ONE!

One year ago today, I got induced to give birth to my precious little boy. I didn't know what was in store for me and my family. My perfect baby was born at 4pm and it was magical, love at first sight. February 21, 2011, is a day I will NEVER forget; it is the day our lives changed. Since that day, our lives have been full of ups and downs. Some of the downs: doctor visits, countless echocardiograms, three hospital stays, more pokes and pricks than I can count, a staph infection, and most importantly, SURGERIES. But, now I am done looking at the downs from this past year. Today is a day to CELEBRATE the most perfect blessing God could have given me and all the achievements Michael has accomplished. This year, Michael has not only fought for every day he has but he has also rolled over, sat up on his own, army crawled (so long I started to worry about his development), eventually regular crawled (FINALLY), pulled himself up to standing, walked along furniture and while holding my hands, and learned to say "mama" (his first word) and "dada". You'd never know that my son had such a rough year just by looking at him. He is PERFECT in EVERY way. His perfect little heart beats perfect, washer-sounding beats, and though sometimes his blue color scares me and the fact I can feel his murmur through his chest terrifies me, he's still here. His precious little heart is still beating. He's such a fighter and all the fight he's put into every day is finally paying off. He's getting better and for now, that's all I can ask for.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MICHAEL!!! I love you more than I could ever put into words.