Annie parties....

Mommy, Annie, Carter & Alyshia

Avery & Annie sharing very nicely.

Grandpa Fitz gets Annie some birthday cake.

Annie the morning after her party opening presents!

Ah...Annie's party. I have to admit, the whole ordeal has been my life for the past few weeks. I'd chalk it right up there with wedding planning now that I've done both. I've never put on a big party and made every morsel for it from scratch -- it was a learning experience. And I'm glad to say I can do it... ;)

We are so grateful to everyone who came out to celebrate with us! Sorry for the heat...but sharing a July birthday with Annie, I know that's just par for the course! We enjoyed visiting with everyone, and regret not being able to spend more time with each of you. It was so fun to watch all of the kids having a great time together in the little pools and with each other. Thank you thank you.

Annie opened her gifts the morning after her party. It took us all morning! You're all way too generous. She received so many wonderful things and we are so appreciative.

Next stop for the Meek Family? PGC Conference in Minneapolis. We're anxious to meet some new families and hopefully gain a lot of knowledge to keep Annabelle happy and healthy.

365 Days of Annie....

It's going to be a busy blog week...first Carter's party, then Annie's great news at the eye doctor -- and here I sit in the wee hours of the morning on Annabelle's FIRST BIRTHDAY! (I'm not staying up to blog (although I feel sappy enough that I could have) I'm waiting on some cupcakes and other various goodies.) So, lets see, this time last year, I was in labor. I had a hospital bag packed with one boy outfit and one girl outfit....and while we were anxiously awaiting which one we would need I was seriously starting to reconsider "natural childbirth". I've learned so much this year, the first of which, love and honor thy husband....and completely ignore his wishes on the birthing process. Next time, epidural...asap.

But that's not at all what I'm thinking about today. I'm thinking back on the first moments we saw Annabelle, and that's who she was, Annabelle June...tiny baby, LOUD baby, with squinty eyes and a head full of dark hair. The way I felt so awkward holding her and yet, I knew she felt just as awkward being on the outside...nothing was the same for her, just as it wasn't for me. Well, there we go, something in common already :) I wasn't immediately confident as a mother, but I was certainly confident that we were going to figure all of this out together. Now I would bet one of her favorite places is snuggled in our arms...and I can, without a doubt, say that I feel empty if I go a few hours without holding her. So much for awkward beginnings.

I stayed up through labor (which was overnight for us), I stayed up all the next day (staring at our new baby), and I pretty much stayed up the day after that...probably 72 hours of Momma-bliss with no sleep. I really don't remember sleeping at all...until sometime maybe in October ;) I know people would say, "can you believe how fast time is going"?...and quite honestly, every day last year up until Christmas felt like it was still July 14th. When you become a mother, you hit the ground running, no part time, no half days, and certainly very few coffee breaks ;)

And oh, the health issues. Galcto-what? Oh, Galactosemia...right, I'll google that in just a minute. We need to see a geneticist? And a genetic counselor? Along with a dietitian? Ok. I remember that Friday, Jeremy was scribbling down galactosemia on a scrap of paper, and said, "Annie needs soy formula"? At that time, we switched her to the soy, but full out expected whatever tests showed she was "galactosemic" were certainly false positives. After all, like Great Grandma Fitzpatrick says, "in this family, we eat anything that doesn't eat us"! Surely our baby will have a lifetime full of cheesy potatoes and ice cream cones. I remember actually chuckling at the thought of life any other way.

Of course the chuckling ended, Annie's tests continued to show this wasn't a fluke. Annie is galactosemic. I crumbled at the news (and I'd like to think I don't crumble much.) I had already read the worst of the worst...brain damage, liver failure, learning disabilities, speech difficulties...I began to look down at Annie and wonder what her life would be like. It was all so foreign to me, the diet, the complications, I honestly expected that she'd never walk, never talk, never smile. More often than I'd like to admit I just held her and cried. Cried about her future, cried about her diet, her restrictions, her challenges...

And what did Annie do?

She grew.
She ate like a champ and she grew some more.
She started smiling.
Then she started giggling.
She rolled over.
She sat up.
She started solid foods.
She grew some more.
She started babbling.
She wiggled back and forth on her knees for a few weeks...
and then she crawled.
She got some teeth.
She started feeding herself snacks.
She started recognizing pictures in books.
She gives high fives.
She claps.
She chases kitten around the house and pulls out his fur. (good kitten).

That's what Annie does. I worry. She lives. She explores and learns. She's having a good ol' time, and it's starting to catch on.

I know I'll never stop worrying, that's what all mother's do. But in one short year, Annie has taught me more about life than I could have ever learned in my first 30. I know we'll have our good days and our bad. I know there are challenges ahead that we can't imagine today. But I also know that there are fabulous moments in each day - and my new job is to make sure I don't miss them.

First 1st birtday present!

Trip to the park!

Big girl lunch!

First flower delivery, just for Annie!

(believe it or not, she gobbled up some zuchinni earlier in the day faster than she ate this cupcake)

Year one: done!

Hallelujah!

Sometimes, a little good news goes a long way. Annie had her one year appointment with the eye doctor to further check on her vision and her hemangioma that is interfering with her vision. At her last visit we found that her "bad eye" was slightly improving and her prescription was lowered in her glasses. I had a teeny tiny hope going in today (and I was dreamin'!) that we'd come out without glasses and everything would be fine. But of course I've learned to expect the worst, and be pleasantly surprised by anything else. Well....it turns out, Annie's vision in her bad eye has AGAIN improved...and so much so that the Doctor has decided that it's not enough to warrant glasses! I about fell over. I'm sorry, did you say she DOESN'T NEED TO WEAR THE GLASSES? Yes, that's correct, at this time, she doesn't need to wear her glasses. We need to continue patching the "good" eye for an hour a day. But at least from now until the next appointment in November -- NO GLASSES.

Now, I realize, glasses aren't THAT big of a deal. But it's just on top of what seems like a long list of health issues to begin with, so I feel like it's a HUGE victory for us. One less thing to remember and one less thing for Annie to throw on the floor and beat me to saying "no no no".

And all this, less than two days from Annie's big first birthday.

Hallelujah!

Big room, big chair...little baby!

Let's do this already!

Happy Birthday Carter ol' buddy ;)

Annie attends her first 1st birthday party! Happy Birthday to cousin Carter...

Annie & Carter with the Granny's

Annie's first 4th of July!

It doesn't seem possible that June has flown by, we're already into the middle of summer...and our little Annie is just day's away from the big first birthday! We've been having a great time. Enjoying the sunshine, doing lots of swimming and boating, traveling and visiting...constantly on the go! Annabelle has just started walking holding on with one hand, up until recently she had to be hanging on to our hands with both of hers. She's still pretty wobbly, but I can see the light bulb starting to flicker in that cute little head of hers..."hmmm...this might be a better way to get around" ;)

We're about a week away from a slew of 1-year doctor appointments. We'll get a new Gal-1-p number from the geneticist soon, the 1 year shots from the pediatrician, a visit to the eye doctor (cross your fingers her eyes are getting better!). And we are a little over two weeks from our family trip to the PGC Conference - we're all looking forward to meeting so many of the families who have been so helpful to us this first year!

Annie at the lake...

a beautiful weekend to spend with family - on the water - doing some serious relaxing :)

Happy Father's Day

We just had a great weekend celebrating Daddy! Annie had her first trip to Prairie Fest -- and enjoyed wandering around the fair grounds uninhibited. (Wouldn't ya know, she doesn't stick close by if we let her go where she wants! Such a free spirit with so much room to roam!)

Look at our Annabelle grow!

The count down begins to the big number ONE -- we're less than a month away from Annie's big birthday! See how she's grown!

Annabelle 1 month

Annabelle 4 Months

Annabelle 6 Months


Annabelle 8 Months

Annie 11 Months!

Annabelle

Busy few weeks! We've been on the road a lot visiting grandparent's, and will be doing so more in the near future. Summer is always so busy!

So what's new with Annie? Well, she's added a few new words and fancy tricks to her days...she currently "says": kitty, duck and bear (all in her own little way, but with enough experience, we've learned she truly knows what these things are) -- in addition to clapping, waving and high fives, Annie's recently started responding to "arms up" -- which she obviously picked up on "Your Baby Can Read" because I've never worked with her on this ;) She also LOVES to play peek-a-boo by crouching down behind the coffee table and popping up (over and over and over). We also were reading that babies at this age will start "pointing", we thought, nah, Annie's not going to be into pointing at things, she doesn't seem ready - and yet, sure enough, as if she read the same book...she's been pointing at anything and everything! So much fun!

We left Annie with "strangers" for the very first time this past weekend. One hour, completely away from us... We attended church with Grandma & Grandpa, and just "stopped by" the day care there to see what it was like. I wanted to just peek in the door, but the caregivers beckoned us in to check it out. There were three little boys playing on the floor with some toys, all a bit smaller than Annie. I set Annie down, just to see what she'd do. She crawled right over to the boys and the toys and started playing. I tried to get her to look back at me. I crouched down and called her. She never even looked back. I got a little closer, held out my arms...she gave me a glance and kept on going. We left her there while we were in the services. I have no idea what the sermon was about as I thought about her the whole time...but I'm pretty sure she wasn't thinking about me ;)

We've also added a new family member recently - Annie's new cousin, Ava Mae Dittmann was welcomed home by her big sister, Maddy just this week. We're anxious to meet little Ava, we have learned that she is galactosemic as well - and we just know Annie & Ava are going to have a lot to talk about in the coming years. :)

We're just a little over a month away from the big ONE YEAR! It doesn't seem possible...

In the grocery cart, AGAIN...Mom's always making new baby food!

Annie & Daddy

Daddy & Annie with Joanna and her Daddy, Nate

4.2 to 6.1

I was all excited to write up some sappy blog entry today. The past few nights Annie has had a bit more trouble getting to sleep at night, and has been waking up for some extra lovin’ at odd hours. She’s normally such a great sleeper, but it’s been a tough week for her. I’d like to complain…as getting up at 4am to cuddle for an hour isn’t the best use of our slumber time…but I can’t for two reasons: 1) Jeremy usually does it ;) and 2) Annie isn’t a huge cuddler in the first place…I’m generally in her way most of the day - any moment that she truly just wants to curl up and breathe in my ear and lay her soft cheeks on my shoulder, and curl her little fingers around mine are priceless. Of course for a second when I’m bleary eyed and ready to retreat to my own bed I start to wonder just how long she’s going to expect me to stay here and rock her…but then I look down at that face and see the days flying by and know…it won’t be long before I’m begging to do just this.

So anyway, life is good, getting some cuddle time with our cutie. We’ve been introducing all sorts of new foods. The grocery store used to intimidate me as I looked for safe foods for our Annie…and the other day I was standing in line confidently, with a cart full of many foods I would let her eat one day. (We already try to make most of our staples around the house “Annie-safe” even though she’s not really to table food yet.) I was having one of those weeks…those nothing-is-wrong-all-is-well, kinda weeks. Annie was good, we were good…it was like there was no galactosemia for miles…(insert sappy music and gorgeous family frolicking on the beach or something…it was like that).

Then today we got Annie’s most recent gal-1-P numbers back. Let me back track a bit…gal-1-P for those of us normal folk is essentially Annie’s galactose level. Galactose is bad…so we want that number to be small. At birth her gal-1-P was 35.8 (yowza!) but it has steadily dropped every test there after…and we were pleasantly down to 4.2 in March. (Anything under 4 is considered a “treated galactosemic” so we were soooo close). Annie’s next scheduled test would not have been until her 1st birthday. But paranoid me, I asked for an additional test in between the 8 month and 12 month…so we went in for the 10 month test last week. I’ve been adding new foods to Annie’s diet - confident that I’m SO paranoid about things that I’m certainly being cautious enough with her diet. I anticipated that even with the new foods, this number would also be less than the previous number - the doctors would be right (they told me the extra test was unnecessary, as the gal-1-P would most certainly continue it’s downward trend.)…after all, the number goes down, even for kids whose Momma isn’t as diligent as I’ve been, right?

Jeremy got the call tonight, Annabelle’s 10 month gal-1-P is 6.1 -- that’s nearly back where she was at 4 months old. The number has gone up, and (this is my personal opinion) (every word I type here is my personal opinion) not by just a bit, but a significant bit. We didn’t go from 4.2 to 4.4.…6.1 is a big jump.

It’s amazing what one teeny weeny little number can do to your day. I’m no longer sappy (ok, I always am) - but now galactosemia is back at the front of my mind, I’m back to spending hours reading about galactose levels in foods, emailing fancy dietitians for advice…and the next time I’m standing in the checkout line at the grocery store, I won’t be so smug…I’ll wonder what food it is that’s lurking in my cart that’s causing Annie’s numbers to rise. Today is one of those days that reminds me that I haven’t figured it all out yet - and I’m most certainly not in control here.