One year later...can you believe it! I had to re-post the picture below from one of Charlie's first days. It's hard to believe that he came to us at just over 1 pound. And in this picture we were thrilled that he had surpassed 2 pounds. Crazy to think how far he has come in just one short year.
I still struggle dealing with him being behind - but I think that's expected with most mom's in our same situation. But then I remember back to his first days and think of what an amazing baby he is! It is absolutely amazing to see the progression he's made in only 365 days. I think that Charlie was the strongest out of our bunch during this last year:) He is for sure the strongest one year old I know!
And the cutest!
We recently had our re-evaluation with Early Intervention which is a service that offers different therapies to children with developmental delays - I first thought this program was for teen mothers or people who were not fit to take care of children and declined services. Our neonatologist later explained what the program did - Oops. We saw PT, OT, Developmental Therapy, Speech Therapy and a nutritionist. For their evaluation they use Charlie's adjusted age, which is 9 months. They bucket babies into groups by 3 month increments. And Charlie fell into the 6-9 month category, which is good. He's on the lower end of that scale, but within what the therapists consider acceptable and not necessary to intervene at this point. We are continuing with our physical therapy once a week which I think has helped quite a bit over the 6 months. The great news coming out of the session was that Charlie weighed in at almost 17 pounds - UNBELIEVABLE! I was so excited to hear his gain from our last weigh in. In the last month Charlie has mastered crawling and hasn't sat still since. He is also eating non-stop. People are telling us to just wait until he's a teenager - can't wait:)
I know that we have aways to go before Charlie is "caught-up", but who knows what that really means any way. Kids do thing at totally different times and I'm seeing that first hand with friends and new people that we meet. Charlie is doing a fantastic job at being Charlie and has a lot of people I know wrapped around his little fingers! He's figuring everything out on his own and at his own pace. We'll take him and I think he'll keep us;)
Chuck and I want to again THANK EVERYONE that has supported us this last year. Our friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, Facebook friends, college friends, friends from back home and friends that may not have spoken to in a long time, thank you all for your kinds words, texts, emails, thoughts and prayers. We could not have gotten through this last year without you. You mean so much to us!
On Sunday we celebrated Charlie's first birthday at our home in Riverside. It was a wonderful day, we had beautiful weather and a great group of people to share the day with. Below are probably too many photos to share on a blog, but I'm going to anyway;) Enjoy!
Drinks: Juice boxes, water, mimosas. That's enough drinks, right?
Our party couldn't be complete without a photo booth! Special thanks to Emily Laughlin for being the best photo assistant ever!
And our photo booth pictures begin...
A poll was taken, and Miss Maisy was voted most popular and cute at the photo booth!
Look, we all look like Michael and Jamie's senior pictures!!!
And now for the cake!
Not too bad for his first try at dessert!
After the party winded down, we went inside for presents and more drinking...
In case you wondered what a baby bellhop looked like, look no further! Emily found the cutest party hat for Charlie that looked more like Charlie worked in the hospitality industry.
Our birthday boy post-party photo shoot. Our token #1 onesie:)
Chuck and I have made it through one year! Woohoo! We are so blessed to have him home and healthy. He is such a funny, sweet, adorable little baby and we can't wait to see what he does next...
Happy 1st Birthday Charlie!
