It Takes a Village: Getting Baby Joan Home

From 760 grams to this. Friday was a beautiful day, full of emotion with Gratitude in the lead. This baby girl has come through so much in 12 months, and her journey has taught me so much about myself, too. While I’d love to have a HUGE celebration of this little Miracle’s first birthday, we very happily had our cohort family for cake and cider yesterday afternoon. ... Joan loved her first cake (fluffy coconut flour vanilla cake with a honey Swiss meringue icing, and a homegrown berry sauce with chia and maple syrup), and enjoyed snuggling cousins and uncles and aunties. we are so blessed to have family nearby. A WhatsApp video visit to our sweet NICU auntie in the hospital, and then family time with just the 7 of us, made for a perfect birthday. I’m so thankful for her, and I’m looking forward to her next year. See more

I just realized that I didn’t share this 3 weeks ago!

You need an update, right? I thought so. Oh my goodness. Little Miss Independent is at that stage that we often find one year olds, where the independence kicks in and the frustration at not being able to do things for one‘a self becomes evident. She is 51 weeks old today, but adjusted she’s most 8.5 months. As a preemie, she’s teeny tiny, wearing 3-6 months clothes now. ... And while most of her developmental milestones are on par with an 8-9 month old, there are glimpses of her as an older child. Socially, she is older, and now this reaction to me feeding her beets/turnips/pumpkin/carrots/turkey/schmaltz rather than letting HER do it. We are close to celebrating her first birthday, and this little miracle brings us such joy.

Ahhhh! This baby. Who would NOT be in love with this smile? This smile is on her face from the moment she wakes up until the moment she goes to bed, whenever she catches one of her loves looking at her. Without exception, this is the happiest baby I have ever met. You can tell my other kids, that’s fine. They know.

This baby is too cute. So many photos to choose from and while none are with the marker octopus, you get the gist! She’s growing and changing and so so happy. We’re in love! She loves eating and nursing, kittens and we dog and her sisters and brothers... she loves snuggling with her parents from 5-6am, and she finds us all very amusing. This girl has our hearts- thanks for letting us share her.