Happy 1st Birthday Mia!

Sweet Baby Girl,

Mommy and Daddy love you so much. You are 1 today...we can't believe it has been a whole year. You've had quite a year sweetheart and we want you to know how much we love you and how we are so proud of you. You've been through quite a lot and so we wanted to reflect back on your year for you.

1 year ago you came into this world at 1:03pm. We didn't know if you were going to be a boy or a girl, but when the doctor said, it's a girl...Mommy and Daddy looked at each other and were so happy. Mia, we said, her name is Mia. We already knew you had a blocked intestine, but in a little bit we were going to find out some more things that weren't quite right.

They weighed you and took your measurements. You weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces and you were 16 3/4 inches long. Today you are now 15 pounds 4 ounces and 27 inches long. Sometimes we call you our long string bean because you are skinny and long. Considering how much you were in the hospital this last year, we think gaining 10 pounds is quite an accomplishment.

When they were looking you over they found out you didn't have an anal opening and then they did some more checking and realized your heart didn't finish closing off the four chambers, so all your blood was mixing a bit, and you had a blocked nostril. You looked beautiful to us, it was hard to believe that we made you...well, we know God truly made you, but he used your Mommy and your Daddy to help. Daddy always tells Mommy, you baked a beautiful baby...and it's true...you are beautiful.

Of the 366 days in the past year (it was a leap year!), you've spent 97 in the hospital. Mommy did the math and that is 27% of your first year. It was not a fun way to spend 1/4 of the first year, but you were such a trooper and such a good baby that all the nurses wanted to take care of you. Mommy didn't want to figure out all the days we made trips to LA and other places for doctor visits, but she figures we do alot of the doctor/therapy/hospital stuff. Our prayer is to do alot less of that this coming year! You also went through 4 surgeries this past year. The first one was to fix your blocked intestine, which happened when you were 1 day old. The second one was to keep your heart from going into heart failure with a PA Band, that one happened when you were 13 days old. The third one was to fix your blocked nostril and the fourth one was because your skull had fused early. That was the hardest one because you had a stroke during the surgery, but God has been faithful and He continues to heal you inspite of the bleak outlook the doctors gave us, and we want to give Him all the glory for that.

You've been quite a testimony of God's healing power and grace for alot of people sweet pea. You've impacted so many people all over the world, it's amazing to see how God has used your little life in such a big way, but the Bible says, when we are weak, He is strong, and that is so true. Over the past year, God has helped you to learn how to sit, roll over, and bang on drums (maybe you'll be a drummer someday). He's helped you to gain ability with your left hand and that keeps improving each day. He's given you the ability to speak...you've got quite a bit of baby babble happening already. He's allowed you to see and know who your Mommy and Daddy are even when the doctors told us that wouldn't happen. God is so good baby girl and He continues to take care of you, we are grateful.

Why Mia Danielle? Well, when Mommy and Daddy found out we were going to have a baby, we didn't want to know until you were born if you were going to be a boy or a girl. But we immediately settled on Mia if you were a girl because we both loved that name so much. It was a real easy decision. We had alot harder time thinking of a boy name for you, so we were real glad when you were a girl! Danielle was chosen after your Grandpa Dan who passed away 6 years before you were born, in fact, your birthday is on the day that he went to heaven to be with God. We think that is pretty special, we didn't plan it, but God knew. He knew long before you were born that you would be born on that day. And He knew you would be born with all these complications and He is using it for His glory.

We couldn't have imagined a sweeter, more precious, baby girl. We love making you laugh and watching you grow up. We don't expect this coming year to be easy either, but we know that if we put God first, He'll help us through everything.

We love you all of it baby girl,
Mommy and Daddy