What a year it has been, though. For all of us. From the initial shock, to the unknown, to fear and worry, and finally to nothing but love and acceptance. There is still some unknown, of course, but it is not nearly as much, and we are confident in tackling things as they come. Her nevus does not define her. She is beautiful and smart and funny, and I would not change a thing about her.
Emma is one big ball of energy and personality. She is very independent (except at bedtime...) and has learned so much this first year. She's already walking, and has gotten very good at it over the last couple weeks. The baby who I thought was never going to roll! (Maybe this means she will eventually sleep as well, as I don't think she will ever do that either. Ha!) She loves to feed herself, and drinks from a sippy very well.
She has been giving us the BIGGEST laughs lately. I LOVE this stage. Big baby belly laughs are the best. Her favorite seems to be her 16 year old sister. Maybe it's because she gets bored of the rest of us, seeing us all the time, and she hardly sees her. Or maybe Jordyn just has some special quality about her that Emma loves. It's probably both.
We had an appointment with the dermatologist last month. Everything still looks great. We go back in May, and she said we will start spacing visits out longer after then. I asked about the MRI on her spine we still hadn't gotten done, and she said that right now it is not necessary, Emma is developing absolutely normally, and as long as no concerns arise she doesn't think we will have to. She also said to stop using the timolol on her hemangioma on her arm soon, so that's good as well.
Emma has become a champ at naps! Granted, she's doing it in her swing, but I see it as a good start. I put her in it, turn it on, and she drifts off to sleep. Usually for about 2 hours. Sometimes a little longer, sometimes a little shorter. I'm hoping to start transferring this nap to her crib at some point. And then eventually bedtime. Bedtime is kind of a nightmare at this point. She rarely ever goes to sleep unless we are lying in bed nursing. Most nights not until 10 or 11 o'clock. I do transfer her to her crib once she is asleep, but the last few weeks she has only been sleeping in there for at most an hour. Most nights it's 20-30 minutes. I just keep telling myself this can't last forever. And to enjoy the cuddles now, as eventually she won't want to. Even now, unless it's bedtime, she's not a cuddler.
She still only takes 4 ounces in her bottles. A lot of the time she doesn't even finish that. We do offer 6 at times, but it seems when we do, she drinks even less. Sometimes she'll finish 5 ounces though. But very very rarely. I find it weird, but she's growing and not starving, so I guess it's ok. I think weaning her off the bottle will not be any trouble though, so that's one good thing about it.
I do trim/shave the hair off her nevus every few weeks. It gets really hairy. Up until this last time (which was today, actually), it has been a struggle. She does not want to sit still for it, and usually I lay her down on a towel, which for a wiggly baby who is constantly on the move, is absolutely the worst thing. Today though, I just sat her on my lap, let her check out and touch the trimmer, and gave her something to play with. She sat so well, and didn't cry once! And we got the best trim we've ever gotten so far.
We're not doing a huge birthday bash. I thought about it (ok, maybe not huge, but big), but I decided against it. Emma still has a bit of stranger danger, and I didn't want to risk her being miserable and ruining her party. We're just going to do a small gathering of close family at home. And let her eat cake. We are doing a theme, though. Unicorns, and rainbows. Quite fitting for Emma, even though I know it's not original by any means. I still can't believe almost a year has gone by already!
She did grow 6 teeth in the past 2 months! Perhaps that's why her sleep habits have gotten so bad. She was never really very fussy with any of them though. I really only ever noticed she was teething when a tooth popped through. Otherwise, she's been pretty normal.
One thing Emma is still working on is growing hair! It's finally starting to come in on the sides and back a bit, but for a while she was growing the most glorious mohawk. It's still itty bitty, and not much there, but at least it's something. The bald ring that went around the back of her head from ear to ear is starting to fade as well. It looked like she had a rubber band wrapped around her head. Wayne even thought it was dented for a bit! But no, baby's head is shaped perfectly. She just has weird hair.
Still can't believe she's almost one! Eeep!
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