One. Really???

Piper the day after she was born and the day before surgery.  The first time I got to hold her, and our first pictures as a family.

I simply cannot believe that our little teeny-weeny is one.  ONE.  Really???  Can it actually be possible? 

I cannot believe everything that’s happened this year.  Two months in the NICU, two major surgeries, several dozen doctor’s appointments, countless weigh-ins…

…smiles, laughs, development of personality, independent sitting, skooching, defying odds, undeniable cuteness.  Need I go on?

Everyone says that if they could only have seen into the future to know that everything was going to be okay, they wouldn’t have been so worried to start with.

Last year, when we got our prenatal diagnosis, I thought our world had been irreversibly changed.  Nothing would ever the be the same again.  Our plans were ruined.

And I was right.  Nothing will ever be the same.  We have changed.  And we are not living our plan.  And we couldn’t be more thrilled.

To say that Piper has altered our world would be a very vast understatement. 

We’re stronger as a family.  We’re (okay, I’m) more willing to slow down and take things one day at a time.  I pay more attention to the little things and take nothing for granted.  But I don’t dwell on the things that don’t really matter.  I have fun every day. 

We were so close to losing our little girl that day.  We couldn’t be more thankful to have her in our lives.  She’s made us who we are. 

Why God deemed us fit to have her in our family, I’m sure we’ll never know.  We used to wonder in dismay “Why us???”.  We still wonder, but it’s changed to “How did we get so lucky???”

Happy Birthday, little girl.  You make our world go ‘round!