Happy 1st Birthday Gracie!!!!

You made it baby, you made it to your 1st birthday, you are my hero!! There were days where we honestly didn't know if you would make it through the night, but you always pulled through and surprised us all. It is amazing that after all you have been through you can still smile and laugh.

I know I post so many pictures and many times they look very similar, but these ones are my favorites from our most recent 'photo shot.' I feel like each of these photos shows a different side of my Gracie girl.

Gracie still lags behind quite drastically compared to other one year olds and even to many of her heart buddies who were born around the same time as her, but she is doing wonderfully considering spending almost an accumulated 6 months of her life in the hospital.

Grace is sitting up with support and absolutely loves her jumper, it is hilarious to see her get excited while in it, she just goes wild. Though she isn't eating much more than formula, she loves to suck on cheese puffs and carrots until she gets some on the back of her tongue and gags on it.

She still hates tummy time and putting weight on her legs, but we can get her to do almost anything when Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is on---she gets into a zone, kicks her legs in excitement and talks to the TV (I'll have to get video of it).

Though this year has been extremely hard and stressful and at times almost more than we could handle, we would go through it all over again just to have our sweet Gracie girl with us smiling and flashing her beautiful all encompassing eyes at us.

Grace, we hope this next year is filled with so much more joy and happiness and a lot less time at Primary's.