As you can see, she thought it was fun at first, but after a little bit she was not amused, especially when we laid her down to try to make a snow angel.
A few weeks later our Ally girl turned 1! (And I meant to blog about it...) We had a small family gathering with cupcakes to celebrate- allowing Ally to smash one of course!
A few weeks later we had her official birthday party! She had a ladybug themed party at Melody Makers. They did a 45 minute music session with all of the kids first. I really love our Melody Makers- our kids have done 'lessons' there every summer except last and Luke even got to do it in preschool last year once a week. They do a great job of interacting with all kids, regardless of their ages, and all the kids love Gigi the giraffe! After the program we had snacks and cake, and opened gifts. I love planning the kids birthday parties and making everything themed, as you will see below. I was especially excited to be doing the first birthday for our Ally girl! Enjoy some pictures from the party.
Ally's smash cupcake and ladybug cake. Our friend makes amazing and delicious cakes and has made them for all of my kids' parties.
Singing 'Happy birthday' next to cousin and Bubba.
Having lots of fun during Melody Makers!
Do you love her outfit? I tried to pick something 'ladybug' like.
Since the last post Ally has had several doctor visits. She had her 1 year check-up and everything looks great! She is still small for her age (she was not quite 17 lbs) but she is on the weight charts at 5%. She is now drinking milk from a sippy cup and is waaaaaay over pureed foods. She will only eat table food now and (like her mother) prefers carbs like bread and crackers as well as fruits and meats. Much like her brothers, she is not really eating vegetables anymore, though this has started much earlier for her than it did for them.
I love goldfish! I tend to overstuff my mouth and get food everywhere!
She also had a follow-up with neurosurgery and things are looking great there as well. So far there are no shunt issues and things are looking good. At some point they do want to do another MRI to get some baseline images of her brain and ventricles while they are normal and healthy with the shunt working well so that in case there ever is an issue in the future they could compare imaging. However, they seem to want to wait until she's 2 to do this, because again she will have to be sedated. I'm all on board for this plan- anything to keep from overexposing her to the radiation.
The best part though has been Ally's several physical therapy appointments since the last post. She has been thriving over the months and every time we have another session the therapist is very pleased with her progress. And the video below shows the most exciting part.
I cannot begin to tell you how blessed we are. In December of 2013 I can remember watching a 21 month old Ben run around and wonder if our surprise baby would be able to do the same given her diagnosis. The fact that Ally has developed so well physically makes my heart so happy.
This last picture, if you'll notice, is Ally on Easter, ready for church. And she's standing- unassisted. She can do that for short bursts now. She hasn't tried taking steps unassisted yet, but it will come. We are so proud of our Ally girl and thankful for her presence in our lives and the joy she brings to all of us. Thank you for your continued prayers and support! Please remember that May will soon be upon us and that it is Dandy-Walker/Hydrocephalus awareness month. We will have more info on that in the future!
