One Year

Last year on this day I woke up a mother of one and went to bed a mother of two. It has been the longest and shortest year of my life all at the same time. Braden came to us completely unexpectedly exactly 6 weeks before his due date. I knew we were in store for some complications, but I had no idea what the next few months would hold. Braden started out in the NICU and suffered a collapsed lung the day after he was born. All in all, he spent 13 days in the hospital. Bringing him home was such a joy! Mersadie finally got to meet her younger brother and our life as a family of 4 began. Read about Braden's birth story here. Read about the rest of his journey here.

By December, I knew something with Braden was just not right. After numerous doctor visits, x-rays, exams and a G.I. specialist, and a span of 5 months, I finally figured out that he was allergic to cows milk. We put him on a special amino-acid based formula. This solved almost everything and everybody (especially me) started getting A LOT more sleep!!

Even though he was a preemie, Braden has met most developmental milestones on time. He started rolling over around 5 months and sat up at 6 1/2 months. He started crawling a little late for his actual age, but right on time for gestational age - at about 10 months. As soon as he could crawl, he would go straight to whatever he could pull up on and cruise around it, so I'm sure the walking thing is right around the corner!

Through this year, nothing has stopped this boy from flashing a huge smile (well, maybe getting picked on by Sadie doesn't make him smile, but everything else does)! He is such a joy and we are so excited to see what this next year holds for our birthday boy! Happy birthday to the most wonderful son anyone could ever ask for...we love you Little B!!!