1 Year Stats

Sipsey's one year checkup was Dec. 30, and it was not as happy as the previous ones. Her weight was 19 lbs 8 oz (25th %tile) and her length was 30 inches (75th %tile). Her weight and length aren't the problems though. The doctor heard a heart murmur. She said it is probably nothing and will hopefully go away on its own. Then they did a CBC (complete blood count) from a toe prick to test Sipsey's blood levels. At her 9 month checkup, Sipsey was a little anemic and the doc wanted to see if it had gotten better. It had gotten worse. Sipsey was very anemic this time, so they wanted to draw more blood to run more tests. I don't even know what they're testing for. I failed to ask any important questions. We were there for almost 3 hours and I was a little overwhelmed. They had to draw the blood from her arm! It was so sad! I had to hold her, and she was so pitiful. And this was after getting three shots and a toe prick. I'm anxious to hear the results! After finding out that her red blood count was low, the doctor did tell me that's probably where the heart murmur came from. Sipsey doesn't have as many red blood cells as she should, so her heart is having to pump extra hard to get the appropriate amount of blood through her body. Hopefully this is all nothing that an iron supplement can't fix. Besides all that, Sipsey is a happy one year old!

Trying out a doughnut on her first birthday.

We ended up giving her the usual banana for breakfast.

The Alabama outfit that the teachers at daycare had on her the Monday after the AU v UA game when Ben went to pick her up! We gave it back the next day.

Just thinkin' about the day.

I left the Huggies wipes box from Sam's on the floor the other day and Sipsey is in love! She climbs in and out over and over and puts all her toys in there with her. It is hilarious. She also will not let me put anything on her head like bows or a hat so we preoccupied her with animal crackers and the hat lasted about 5 minutes instead of 5 seconds!

Notice the mouth full of crackers. I'm sure she put at least 2 in at once.

She's packing up to go somewhere!

Sipsey loves her Daddy who gives her all the snacks!

Yum!

Sipsey's First Birthday Party

We had it at my mom's house in Dothan the Saturday after Christmas, since we were already there for the holiday. It was a success! Out of all the things that could go wrong, Sipsey's first birthday party went off without a hitch. Well, we didn't quite have all the food ready when the guests got there (we did let Anna and Katie make the chicken salad sandwiches - thank you!) and the birthday girl was asleep for about the first 20 minutes of the party, BUT we didn't have any MAJOR problems. For a week that started out with a fever of 103.6 for several days that would not go away, a visit to the ER, a diagnosis of croup and bronchiolitis, a prescription for prednisone (a drug I would NEVER recommend BTW - see next statement), a sleepless night from hell with a baby HALLUCINATING from prednisone, a trip to a pediatrician (mind you we are out of town, new patient paperwork, etc.), a diagnosis of an ear infection, a confirmation of NO croup or bronchiolitis, a prescription for a strong antibiotic, and finally a well baby by Christmas, I was wondering what else might go wrong.

SIDE NOTE: To all ER physicians, please learn how to properly look into babies' ears. I know they are small and intimidating, but you just might surprise yourself in the ear infections you could diagnose.

Sipsey enjoyed an exciting afternoon with close friends and family. She especially loved opening all the gifts. Thank you to everyone who came! Y'all are so special to us and I can't wait for Sipsey to grow up and realize what a lucky girl she is! Here are some pictures from Sipsey's special day.

The spread. The birthday hat and other bluebird decorations are from gaddieandtood.com. I highly recommend it!

Flowers from the garden of Penney aka Sweet P.

Cupcakes!

The cake. The bluebirds and the candle are from my first birthday! Can you believe that?!

We wanted to have a bluebird theme because my mom calls Sipsey her "little bluebird" and because of the cake decorations.

Sipsey and Papa (my dad's dad).

Sipsey with Katie. The picture is a little washed out from the flash. I got a new camera for Christmas and was experimenting. I thought it was still a cute picture though.

Sipsey and the birthday cake. Notice her focusing on the candle---bad idea.

We tried to get her to blow out the candle; she grabbed it instead. She didn't burn herself. She was terrified when the whole room screamed!

This is as far into the cake as she got. She made one hole in it and poked her finger in it over and over. We froze the cake for next year...or maybe sooner when I think she'll like it!

She kinda liked the icing.

Sipsey loves taking things in and out of bags right now. I can't leave my purse, her diaper bag, groceries bags, or anything like that lying around.

Sipsey loves her new cell phone! And her new chair which was too big for us bring back!

All clean and ready for bed! She was climbing on this chair and diving head first onto the floor over and over and laughing about it while tripping out on prednisone earlier in the week.

Sipsey's First (Real) Christmas

Sipsey had a great first real Christmas. Last year she was exactly 7 days old and I don't think Ben and I even acknowledged that it was Christmas. My dad's side of the family gathered at my Aunt Laura's house Christmas night for some good food and gifts. Sipsey got lots of pretty new clothes and toys and had so much fun playing with everyone...well playing with everyone from a distance. Separation anxiety is in full effect. Notice that in most of these pictures, she is sitting IN my lap. Sitting on the floor next to her or behind her wasn't close enough. It had to be in my lap. If someone wanted to hold her, they pretty much had to do it in another room where she wouldn't see me. These pictures are from my aunt's camera, which I got from facebook. I uploaded my pics on my mom's computer and I must've deleted them from my memory card after that.

Anna, Sipsey, and me. Anna was feeding her ham, which she is crazy about!

Chewing on oranges that we had just rolled across floor to her. Yum! The bow is a rare accessory. I snuck it in while Anna was feeding her ham.

Playing with Aunt Donna.

Sliding across the floor in a orange box.

Sipsey being silly. We brought the black bag filled with toys to entertain her. I didn't know the oranges and the ham would do the job for us!

Playing with her new doll's eyes. She loves to open and close them.

Happy First Birthday Sipsey!

Happy First Birthday to my Sipsey girl! Right now I am in a beautiful guest house on St. Simon's Island for my friend Lindsay's wedding! Sipsey's birthday was Thursday, December 18. We woke her up and sang happy birthday to her. She had no idea anything was different. We gave her a Krispey Kreme doughnut for breakfast and she hated it! She was not a fan of the sugar coming off on her hands. So she had her regular banana for breakfast. We had to get on the road to St. Simon's that day, so we only got to spend a few hours with her. BUT we are having a BLAST in St. Simon's. It's like a second honeymoon with all our friends here! I would write a wonderfully sappy, touching, sentimental blog, but I have to be at a rehearsal dinner in about an hour, and I don't want to be red and puffy from crying! You can imagine how special these few days in December will always be to me. Ben and I were over the moon after welcoming such a wonderful, perfect baby into the world (ok she was a little stubborn fireball at first!) but little did I know that it would be the last time I ever saw my dad. I always take myself back to those days and wish I had paid more attention to him and cherished each moment with him at the hospital. It flew by in a hurry and in four short weeks my world felt like it might crumble to the ground. Sipsey has helped this family in more ways than she will ever know grieve through such a sudden loss of a wonderful man who was so proud to be a grandfather for the first time. We love you Sipsey! You have helped me through a dark spot during a time that should be so joyful. Ben and I are lucky to be your parents!

Waiting to have a baby! I was 40 weeks and 5 days. Induction, here we come!

Mom, Dad, and me

Newborn Sipsey!

First family photo. I look slightly exhausted!

Pops and Sipsey

Sweet P, Granny, and Sipsey

Aunt Laura, Carly, Mom, Sipsey, and Colby

Me with Lindsay, whose wedding weekend I'm at RIGHT NOW! She's an OB/GYN intern at UAB. A very good contact to have!

The little fireball. She looked like this A LOT when she was laid on her back. We went to stomach sleeping at about 1 week after getting NO SLEEP. No need to report the dangers of stomach sleeping. We're well-aware.

Going home with Little Bo Peep!

Ho Ho Ho!

Today we took Sipsey to see Santa at Brookwood Mall. I don't know what she told him that she wanted for Christmas, but her face didn't change from the expression in the picture below. He must've told her something that dumbfounded her! At least she wasn't screaming. The baby in front of us did and she was older than Sipsey. I wanted to take a picture because it was hilarious! Don't worry, I stopped myself. Then after their picture printed and it wasn't good enough, they made them do a retake, making us all wait longer. And the baby cried...again. If anyone reading lives in Birmingham, the KB Toys at Brookwood must be going out of business because everything in there is 30-50% off. So go there to stock up on last minute gifts!

Seriously, get me outta here!

Eating the free sugar cookies that we got just for sitting in Santa's lap!

Thank You

Thank you to all the bloggers who replied to my cake post. I got some really great suggestions. We found someone in Dothan to bake Sipsey's cake and cupcakes who is willing to do it the day after Christmas. Her grandson is celebrating his birthday the same weekend, and she will already be baking for him. I'll take lots of pictures because I think/hope/pray that it's gonna be really cute and a lot of fun. I found a lady online who makes the most adorable party invitations and decorations. I'm expecting everything in the mail tomorrow. Here's a little taste of the theme of the party:

This little bird will be on a lot of the decorations.

This bird and cake will be on some of the decorations and this cake flag will probably go in a flower arrangement (compliments of Penney). It is a total coincidence that it has my name on it!

I'm so excited. I hope Sipsey feels okay on the day of party. I know I've got time, but I had to take her to the doctor today and she has another ear infection! It's only in one ear this time and it's not too severe. The doc thinks the antibiotic didn't kill it all last time, so she gave us a Rx for some stronger stuff this time. And because a blog isn't complete without pictures, here is how I found Sipsey the other morning when she wouldn't go down for her nap.

Notice that the bumper is ripped from the ties. I knew we had a wild one from this post. I'm leaving them in there because she loves to hide her face behind them and she sleeps under the part that is hanging down in the picture!

Thanksgiving

Ha! So I'm a little late with this one, but I want it for my own memories, so here's how our Thanksgiving went. It was our year to spend Thanksgiving with Ben's family. His parents decided to come see us instead of us packing up ALL the baby stuff to travel to Georgia. It was wonderful. We had bourbon glazed HAM (no turkey on Thanksgiving...I'm sure the Pilgrims had some pork too!), potatoes au gratin, pole beans, blackeyed peas, and homemade banana pudding for dessert. It was yummy and I wish we cooked like that everyday! Sipsey had a blast on her first Thanksgiving. She LOVES ham! We had it for leftovers several meals afterwards and that's all she would want to eat. I was glad when we ran out because I was afraid she was getting a salt overload at dinner every night! Here are some pictures from Sipsey's first Thanksgiving.