Sami's sick :(

It's been a long few days!! Sami has been sick with a temperature ranging from 102 to 104.8, and has been to the doctor twice this week, and we almost took her to ER last night when her temperature reached the 104.8.

We were able to get it down to 102 with wet cloths and alternating tylenol and motrin, and took her back to the doctor again this morning. It turns out Sami has 3 different things going on right now. She has a rash as a reaction from the MMR shot she had last week at her 1-year-old checkup, she has a boil behind one ear, which she has been on antibiotics for since Thursday morning, and she has a viral infection of some kind.

Basically we were told to just make sure she is drinking a lot, give her tylenol/motrin as needed and she'll be better in a few days. If she is still getting a high fever by Monday or Tuesday though, she needs to go back to the doctor.

I feel so bad that she is sick, and I myself am getting lightheaded from the lack of sleep over the past three days. But I feel a little more relieved today after being back at the doctor this morning, and when she naps later, I plan to do the same thing.

It's still so hard to believe Sam is 1 year old. With 6 little teeth, she is starting to look more like a toddler and less like a baby already. Her birthday party was really great, and in all we had 58 adults and children at the park to celebrate with us. Sami had a great time diving into the little cake that was just for her.

Sami and I have been keeping busy. We've made a lot of new friends throughout the past several months, and I'm enjoying working from home and taking breaks to meet friends for playdates during the week. It's been a little challenging at times when she wants attention and I'm on deadline, but it's been worth it to have her with me.

Our newest friends include Debra, and her son, Colton, who we met at Mommy & Me. Colton is 14 months old, and his father is in Iraq. He hasn't seen Colton since he is 3 months old, and Debra has been basically a single mother for the past year. Sami and Colton are very mischievous when they are together, and it's so much fun to watch. At times, Debra and I are even embarrassed, while the other children sit so nicely during the parts of the class that are supposed to be quiet, while Sami and Colton take off together and disobey playing together in a corner acting as though they are the only two kids there. They were fast friends, following in their mothers' footsteps.

Another new friend has 2-year-old twins, who they were blessed with after using a surrogate. It's nice to have someone to talk to that also didn't go through pregnancy to become a mother, and we are able to share our stories and truly understand each other.

In all, I've met a lot of new people that I would never have met if it wasn't for being a mom, and I know Sami and I are creating long friendships. Of course, we are lucky enough to have friends I've known for years as well, such as Stacey, and her daughter, Hannah, who is only 5 weeks older than Sami. Those two will be growing up together, and Stacey and I are determined that they will become and remain "BFFs."

I feel truly blessed to be Sami's mother. Even though I have been worried the past few days with her being sick, she truly brings me nothing but joy every day. Sure, there are days where she is crabby and screams all day, but the moments that stand out in my mind are the ones where she laughs and plays, and looks up to make sure I'm still there, smiling to see me there and calling out "Mama."

Sami is 1

Sami is 1 year old today. How is that possible? On one hand, it feels as though she was just born yesterday, but on the other hand, I barely remember my life before her and it's as though she has always been here with us.

This past year has been exhausting, overwhelming and emotional, but it's also brought me more joy than I've ever known before.

On Sunday we are having a big birthday in the park for Sami. We are expecting more than 60 adults and kids.

As for today, we've decided to have more of a private celebration. Tonight, Steven, Sami and I are going to celebrate her birthday together, just the three of us. We have so much for which to be grateful, and are looking forward to spending some alone time with Sami on her first birthday. Don't get me wrong, we are also extremely excited for her big party on Sunday, but in a very different way, we are equally excited for our small family celebration of just us three.

On Thursday night, our niece, Rachel, spent the night. She wanted to be here for a little bit of Sami's first birthday. And as if Sami knew her birthday was approaching, she woke up a few minutes before midnight. As you can see in the picture I've attached, Rachel read her a story to try to help her fall back asleep.

I've also included a few photos from Sami's first Halloween. Anyone that knows us, knows that we love Halloween. But this year's Halloween was by far the best one yet, because we got to share it with Sami.

Almost 1, and changing every day!

I know I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again: Time is going by so quickly. Sami's 1st birthday party is in three weeks from today!! I can't believe in just a few short weeks, my beautiful little girl will be 1 year old.

I've posted a little video today at the bottom of this post, of Sami having a good time in a swing in our local park.

I haven't been writing about it here, but Sami has been going to two physical therapists since August, after being diagnosed with plagiocephally and torticollis. Torticollis is having weak neck muscles and plagiocephally is when a child develops a flat area on his or her head. Usually the plagio is caused by the torticollis because a baby with a weak neck tends to lean on one side of the head a lot more often than the other side, which causes a flat area to form. For those of you that have seen babies with helmets around town, that's usually the reason. The helmets fix the head shape, making a perfectly round head. We were lucky that Sami's case was not severe enough to warrant a helmet, so she has been going having two types of physical therapy: one to work on her neck muscles and one that does cranial-sacral therapy to help even out the shape of her head. Sami's case was one that nobody noticed, and I didn't even notice until it was pointed out to me by our pediatrician. (We have since switched pediatricians due to the poor care she was given, but I'll write about that another time.)

Anyway, last week the neck therapist, who Sami was seeing weekly, said that she is doing so well that he wants to see her one more time in a month just to make sure she still doing great, and if she is, he is going to discharge her from therapy. The doctor who is doing cranialsacral therapy on Sami is also not seeing her again for a few weeks, and is expecting to discharge her at that time, too!! I've been doing stretches and exercises with Sami several times a day that the therapist suggested, and it seems to really have done the trick! I couldn't be happier!!

Lately, Sami has really been keeping me on my toes! She is crawling so quickly that sometimes you have to jog a bit to catch up to her! And she is furniture walking, also called cruising, now. She's tried to let go a few times, but when she does that she usually falls, and sadly has a couple of bruises from our tile floor to prove it.

Meanwhile, I am getting excited for her 1st birthday party, and at last count am expecting close to 50 people (adults and kids combined). We rented a pavilion at a park that has a great playground and a very large open field area, so it should be a good time, as long as the weather is good that day.

I still think about Elizabeth, and wonder where she went. I haven't spoken to her since January. I hope where ever she is, she is doing well. I feel forever connected to her, and despite her not making the best choices throughout her life, I will always be beyond grateful to her. In fact, "grateful," feels like such a weak word to describe it. I have this beautiful little girl who makes me happy every day. I feel as though I have a new purpose in my life I never knew existed. Things that seemed so important to me before, seem trivial now. The most important thing now is to make sure that Sami is happy and healthy every day.

Busy, busy baby

It's 2 a.m. and I've now been awake for 20 hours, as Sami woke me up at 6 a.m. yesterday morning. I should be exhausted, but for some reason, I'm not. So I did some work, then watched a little TV, but yet I am still awake.

Another reason I should be exhausted right now is how busy Sami keeps us. She is now "furniture walking," meaning she is walking holding on to things. It's cute to watch but she falls sometimes so we have to keep a close eye on her. She is so busy, and just doesn't want to sit still. No matter where you put her down, she crawls to the closest thing she finds, pulls herself up, and takes small steps toward the next thing she sees, all while strategically holding on as she moves. If she walks with a toy in one of her hands and then drops the toy, she is able to bend down, pick the toy up, and then continue on her journey.

We also had to break down and buy a new high chair this weekend. The one we had been using was passed along to us by a friend, and the straps were missing. It had been working out fine, until the past week or so when Sami realized she could stand up in her high chair since she was not strapped in. She would stand up to eat, leaning over to pick each bite off of her tray. We'd keep putting her back to a sitting position, but she always got right back up. Then the kicker came when she realized she could actually climb out of her highchair by climbing out of the chair onto the tray.

So in other words, Sami is very busy, which in turn keeps us very busy. But I'm not complaining honestly. I love to watch her play, and she is just such a character. She makes me laugh all the time. And it's contagious because when she laughs, I laugh, and when I laugh, she laughs, which of course makes me laugh harder.

Feeling a bit emotional

Sami is becoming less like a baby and more like a little girl. It seems like it is happening all of the sudden. Everywhere we put her, she finds a way to stand up. She stands up in her crib, in the pack and play, even in her high chair! She crawls to me and pulls herself up to standing. She's also grown a lot more hair, and it seems like it all happened over night.

Of course these are all good things, and I am happy she is healthy and growing. But I admit it also makes me a little sad because I feel like she is growing up way too quickly. I don't know where the past 10 months have gone. It feels like it was just yesterday when I was so distraught missing her while she spent two weeks in the NICU after she was born.

She is just becoming so independent. She doesn't even want me to feed her so much anymore. She prefers for me to give her something to eat on her high chair tray that she can feed herself. She eats eggs, potatoes, cheese, chicken, waffles, pancakes, etc. She really loves all food.

Sometimes I can just sit and watch her play for hours. It makes me so happy when she is happy.

On Saturday I wasn't feeling well (after having a root canal on Friday), and was pretty much resting all day. When I finally felt better and got up and went over to play with her, she looked up at me excitedly and with a smile said "momma momma!" My heart just melted at that moment.

10 months old

Sami is 10 months old. It's so hard to believe. We are already starting to think about what kind of party we are going to have for her 1st birthday. How in the world is she almost 1 year old already? Time is going by way too quickly.

It's been almost one month since I've last blogged, so I've got a lot of catching up to do. Last week we took Sami to Orlando to visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. We go there every August for our anniversary, and this year was even more special than previous years, because we had Sami with us. She met a ton of characters, and the truth is that I am not sure if Sami liked the characters better or if the characters liked her better! She had no fear, and smiled with delight every time she was approached by a character. I've attached two photos here, one with Sami and Marilyn Monroe, and one with Sami and Thing 1 and Thing 2. Sami also was permitted to go on a few rides, and really loved those, too. Watching her smile and listening to her laugh made me feel so great.

Sami has been doing a lot of smiling and laughing lately. Our dogs, Penny and Java, have been making her crack up lately. She's been really playing with them, and she laughs so hard when they run around her and get silly.

Today we brought Sami to the Museum of Science and Discovery. I think it would have been a little more fun for her if she was walking, but she still seemed to enjoy herself, and Steven and I had a great time even though the museum is really geared toward kids. In fact, we probably had more fun than Sami did.

Sami bring so much happiness to my life. I never knew you could love someone this much. Making sure she is healthy and happy are becoming the most important goals for me, and watching her smile warms my heart like nothing I can explain. She continues to amaze me each and every day.

9 months old already

Sami had her 9-month check-up yesterday. Time is just flying by and it's hard to believe in just three short months, she will be 1 year old!

Sami weighs 17 pounds and is 28 inches tall. She is now in the 20th percentile for weight, and in the 75th percentile for height! According to the pediatrician, this means she is tall and a little underweight. but is doing fantastic. And at the pediatrician's office, Sami got her ears pierced today. They are absolutely adorable!

We can now begin to try feed Sami dairy products to see how she reacts. She will be starting with yogurt, and then we will go from there. If dairy agrees with her we can then try regular formula, instead of the hypoallergenic one she has been on for months. This would be better because it's easier to find, and half the price!

Every day brings something new. She changes so much all the time, but what doesn't stop changing is how much happiness she continues to bring to my life.