Already?! H oly Cow!

So my little mover and shaker has finally accomplished the greatest desire of her little heart-she walks! My life will never be the same. On February 13th (friday the 13th, no less) she took her first steps. It was a wonderful end to an otherwise disheartening day. Kevin and I are very excited. I don't think she fully realizes what she's doing yet. She doesn't quite trust herself to walk to things that are not me or Kevin, but she can take several steps by herself and she's pretty quick. She can also maneuver adeptly around our coffee table and couch. I think she's pretty excited about it too. She smiles and laughs when she's walking as if to say, "Mom, look at me! Look at me!"

Her crawling is getting better, too. She's pretty good with her army crawl, although she doesn't like it much. She has resigned to the crawling because it's her only form of independent self transportation at the moment. I know once she figures out all of the implications of walking she will resort to that. She grows more curious (and more independent) every day. She wants to touch everything and put everything in her mouth.

Another milestone she reached was her first illness. She has something call Bronchialitis. It's more than a cold but not quite bronchitis, I think. She has to do breathing treatments and take a steroid to open up her lungs. She's doing really well, though. By the way she plays you can't tell she's sick and nothing (not even mucus rattling around in her lungs) will keep her from walking. Hopefully she won't be sick for too much longer, but my little miracle continues to amaze me. She recognizes me, now and calls me when she need something. She has the most amazing smile and the most beautiful expressions. I love her.

Baby's First Christmas and beyond

so Megan made out like a bandit on Christmas (as expected). Grandpa came from Nevada and was here for the big day. We were very excited.

I predicted that she would crawl by Christmas and I was right. She does an army crawl now. She's really good at it, but hasn't moved beyond that since. Other abilities: clapping, standing up if she's holding your hands, holding her own bottle, feeding herself bread and cookies, waving hello and bye, and the big one "mama." YAY!!! That's right she said it. That one came after Christmas, but that's okay.

It is beyond my comprehension how such a tiny, helpless person can cause so much joy. A friend of mine (who also adopted) said that there was much more laughter in their house since her daughter had been there. I understand. Megan makes us laugh just by doing what babies do. One would never know that she was a preemie.

As the big "1" approaches I find myself in a quagmire of emotions (I just wanted an excuse to use that word). I love that she's growing and being independent, but I hate it, too. I think that I'll always see her as my little baby, but she's not going to be forever. *sigh* In the meantime, I can enjoy her beautiful crazy antics and save her when she needs me to. I love my little one.