Accomplishments

Millie and her father this time last year.

Here Millie is still recovering from her heart surgery.

For a refresher, you can read the early December posts here and here.

Millie and her father these days!

Millie is so busy learning something new every day. Here are a few of her recent accomplishments:

She finds her own toys. One of her favorites is this DVD case. She even pulls it off the shelf when she wants it.

Thanks to her beautiful new high chair, she has taught herself how to drink her bottle sitting up.

She can put on her own lipstick!

She can carry her own toys to church in her new Hello Kitty backpack.

She helps us get her dressed in her warm clothes.

She can sit up in her snow suit!

Our favorite accomplishment is self feeding! She obviously can't feed herself all the day, but she loves to sit in her high chair trying to feed herself solid foods.

She's tried puffs, sweet potatoes (pictured), eggs, bread, and green beans all on her own.

We are so proud she has started pulling herself up! She's proud, too.

Now that she has discovered "standing" she never wants to lay down! This poses a problem when it comes to changing her diaper, as you can imagine.

I gave y'all the update on her party, but I never told you what the doctor thinks of this one year old!

1. He gave us they okay to switch to whole milk. We're finishing off the can of formula we've opened and moving on! I have to say though, spit up with cows milk is one of the worst smells I've ever smelled. Please forgive us if we sit next to you somewhere.
2. Our doctor said we should have Millie eating a mostly solid diet with a little bit of milk within the next 6-9 months.
3. Millie has no food restrictions! Well, other than choking hazards. Did you know peanut butter was a choking hazard? Apparently 3 of his patients have died from choking on it. So be careful, all you parents out there!
4. Millie weighs 14 lbs 8 oz! Her birth weight was 1 lb 4 oz, and her coming home from the hospital weight was just under 8 pounds. I was expecting her to be bigger, but Dr. Later was pleased with her progress.
5. Millie is 26.75 inches tall. She was 11.5 inches at birth, and 19.5 inches when she left the hospital. Hard to believe she's grown about 7 inches just since we've had her home! Right under our noses...
6. We've received her first synagis shot! Hooray! I have to say though, that I've never seen a shot cause her more pain. Poor baby. It is defiantly worth it though because RSV would be that much worse. She was over the pain after 15-20 mins.

Because of these shots, we will be paying our pediatrician a visit monthly. For different reasons each time, we've gone to the doctors office for the last three weeks in a row. I was starting to worry we were taking up too much time with Dr. Later (he didn't make me feel that way, I just know he has so many patients and he is a wonderful doctor). On his way out of the door this week he shook his head and said "it is such a pleasure for me to see Millie." He's the best! I know it is because she is so healthy and such a miracle. He had just shared with me some of the situations he is in right now with some of his other NICU babies, and I am still in awe that Millie came out so healthy. He had just discharged a patient that went home on a ventilator! Not oxygen, but a ventilator. I can't believe it. AND that baby had been in the NICU since April.

We're so proud of our little baby. You probably already knew that though.

By the way, I put in my notice at work. My last day is December 30th. Now I can spend all my days with this little girl. I can't wait.