Happy 8 Months Annie!

Ready to celebrate St. Paddy's Day!
Carter & Annie

We're on the move! Annie crawls, started cutting her first tooth and has fed herself some snacks -- all in one afternoon! Growing up SO fast! We're enjoying spring, looking forward to some Cubs games soon, and excited for the Grant's Wish Funraiser this weekend - looking forward to seeing so many of you there!

Help Annie raise funds, and have a great time!

Annie's says:

COME TO MY PARTY!

Grant's Wish Fundraiser

March 20th

Support Galactosemia Research, have a good time!

(Click on link to the right for registration and more details!)

We've got a winner!

I don’t usually utilize this public forum of sorts to hop up on a soapbox. My intentions are to share Annie info and photos with friend’s and family thirsty for chubby cheeks and updates. However, last night I had an experience that has compelled me to ramble it a bit. How about I set the scene and then spout off?

(I ran into an acquaintance in passing….)

Acquaintance: Hey there, how are ya?

Me: Great, thanks, and you?

Acquaintance: Not bad, how’s that baby?

Me: Doing really well.

Acquaintance: How old is she now, I can never remember these things?

Me: Just about 8 months, we’re working on getting some teeth and she’s been starting to try and crawl--

Acquaintance: (Gets a serious look) So, is she a winner? A keeper?

Me: (confused?) Of course! She’s such a sweet girl, I can’t believe how fast she’s growing--

Acquaintance: Well good to hear it, so many of these kids these days have problems, and “they” will tell you things like Downs are a “blessing”, but that ain’t no blessing, no problems are….glad to hear you’ve got a winner…

Me: ….well, we’re not without our problems, but Annie is certainly a “winner” (all of this went unheard as Acquaintance was still mumbling about)…

Now I consider myself pretty outspoken, and I certainly have the ability to be insensitive at times (unintentionally of course). But it really caught me off guard that someone would go out of their way (note genetic disorders were not even the topic of our brief conversation?) to make sure I knew, that a “healthy” baby, was desirable. Obviously this was a rare, isolated incident - and obviously the insensitive comments were made without knowing much about me, or Annabelle.

But it did make me think…and stew…and wonder if that’s how most people look at things? I mean really? Let’s be honest here…there’s not a moment of the day that I sit and think, golly, galactosemia is such a blessing. I’m so blessed that we can spell galactosemia, I’m so blessed that Annie will be following a strict diet for life, and that she may have challenges ahead of her that we can’t even imagine right now. If only everyone could experience such a blessing…those of you without galactosemia in your lives are really missing out.

Of course not.

But would I trade a galactosemia-free life for toothless grins? Have you heard my Annie giggle? Nobody is perfect. Annie has ten fingers and ten toes. She has her sight. She has her hearing. There are SO many things that can go wrong with us, what’s a little galactosemia? Or Down Syndrome, or Cystic Fibrosis, or blindness, or a really bad attitude? Everyone has a story, this one is ours.

Galactosemia is not a blessing. If I could prevent Annabelle from having so much as a bad hair day, you can bet I would. But Annie is a blessing. She’s a big bundle of sloppy kisses, warm cuddles, bright smiles with a set of pipes that can wake the whole neighborhood when she feels like letting’ loose. She’s got Dad’s face and feet, and Mom’s thighs (sorry kid) and stubbornness. She’s everything to us, and oh yeah, she happens to be galactosemic too.

So for anyone who hasn’t experienced anything but “winners” and “keepers” - I can tell you, a little adversity isn’t that bad. And I could go on forever about this topic, but my baby is working on crawling and I don’t want to miss another minute.

Home Sweet Home!

Annie's first time on a park swing, she thinks it's A-OK! :)

After over two weeks of traveling, Miss Annie and I are home, along with Dad. We drove to Florida with Auntie Colleen, and drove home with Daddy. We spent most of our time on the Gulf coast of Florida, visiting the Seabird Sanctuary, Florida Aquarium, long walks on the beach (on the warm days! Darn cold, we must have brought it south with us!), John's Pass, etc. We took a more leisurely route on the drive home to stop in Chattanooga, TN where we did a little sight seeing, visited the zoo, checked out the mountains and had a great time. Annabelle was a great little traveler! She's grown so much since we left! We were pretty sure she'd have a tooth by the time we returned, but still just little ridges on those gums. Annie came a long way with her crawling attempts on vacation, but still just manages to go backwards....any day now, we'll have our hands full...

DADDY'S HERE!

Annie visits the beach.

This picture was taken immediately after our 20 hour drive down to the gulf. Pre nap, pre bath, and obviously pre change of clothes. We just wanted to get out on that beach. Here Annie is sporting a natural look. She has since been bundled up a lot more as it has been rather chilly down here! Better than the snow and clouds we left, so we won't complain.

We're anxiously awaiting Dad's arrival tomorrow night. We've been missing him all week and are excited for him to see Annabelle's new crawling attempts. She's regularly seen on her hands and knees, and we tease her of her new yoga poses. She does a nice downward dog.

Grant's Wish

This event is near and dear to our hearts. On March 20th, 2010 a fundraiser is being held to support galactosemia research. A year ago today, we'd never heard of galactosemia - and now, it weighs on our minds every day. Since learning that Annie was galactosemic, we have become much more aware of the rare genetic disorders that occur. At times, we naturally envy those with "healthy" children, and yet we know all to well "it could always be worse". If you and your loved ones are healthy - please enjoy it and never take it for granted. And if you could, please join us for the Grant's Wish Fundraiser on March 20th. Unavailable that day? Donations can be made online, you can participate in the silent auction online as well.

Please visit pgcmidwest.com to register, donate or bid. (Link top right of this blog)

February 14, 2010 - 7 Months Old

Annie's grown so much in these 7 short months!

Birth weight: 7lbs -- 7 month weight: 18.5lbs

Birth height: 19.5 inches -- 7 month height: 26 inches

She's still hanging onto her blue eyes too! We're kinda surprised (being that neither of us have blue eyes)...but then again, Annabelle has managed to surprise us every step of the way!) We're still keeping up with her monthly photo on the Chief blanket...although it's getting harder to take a picture of her ON the blanket, much less, holding still!

Happy Valentine's - 2010!

Our little Valentine :)

Avery (5 months) & Annie (6 months) have a play date.

Annie visits the conservatory....

We've been searching for some sunshine, fresh air and greenery...without packing some bags that's hard to find these days! Annabelle took her first trip to the Garfield Park Conservatory this week, also had her first stroll in the stroller without the car seat. I'm pretty sure she loved the new view!