Happy Birthday, Little Treasure

What a difference a year makes. Oh, what a cliche, but oh, how so very true. I somehow seem to have been propelled at high speed into the future and arrived here a year later with a little one year old treasure who has added so much to my life, (while at the same time subtracting so much from my accumulative hours of sleep!!) At one year of age you generally expect to put your little girl to bed at a reasonable time and go to bed yourself expecting to wake up in the morning-NOT 2am, 4am and 6am!!!

This little girl has me wrapped around her little finger and herself well entrenched in our bed. To give her her due, she's mannerly in her demands and doesn't cry and wail all night and really it's my own fault. The truth is I really look forward to her night-time intrusions and even though I'm awake, I'm asleep!

Take Over Bid

With our first few babies we had this idea that the baby HAD TO SLEEP IN HER COT AT ALL COSTS-the cost generally turned out to be hours and hours of valuable sleep lost trying to settle a tot who would have slept happily between us, allowing us all a decent night's rest. By the time Peter came along, through no conscious decision making process, he simply came in with us from time to time and slept in his cot most other times. No big deal. Now he comes in once in a blue moon just for a few minutes cuddle and reassurance and then he heads back to his own bed.

It's the same with Louise and we're wondering why we wasted so much time and energy year in year out over something which is ultimately so temporary...neither of our teenagers ever come to sleep in our bed. Our pre-teen never comes to sleep in our bed. Our tween never comes to sleep in our bed. Time passes and before you know it the children are not only not in your bed-they're not even in your house.

I once worked with a lovely lady who was close to retiring age. She had reared 11 children and had been widowed quite a number of years. Out of the 11, only one daughter lived about 50 miles away and all the others lived abroad. I'm sure there were times when they were all small she had wondered whether she could brush her hair in peace...now she lived alone in the farmhouse she had reared her large family in. Silence. I sometimes think of her at times when I'm wishing for that 'ME time' and remember to be careful what I wish for-I might just get it some day!!

So we're enjoying our night time cuddles while we have them. John sort of enjoys the nightly pummeling of tiny restless sleepy feet on his back as the baby cuckoo tries to eradicate the competition. I sort of enjoy sidling closer and closer to the edge of the bed to accommodate this baby koala bear making sure she's no more than 2 millimeters away from Mummy at all times. ( Might I recommend Boots No.7 Under Eye Miracle Worker!! )

Anyway, as you can read in the neurologist's report, Louise has surpassed all our hopes as regards her neurological development and we don't need to see him again presuming nothing changes. The good thing about having awareness about her Dandy-Walker is that if she starts getting recurrent headaches or any other symptny time in her life (as sometimes happens in DW) we will be immediately alert as to this possible cause and not simply put it down to migraine or something minor. Quick intervention will be guaranteed. Hopefully we'll never need it but forewarned is forearmed.

When we visited the cardiologist recently he repeated how pleased he is with Louise-her colour is great, even better than expected. He again said though it's FAR too early to tell until Louise gets walking and running around putting the lower body circulation to the test, some (as in a very few) children never require the last operation.

"so basically we're looking at anything between age 3 and never?" I asked.

"NEVER sounds good..." he replied.

OH I know I shouldn't get my hopes up but who wouldn't? Imagine if she never had to go through that again...that really WOULD be a dream come true!! In the meantime, continue with all the medications, check-ups and an MRI at 13 kilos with the plan to operate when she's 15 kilos. It's deliberately not something I allow myself to think about just now. We'll be given the strength to live through that day if it comes just like we were given the strength to live through that worrying pregnancy and the two surgeries. Before this all happened I used to wonder how parents coped in situations like this (and worse) but for sure God sends whatever graces are needed. When you're not in a situation and just anticipating or worrying about something that 'might' happen, you don't have the God-given grace to cope with that thing so it seems like an unmanageable burden. When you actually have that burden, I believe that's when God kicks in and carries the majority of the load. I don't think He was joking when He advised us

"Come to me, all who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.....For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

OH WOW!!! That means a lot to me now!! My burden is light...WHAT burden? Louise is far from a burden, she's full of life, she's affectionate, cuddly, beautiful and everyone whose life she has brushed has benefited from her. Her sufferings as a tiny baby have made us and others look at our own small discomforts and complaints and see them in a different and more realistic light. Let's face it-aren't most of the things we whinge and whine and lose our peace over nothing but the normal pin pricks of life which we blow out of all proportion. A bit of the old Me, Me, Me culture?

On Friday last Louise turned one year of age. Considering we'd had an extra special celebration for her Christening, we decided we wanted her birthday to be understated so we marked the day with the grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins attending evening mass in the parish in thanksgiving for Louise and to acknowledge the little miracle she is.

We followed up with champagne and a lovely cake made by me and designed by Rebecca (though we spent so much time looking at ideas for 1st birthday cakes online it was a big rush to actually make it :-) )

Click this TINY link ....

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It was a very special evening.

Thank You God for all you have done for this little treasure.

And Thank You for picking US!!