Some of Willa's Favorites

Lots of pictures and few words. Just wanted to show the things that are keeping Willa busy. Also, unintentionally showing of some of Willa's pajamas. 

 Her new wooden train set and throwing out a super cute "so big".

 Our new friend Randy. He better stick around these parts so Willa can get a real motorcycle ride.

 Playing in the kitchen cupboard with the tupperware and baby dishes.

 Crawling around with objects in her mouth. Maybe this somehow got some extra calories into her system because she is 16 pounds!

 Playing under the dining room table and shoving the chairs around.

Cruising along the couch while stalking dad's computer.

In for the kill.

Therapy Sessions

Willa is continuing to have physical therapy sessions for her torticollis. All other milestones have been met. Even the torticollis seems to come and go. For a week at a time Willa holds her head perfectly straight and then we notice it is cocked to the side. Our physical therapist is checking on getting a neck collar.

Last week our Early Intervention coordinator did a site visit to observe one of Willa's PT sessions. This is the email our coordinator sent and we agree with everything she wrote...

OMG!! You should be SO grateful for your childcare provider and her family. They are awesome!!

W. is making such good progress (although I know she has regressed some with the torticollis). I’m looking forward to feeding therapy starting on Monday.

I was so impressed with W.’s language skills (expressive/receptive)..and her ability to label a few body parts. She is SO sweet! 

Today is the second feeding therapy session. Last week Willa was a perfect angel. No gagging, no refusing of the food, and not showing any of the things that make feeding frustrating. Daycare Sharon and I were in total disbelief. Daren and I did have a long conference call on Friday evening with the therapist. We talked over our concerns and the concerns of the doctors at UNC. The feeding therapist wants to take it slow with the introduction of new textures and foods. Currently, Willa is still eating three meals of baby cereal and purees. The only "real" food she is eating is bits of muffin. Willa is so close to being 16 pounds and hopefully this new assistance can help to start pack on the pounds.

Halloween in the 'Hood

Halloween is always a fun affair in our neighborhood. Our little section of Cary has grown from only a few houses to over 60. This was our first year taking part in the Halloween parade. Willa loved being in her spider costume. I was pretty worried that she would hate the head piece, but she never fussed. Also, Halloween was the first time Willa rode in her wagon. As you can tell she was pretty comfortable lounging while being pulled from  house to house. We didn't take any candy but two of the houses were ready for us. We got toddler biscuits from one house and a baby food pouch from the other. YUM!

I'm sure next year will be more exciting when Willa is walking from  house to house. Also, I'm gonna buy crap candy if we leave our candy bowl unattended. Those little rugrats cleaned us out of the Sour 

Patch Kids, Swedish Fish and Babyruth. Not cool.

Twelve Month Pictures

The last set of monthly pictures...ahh. I'm kinda glad if only from a safety factor. Willa is all about launching off the chair. Sitting still is not one of her strong suits.

Willa is finally bigger than her elephant. Slowly but surely we are getting the weight to stick. She hit 15 pounds just before her birthday. Willa continues to be behind 1-2 months in clothing sizes. She is just starting to wear 9m pants due to the 6m pants being a bit short. The 6m waist still fits her fine.

Willa got her first pair of walking shoes curtsey of Grandma Green. Her foot measured a 3.5 so we got her a size 4 "cruising" shoe. Too early to tell if Willa is going to wear size 12's like her momma.

Willa still shows no fear of strangers and shares her smiles and tricks quite freely. The bigger and more elaborate the necklace than the more likely Willa is to launch into your arms.

Daren and I have been parents for 12 months and counting. It has been a roller coaster ride but I definitely think there have been many more ups than downs. I wouldn't change a thing.

The Eleventh Month

Not to many exciting developments happened during the eleventh month. Grandma Green did make some great progress with Willa for pointing out various body parts (video to be posted soon). Willa has accomplished all of the should be able to and will probably be able to for the eleventh month. Cruising along the couch might be the most exciting change. Still working on the "extra credit" items that are listed below.

...may possibly be able to:

• stand alone  momentarily Maybe for 1/8th of a second
• say one word other than "mama" or "dada" We think we hear things like up or bye...but it is few and far between

...may even be able to:

• "play ball" (roll ball back to you) Daren said not on purpose
• drink from a cup independently She knows the process behind a sippy cup but doesn't completely tip it back enough to drink the water. Giving her a regular cup would be a mess. 

Willa's Birthday Party

Willa has amazing timing. The week of her birthday she got a cold. Willa lovingly passed along her cold to her father, Grandma Green and myself by the day of her birthday. We were still able to have her party but it was minus a few guests with little ones. Thankfully, I have yet to hear of anyone who attended the party who got sick.


We did attempt to give Willa a cupcake but she wasn't impressed. The only thing she was interested in was her birthday hat. Grandma Green stuck Willa's fingers in frosting but it didn't work. Only dramatics and gagging happened. I'm sure dad was happy b/c he doesn't like a mess. Next year...

Many months ago I was looking at another omphalocele blog and saw where the blogger asked guests to bring gifts for the Ronald McDonald house in lieu of items for the birthday boy. I loved that idea and wanted to do the same thing for the NICU at UNC Hospital. Willa spent two weeks in the NICU and our friend's the Miles are currently on week 10 of their son being at UNC. This next part is kinda hard to put into words - The nurses genuinely care and fight for these babies. One of those struggles is to clothe the babies in appropriate sized clothing as well as gender appropriate. That may seem silly to some of you...but as a parent it really brightened my day to walk into the NICU the first thing in the morning and see Willa in a different onsie than the day before. That little bit of fabric managed to soften the glare of all the wires and patches connecting my baby girl to the various machines and monitors. So thank you friends for being so generous.

Not to worry about Willa. She got some birthday gifts. Here she is sitting so proud in the new chair from mom and dad while playing with some animals. My happy little one year old girl.

Birthday Tailgate and Football Game

Ugh! I hate blogging on things a week late and this is the first of many posts that are long overdue. We had pre-party festivities for Willa's first birthday. The pre-party was a tailgate before the UNC v. Boston College football game. Thank you to the TV execs for making game time 3:30pm because I think a 12:30pm game makes it really tough to tailgate.

The weather for the tailgate was amazing. The sunshine felt great. The actual game got a bit chilly. My mom mentioned that she wished she had her long underwear. I'm happy to report that UNC crushed BC even though we left during the third quarter.

Willa only attended the tailgate but I still think she can add a UNC football game to the sport events she has attended. Thanks to my coaches for letting us use their tickets and parking pass.