I wish I could find the words to write a poem about how special a baby's first year is. It's full of sleepless nights and days of baby snuggles. Of celebrating each first milestone and of watching with amazement as a tiny bundle of sleepy yawns turns into an independent and personality-filled little person. The first year is full of all of the feelings. And living it with this girl has been... everything.
Lucy. One year. You're the best little one-year-old we know.
Official Stats:
Weight- 18 lbs 30 oz (25%ish)
Length- 28.5 inches (50%ish)
Heade circ - 45.4 cm
Unofficial stats: SIX teeth! (Four on top, two on bottom) Her hair is finally starting to grow in, even though it's still barely longer than peach fuzz.
Weight- 18 lbs 30 oz (25%ish)
Length- 28.5 inches (50%ish)
Heade circ - 45.4 cm
Unofficial stats: SIX teeth! (Four on top, two on bottom) Her hair is finally starting to grow in, even though it's still barely longer than peach fuzz.
--
I thought to start this post off with an update on Lucy's Nystagmus and Albinism:
(mostly for ease of finding it later)
Lucy is seeing better than I could even have hoped for when we first got her diagnosis at 3 months and she still wasn't tracking any objects at all. I remember holding her in my arms willing her to look at me, to look at my eyes and see me staring back at her. I remember praying that she would be able to SEE me, that I would be able to SEE her SEEING me. Sometimes when I notice her looking at me, and she smiles when she sees me looking back at her, my heart catches in my chest and I say a prayer of gratitude in that very instant for the blessing of that moment.
I'm grateful. And in truth, sometimes I don't even want to write about it because - well, Lucy is just Lucy and I would love her no matter what stage she's at in her development. But I also want to remember. Because now that she's seeing so well, it's sometimes hard to remember how worried we were, how faithful and frequent our prayers were, and how much peace we felt through the Holy Ghost. It's easy to echo our Opthomologist's opinion that she's lucky to have ended up developing so well. But when I go back and read and remember where we were at, I can see nothing but the hand of the Lord in her life. I see the miracles and blessings and I am reminded that it's not by chance that she is where she is. She has been blessed with miracle after miracle and I stand as a witness of the power of God in her life. So right now, when I'm not sure that she will ever be able to ride a bike or drive a car. When I'm not sure what her future holds. I will write it down so that someday Lucy will be able to see the hand of the Lord in her life, too.
I thought to start this post off with an update on Lucy's Nystagmus and Albinism:
(mostly for ease of finding it later)
Lucy is seeing better than I could even have hoped for when we first got her diagnosis at 3 months and she still wasn't tracking any objects at all. I remember holding her in my arms willing her to look at me, to look at my eyes and see me staring back at her. I remember praying that she would be able to SEE me, that I would be able to SEE her SEEING me. Sometimes when I notice her looking at me, and she smiles when she sees me looking back at her, my heart catches in my chest and I say a prayer of gratitude in that very instant for the blessing of that moment.
Lucy's Nystagmus gets more severe when it's late and she's tired. During the day, although her eyes move from side to side with rhythmic regularity, it doesn't seem to bother her and it doesn't seem so sporadic or frantic. She is starting to develop a head tilt where she drops her chin to look out the top of her eyes. They call this a null point and they say it's because her vision tends to be more stable/focused there and so small children will learn to focus their eyes there to try to see better. It's not a big deal and I refuse to let it be a big deal for her, but it's something we've noticed.
Lucy's Albinism has become more of an issue now that it's summer. I took her outside for just a minute, but got distracted chatting with a friend. We were only out for about 15 minutes but she got an intense sunburn all over her head, arms, and legs. I felt awful about it and decided to chalk it up to a learning lesson - Lucy really can't be outside without sunprotection. (I guess it was good to learn because part of me wondered the extent of what we really needed to do and now we know.) We have a UV Protection, full coverage swimsuit that I zip up overtop of her clothes when we go outside, plus a sunhat, sunscreen and sunglasses. She leaves her sun hat alone almost ALL of the time. Also, she has just started wearing her sunglasses really well, too. We hadn't had her wearing them because she never kept them on for more than 2 seconds, but we were outside and she was squinting her eyes so I stuck them on her. Almost immediately she straightened her back and looked around and you could just tell that she noticed how much better she felt with them on. She has never once tried to pull them off after that. So, sunglasses + hats for life. We're figuring it out.
I'm grateful. And in truth, sometimes I don't even want to write about it because - well, Lucy is just Lucy and I would love her no matter what stage she's at in her development. But I also want to remember. Because now that she's seeing so well, it's sometimes hard to remember how worried we were, how faithful and frequent our prayers were, and how much peace we felt through the Holy Ghost. It's easy to echo our Opthomologist's opinion that she's lucky to have ended up developing so well. But when I go back and read and remember where we were at, I can see nothing but the hand of the Lord in her life. I see the miracles and blessings and I am reminded that it's not by chance that she is where she is. She has been blessed with miracle after miracle and I stand as a witness of the power of God in her life. So right now, when I'm not sure that she will ever be able to ride a bike or drive a car. When I'm not sure what her future holds. I will write it down so that someday Lucy will be able to see the hand of the Lord in her life, too.
Other things I want to remember about our tiny Lucy right now:
-This month she started to STAND! She started by being able to pull herself up only on smaller objects, but by the end of the month she could even pull herself up on the couch. She's not cruising furniture yet, and hasn't started letting go to stand on her own yet, but it's so exciting to see her start standing up!
-As much as Lucy loves standing up, she has another favorite trick that she loves even more. I went on a weekend trip about a week and a half before her birthday and while I was gone she learned to CRAWL UP THE STAIRS! She had never even crawled up one step before and immediate she became a professional stair climber. Now if the gate is left open for even one minute, she will see it and start heading up the stairs. It's hilarious because you can see the moment that she notices the gate is open. She always turns back to see if anyone has seen her start her beeline and if I don't happen to notice, she starts happily yelling about halfway up, trying to get my attention to her impressive skills, then as soon as I come to get her she starts speeding up trying to race to the top. She's so fun.
Also, now that she's more mobile she gets into a lot of mischief. Sometimes that means her siblings try to keep her away from the things they are playing with. I came into the kitchen and they had blocked her into the kitchen with a plethora of chairs and toys. She was not happy about it.
=
More illustration of her adventures: Pulling bread out of the fridge AND out of the bag. Pulling herself to stand on the kitchen stool and being SO proud.
Other funny tidbits about her personality right now. -She'll be crawling around and then randomly lay down on a rug, or a blanket, or carpet and just lay there for several minutes. It's not even when she's tired or needs to go to bed. She can have recently woken up from a nap and do it, too.
-Lydia has been filling buckets of water for Lucy to play with in the bathroom. Lucy splashes around and gets water all over her and all over the floor and she loves every second. Lydia is so proud and happy that I've just let it slide and haven't made them stop.
-I don't have a picture of this, but she will pull off her hat or bow then try to put it back on again. In fact, she often puts hats, bows, clothes, and random dishtowels/rags on top of her head. Sometimes to play peekaboo with. Sometimes just to crawl around with.
She's super loved around these parts:
-David snuggling Lucy while working from home (BEST part of Covid-19 for sure)
-Lydia reading her books and giving her piggy-backs (which they both love)
-Austin adores her and asks about her right when he wakes up
-As much as Lucy loves standing up, she has another favorite trick that she loves even more. I went on a weekend trip about a week and a half before her birthday and while I was gone she learned to CRAWL UP THE STAIRS! She had never even crawled up one step before and immediate she became a professional stair climber. Now if the gate is left open for even one minute, she will see it and start heading up the stairs. It's hilarious because you can see the moment that she notices the gate is open. She always turns back to see if anyone has seen her start her beeline and if I don't happen to notice, she starts happily yelling about halfway up, trying to get my attention to her impressive skills, then as soon as I come to get her she starts speeding up trying to race to the top. She's so fun.
Also, now that she's more mobile she gets into a lot of mischief. Sometimes that means her siblings try to keep her away from the things they are playing with. I came into the kitchen and they had blocked her into the kitchen with a plethora of chairs and toys. She was not happy about it.
=
More illustration of her adventures: Pulling bread out of the fridge AND out of the bag. Pulling herself to stand on the kitchen stool and being SO proud.
Other funny tidbits about her personality right now. -She'll be crawling around and then randomly lay down on a rug, or a blanket, or carpet and just lay there for several minutes. It's not even when she's tired or needs to go to bed. She can have recently woken up from a nap and do it, too.
-Lydia has been filling buckets of water for Lucy to play with in the bathroom. Lucy splashes around and gets water all over her and all over the floor and she loves every second. Lydia is so proud and happy that I've just let it slide and haven't made them stop.
-I don't have a picture of this, but she will pull off her hat or bow then try to put it back on again. In fact, she often puts hats, bows, clothes, and random dishtowels/rags on top of her head. Sometimes to play peekaboo with. Sometimes just to crawl around with.
She's super loved around these parts:
-David snuggling Lucy while working from home (BEST part of Covid-19 for sure)
-Lydia reading her books and giving her piggy-backs (which they both love)
-Austin adores her and asks about her right when he wakes up
-She's a good eater and is learning to like the bath, which is great.
Some other things from this month:
-Family readathon to mark the end of school.
-Fell asleep in David's arms while social-distance-visiting with Grandma and Grandpa Peaden. Note her sun-attire.
-Went to the Zoo, but stayed in the shade of the stroller the whole time.
-Visting Grandma and Grandpa Walker in Morgan. She LOVES the swing in their backyard.
-Hung out with her fav baby cousin (ha, the only one younger than her... by two months) We love baby Juniper (and her mom and dad). The two girls look so similar, I love them together.
Did I mention that Lydia is her biggest fan? (This is actually a hard award to give, she's pretty adored by all of us.)
I'm right there in the running for biggest fan.
Oh Lucy. We love you. The past year, and especially the past few months have been full of ups and downs. Heavy and scary things contrasted with Peace and Happiness. The rest of your life will be full of those two extremes - that's just the way that life is. But I hope that as your mama I can teach you that both things can be present and life can still be overwhelmingly, valiantly, heartwarmingly good. Knowing where to turn and whose strength to rely on will bless you always. You are strong and brave and you will bring light wherever you go.
Just look at you Lucy-goose. You're ONE!
Just look at you Lucy-goose. You're ONE!
(One year old birthdays are always special, but this is probably the last one year old birthday at our house. It's so sad to let go of the baby stage, but we are excited about the future with this little family of ours.)
No comments:
Post a Comment