Two Years Old!

Today my baby turned two. I was anticipating being sad - two years old, already, where has the time gone? Today came with a whole different set of emotions instead. I'm happy - she has turned into the most adorable blond curly haired, blue eyed, chatter boxed little girl. We've come so far and I still go by the motto "Life gets a little easier every day", which was my motto from day one of bringing my new baby girl home from the hospital with a just-turned-two year old at home as well.

Last night I glanced at the clock and the memories of me thinking maybe I should go to the hospital three weeks away from my due date came to me. I was monitored for contractions and the next morning decided that it was time to do my repeat C-Section. Tonight around 5:00 I was thinking back to where we were at THAT time two years ago. I was laying in a hospital bed, unable to move much of my body and in pain. I had no real idea of what was going on, I was far too out of it. My baby was in the warmer still, on oxygen, struggling to keep her O2 sats up. My only thought was "if my baby is going to be transferred out of here, I'm going to find SOME WAY to get out of this bed and go with her." She's been a fighter from the start!

Last year at this time we were a mess! After our horror GI visit at 8 months old, we'd barely been hanging in there. I had just recently weaned her  from breastfeeding and we were "experimenting" with some sort of a formula she could tolerate. I knew that at one year we'd have an allergist appointment so we held onto hope. We went from Enfamil to Nutramigen to Soy Milk, all with no progress. Shortly after Kara's first birthday she went on a total elimination diet, which meant taking ALL foods from Kara and finding a baseline on Neocate. I'd never even HEARD of baseline before, let alone had any clue of how we were going to manage. What was to come were the best weeks Kara has ever had! Neocate, followed by corn grits and kix cereal became her only food, slowly having bananas mixed in for some flavor. We have, in the last year, added 18 foods to Kara's safe food list. Each trialed roughly a week at a time, sometimes shorter, sometimes longer. It's been a long year, full of ups and downs but we have made major progress looking back at where we have been!

Kara Lynne, you will never cease to amaze me. Life is sometimes a struggle but in my eyes you are nothing but a fighter. You put a smile on my face every.single.day and my life is that much more complete with you in it. I love you Baby Girl, my Little Diva!