Our Gentle Giant Turns Two

We just celebrated Mila's second birthday!  I haven't had time to blog because we've been too busy with our gal pals.  Sarah, Elaina, and Na Na (Sarah's mom), came to spend a week with us!  It was so special for them to be here while we kicked off Mila's birthday week.  We didn't do a lot of touristy stuff, but we had tons of coffee talk, laughs, and great food.  In fact, Na Na cooked for us on Mila's birthday...BBQ pork chops, stewed zucchini and squash, fresh string beans, corn on the cob, cucumbers/tomatoes in vinegar, and southern style country cornbread!  Are you hungry yet?  Michael and I were loving some southern cookin' :)  There was very few moments that Sarah and Na Na were not cleaning, straightening up, cooking, playing with the girls.  Elaina was OBSESSED with Mila!  Not kidding.  From the time she got off the plane, she called Mila's name 123,536,254,274 times a day.  She had to be kissing, petting, hugging, touching, or playing with Mila during every waking moment.  It was by far the sweetest week we have ever experienced.  The girls played so well together and knew exactly when to break away and play by themselves.  We were so sad to see them leave.  I want to live with them forever!

Even though this past year has been extremely hard, it's also been amazingly joyous and empowering.  My Mila is stronger than anyone I know, and she continues to overcome any obstacle placed before her.  Her hard work never goes unnoticed in this house :).  In preparation for planning her party, the theme was obvious!  I didn't want an extravagant party, but I did want her to have the biggest, baddest, NEMO cake possible!  I was fortunate enough to be given a name of a local woman who has a cake business.  I sent her an email of exactly what I wanted.  She called me immediately and said not only could she do it, but she was excited about doing it!  I'm pretty sure she spent a solid week just making the characters that would ornament the cake.  We invited her therapists, their kids, and a little boy from her kindermusik class to join in our celebration and cake fest.  They all showed up and made this year even more special!

We established care with a new pediatrician, Dr. Bagnall, whom I think I'm really going to be pleased with.  She was eager to refer us for a few needs I spoke of and gave me her email address to contact her at anytime.  We went in for a quick well visit.  It's been so long since Mila has had immunizations so I didn't want to rock the happy boat :)  However, she did weigh 28lbs and was 36.5" tall!  She literally grew 1.5" in a month.  Needless to say, we have nicknamed her our "gentle giant."  Although she looks like her daddy, I think she managed to snag the "tall" gene from my side of the family :).

Mila continues to work on walking with assistance, cruising, and purposeful play.  We still have a lot of work to do, but we are hopeful that Mila will continue to progress and persevere! PS...there is a Global Genes Project Summit in California in September, with focus on "Empowering Patient Advocates to Become Successful Activists," and I get to attend!! I'm so excited about meeting new people, tapping into resources, and building networks of strong families who fight the struggle everyday!