Terrific and Two

Little Millie a couple of days old

Little Millie on her first birthday

Little Millie on her second birthday

Oh my, we love this little girl.  We loved all 1 pound 4 ounces of her, and we certainly love all (nearly) 24 pounds of her now.

I never look back and think of her time in the NICU as depressing (well maybe the last 30 days...) but rather as an experience our family had.  Simple as that.  Going to the hospital twice a day, every day was our life.  Waiting for her to open her eyes for the first time, seeing if her heart was okay, monitoring her eating like crazy, rejoicing when she could breathe on her own, holding her, and giving her a bath.  It was all incredible.  Those were tender and sacred experiences, unique by circumstance.  I'm sure every parent remembers very similar situations with their first child.  They just don't usually have them in the hospital.

I sometimes wish I still lived in Provo so I could volunteer to work with the NICU parents, and perhaps that is something I could do wherever.  I think seeing tiny babies regularly, and their loving parents, would help me remember just what a delicate baby Millie was.  My heart bursts and tears come easily to my eyes whenever I reflect upon our 135 day journey in the NICU.  They are always joyful tears, but mostly because I feel blessed beyond description.

Delicate is not a word I would use to describe her today.  Her nursery leaders at church refer to her as "daring".  You feel sorry for them, right?  I do.  She's the one standing on the table constantly.  She's the one jumping out of the baby high chair.  She's the one hiding her shoes in the toys, and then snatching someone elses'.  The worst part is she's light on her feet so you don't even hear her sneaking off to do something crazy.  She is also a little accident prone.  I'm not sure I'd recognize her without a goose egg on her head.

Her two year old check up was uneventful.  I asked for a laid back doctor, and boy did I get one.  I didn't even take one of those quizes that asks you detailed questions like "can your child pick up a cheerio using only their teeth with their eyes closed?" or something.  I always feel like I should have about a week to test her on all of these things since most of them I've never noticed or tried.  Can I get an amen?  I can't say I missed the quiz, but I still miss Dr. Later.  I wanted to like this guy, I really did.  I never got a "wow, she looks great for a 23 weeker".  I'm not actually convinced he read her chart ahead of time, mostly because he never referenced her prematurity.  I did, but he never really did.  We are planning a visit to the cardiologist and eye doctor to see how her heart and vision are.  Other than that, all is well.  She's just under 24 pounds and either 32 or 34 inches.  I can't remember what the nurse said and I never got a print out.  He never said "she's officially caught up" or "she's not quite caught up" and when I brought it up he said children are usually all caught up between two and three years old.  Each question he asked, she was right on.  So pretty much, I don't know where she stands.

So there you have it.  We've got a terrific two-year-old and we love it.  When she screams (often) we try and remember how long we waited to hear her make a peep.  When she begs for another cookie we try and remember how lucky we are she eats on her own and has no food allergies.  When she colors a beautiful picture on anything that stands still we try and remember how blessed we are she has the motor skills to color.  She keeps us on our toes, and we do our best to remember just how lucky we are.