had our last appointment with Dr. Theos to assess the progress of C's hemangioma. It has reached a point where medication is no longer effective, and it will begin to go away on its own. So, after we wean her off of the medicine over the next two weeks, C will officially be finished with her treatment! We won't go back to see Dr. Theos again until this time NEXT YEAR. It's not totally gone yet, but the changes we've seen over the last year are drastic.

I remember noticing the tiny little mark for the first time as we dressed her to finally go home at five days old. Husband and I looked closely, thinking at first it was just a scratch from her fingernail, but then noticing it was a birthmark. No big deal. It was a tiny little birthmark.

But then, it got larger... and darker... and raised. So, at her two week appointment, I asked our pediatrician what it was. He told me, then wrote it down so I could remember it (and google it a million times). It was a hemangioma. At first, we were terrified. (Just google it and you'll see why). There was very little positive information available online, if any. I found site after site with horrifying photos and before and after surgery stories. Our little girl had already fought to be here and we weren't signing her up for surgery. We felt hopeless. Then, finally, we were given hope in the form of Dr. Theos at Children's. 

She was patient and kind and conservative with her treatment. Surgery was always the very last option after trying everything else, and we appreciated that. So we started a thrice daily regimen of a blood pressure medication, increasing the dose as she gained weight and adding in a strong steroid cream for a couple months. Suddenly, it started to go away. Like magic.

So now, nearly eleven months after we began treatment, her hemangioma is a small mark beneath her hair and we are on the brink of eliminating the 11:30 feeding. Wow. What a difference modern medicine has made in our little love's life.

Day 1 of treatment (5-11-11)

After 10 1/2 months treatment (3-23-12)

3-25-12

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Somehow it didn't occur to me that C turned 13 months two days ago. For one year, we diligently took a photo on her month "birthday," and the first month without a sticker, I completely let it pass me by. Our baby is no longer a baby. She is officially a toddler.

I honestly didn't even realize it until a few mornings ago when it hit me like a ton of bricks. She no longer crawls.

For weeks, she has been sporting a walk/crawl combo, starting with a walk and then dropping to a crawl when she needed the speed. But, the other morning, as I put her down on all fours, she immediately stood up and walked away. She practically runs now, waddling with great speed and exuberance. The girl is driven. The dog can escape her no more.

She LOVES kicking and throwing her soccer ball

She no longer uses a paci. This is something I was planning to work on eliminating in a few months, but after the great bathtub incident of last week, she quit cold turkey. No turning back. I have to say, I have been missing the ease of nap time and bed time with our friend, the paci, as well as the welcomed distraction while waiting in the checkout line of Walmart; but, in the long run, I guess it's a good thing I won't have to come up with some creative way to "break" her paci in a few months. Look how sweet it was though...

She has mastered the sippy cup.

She eats nearly everything that we do (no more purees for this girl), feeds herself, and always remembers to share with others...

She wakes up talking and doesn't stop until she falls asleep...

She fights sleep with a vengeance and gets her way the majority of the time (unless a boat ride is involved).

She is sassy and funny and seriously girly. She loves shoes, and dancing, but also loves to play with her football and soccer ball. 

She's our Catherine. And perfectly so. And even though some days are longer than others and some require more caffeine, I honestly can't believe I get to spend every day with this little person. Thirteen months later, I still can't believe she's really ours.

Today

Today was one of those days. You know, the days where only a couple hours in, you're ready to call a do-over? It really all started last night. Last night, as I was getting C ready to take a bath, she had her first walking catastrophe. 

The bathroom makes me nervous anyway. While virtually the entire house is baby proofed at this point, it's pretty impossible to make tile floors and bathtubs not hard and scary. So, as I was filling the tub, C was unrolling the toilet paper (I pick my battles). She was so excited to have toilet paper in both hands, that she ran toward me, arms outstretched with her new find. Then, because she's been walking for all of four weeks, she lost her balance and, before I could catch her, face planted into the edge of the tub.

It. was. terrifying.

There was screaming and crying and then I saw the blood and then I was screaming and crying. I completely lost my composure. I called Husband, who was still at work, in hysterics. She wouldn't let me look in her mouth so I couldn't tell where the blood was coming from. I was hoping she had just bitten her lip, but was imagining an ER visit and stitches. She was doing that kind of crying where she gasps for air in between screams, only making me cry harder. 

Husband quickly snapped me back into gear, reminding me that my freaking out was only going to make her more scared. So I took a deep breath and began treatment. We used ice chips in a mesh teething bag, a cold wash cloth, and a sippy cup of ice water to soothe until the Advil kicked in. Then we snuggled and snuggled and snuggled while she cried for a couple hours. Finally, at 10:00, she fell asleep. I thought we had made it. She would sleep it off and feel fine in the morning.

Then she woke up... an hour later. We watched Baby Einstein. We watched Elmo. We had a snack. I even got desperate and reverted to a bottle, but when your lip is cut and swollen, no bottle or paci will work. She finally cried herself to sleep at 4:00. 

Today, our morning started at 7:00. She woke up screaming. A sippy cup of milk and some morning cartoons (plus more Advil) calmed her down a little, but our day was pretty dicey from there. No morning nap. She finally crashed around 12:45 for 30 minutes. Then, with dinner plans at 5:30, I put her in the car at 4:30 hoping for a car-induced nap on the way.

But...surprise! The garage door broke. It went up 6 inches, it went down 6 inches. I used the manual release and all the strength my arms could muster and it wouldn't budge. We were trapped in our garage. Awesome.

So I cancelled dinner plans, unloaded C, and gave her a snack since a nap was clearly not happening. Then it was decided. This day was in desperate need of brownies.

So C got to eat brownies for the first time AND the whole mixing and pouring process was distracting enough for her to forget she was tired and cranky. Win win.

And then, against all odds, she actually let me rock her to sleep at 7:30. Tomorrow is another day. Until then, I think I'll eat a few more brownies and go to bed. Sometimes being Mommy is exhausting.

Party Time!

The Sunday following C's birthday, we invited family and friends to our house to celebrate our girl with an "Under the Sea" themed birthday party. Since she was about 3 months old, Catherine has been mesmerized by the Baby Neptune episode of Baby Einstein. It is all about water and there is an octopus that she absolutely loves. She even has an octopus toy from the show that she's played with for just as long. So it only seemed appropriate that we run with that and go all out for an under the sea party!

I decorated every night after putting C to bed for the entire week before, but still needed the last minute help of my mom, sister, sister-in-law, and Husband until 2:00 a.m. the night before! We may have gone a little overboard, but you only turn one once, right?

When guests arrived, they were asked to write a note to the birthday girl in a book from my childhood called My Very Own Octopus. It was on display by a 10 month portrait, her invitation, and her birth announcement.

Her monthly photos from the past year were displayed in the living room.

The dining room was decorated with a birthday banner, paper lantern octopuses, and a "water wall" made out of streamers; and I made a white slip cover for the seat of honor.

The table was full of sea themed treats, delicious and beautiful cupcakes made by Aunt Mallory, and the octopus cake!

It was so nice to have our house filled to capacity with family and friends to celebrate our sweet girl. It may have been a little crowded, but I wouldn't have had it any other way. She in one lucky girl to have so many people in her life. 

As soon as everyone arrived, we went right for the cake. Maybe it was the crowd of people staring at her, but she was not feeling it this time. 

She was intrigued by the cake topper, until Mommy took it away...

Mean Mommy taking away the choking hazard! 

We needed to cool off for a minute outside before presents.

A little visiting and we were ready to open presents, and more presents, and more presents!

Oh, how I wish she had something to play with!

I can't thank everyone enough for helping us celebrate our one year old. It meant so much to Husband and I to be able to share this with our family and friends. Thank you to everyone who made this day so special! We love you and so does our sweet girl!

Happy Birthday, Catherine! Hope you loved your first party!

The Birthday Girl

Even though we had a big party planned for the weekend, we wanted to spend Catherine's actual birthday with our family of three. Husband took off work and we headed to the McWane Science Center with our one year old! 

I'm not sure who was more excited about going - Catherine or us. Husband and I had never been either, so we were pretty pumped and even more so to get to share this day with her. 

The McWane Center is huge and only a little part of it is toddler appropriate, but we somehow managed to spend three hours there taking it all in. We started with the World of Water because we just knew Catherine would love all the sea life. We were right! She was in awe of all the fish and there were some tanks that were right on her level. She was a little afraid of the big fish (they were bigger than her) and buried herself in my legs, but she loved the smaller, brighter fish and really liked the jellyfish.

...ignoring my double chin because she looks so cute...

After looking at every creature under the sea, we made our way to a play area just for toddlers called "Just Mice Size." As the name suggests, it was mice themed, with a maze and a play area shaped like cheese. In this area, was a miniature sized water table. It is meant to teach water flow with movable dams, waterfalls, and plenty of cups, funnels, and mesh to watch the water move through. It was like a giant river of bath time fun with clothes on. We got soaked and she LOVED it!

A little more play time while we dried off...

 

Then a snack before we headed home...

 

And as we pulled out of the parking deck, our birthday girl was wiped out after a fun filled day!

On the way home, we stopped by Edgar's for a birthday surprise, because it just isn't a first birthday celebration without a little cake smashing.

What a perfect day celebrating the day we became a family of three.

Happy birthday, sweet girl!