Preemie Who?

I cant believe our little Will turned 1 today! It just doesn't quite seem possible. Sometimes we look back on our last year with Will and it seems like someone else lived our life for us. I guess that just goes to show how much strength we can be given when we need it most.

We decided to spend the day alone together as a family and reflect on how lucky we are to have each other. I re-read my journal from last year and it was hard to feel all the emotions again. I was so scared and just wanted my little Will to be okay. At the time (not knowing the trials Will would endure) life truly seemed to stop. All that mattered was getting Will healthy and strong. Not knowing what to expect as a first time parent is rough. I can honestly say that up until that point in life I had never been so scared and felt so helpless as I did in the first few days after Will joined us. Instead of the intense joy and happiness most parents get to feel I was scared out of my mind that little Will wouldn't still be there when I returned. I HATED let me repeat HATED leaving him in the NICU. I didn't want him to be alone. I wanted to hold my Will and make things be okay.

We loved being able to be involved in his CARES and feeling like we were responsible for something. Mike and I would alternate the tasks and I loved always brushing his hair with the little toothbrush. I will never forget the 1st time I got to hold Will again after being admitted to the NICU, it was so special. I swear I didn't set him down for weeks after leaving the hospital (all 3 hospital stays). I was, and I guess still am, making up for lost time. I truly believe that this was how life had to work in order for me to truly understand how lucky we are to have Will in our life. I say this a lot but it is 100% true, not a day goes by that I don't kneel full of gratitude for Will being here. So many families aren't as lucky as us. Hug your kids, tell them you love them, and be grateful you have each other, we sure are!

I could go on and on about my emotions and memories from the NICU but I think you all would get bugged so moving on...........

As I started out we spent the day together as a family and it was so much fun. The morning consisted of Mommy and Will watching Daddy mow the lawn:
And the we headed to LDS hospital to visit our favorite Nurse Sara (we love you!) but mainly to bring us back to where we started from. It was so special. We grabbed lunch and shared a lot of what we were feeling and remembering from our experiences a year ago. We remember the cafeteria food being a lot better though :) but Will seemed to enjoy his piece of cake!

We then headed to Dr Allreds for some not so fun shots (good thing we have a tough kid) and a checkup. This was the first time we actually went the full 3 months in between without having to visit any hospitals or doctors, woot woo!

William Garrett Scott
April 30, 2008
6lbs 2oz 19 1/2 inches long

William Garrett Scott
April 30, 2009
26lbs 4 oz 31 3/4 inches

And we finished out the day ordering a new crib for our little tank :) With Will's love of jumping and being 100% all boy our little vintage crib is seeing its last days!