Happy birthday Calah Joy!

7:55 AM.  The exact time that our little girl was born last year on May 22nd.  I can't believe it's already been a year since she came into our lives.  She is such a sweet, observant, fun-loving, emotional, smart, and beautiful little girl.  She came into the world with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck four times along with a knot in the cord.  She had to stay in the NICU for about five hours while the nurses monitored her oxygen levels.  Nobody told me about this until I was in the recovery room and rightly so because I would have freaked out and that wouldn't be helpful since I was numb from the abdomen-down and always get nauseous right after the c-section.  Hubs was sitting next to me during the surgery but I could see his eyes looking at the doctors and at Calah, trying to stay calm at least on the outside so as to not make me anxious and emotional.  He knows me so well.  I heard her cry and knew she was at least breathing which is the hardest part of the whole thing.  Waiting to hear that your baby is breathing. 

Once I got to recovery, I started dry heaving (TMI, sorry!) because of the morphine and was having a hard time dealing with that about every 20 minutes.  Since they took Calah to the NICU, Hubs got to come sit with me in the recovery room which was very nice.  He filled me in on the situation during a moment of stomach-calm and assured me that she's fine.  A wave of terror and then relief quickly came over me.  The doppler had always indicated that her heart rate was very healthy so I didn't understand how the cord could be so mangled at the same time.  Praise God for a healthy baby and today she has become a healthy 1 year old!

  

Name:  Calah Joy Knowles
DOB: 5-22-2012
Weight: 8#
Length: 20"

Ready to go home from the hospital!

Proud family!

Calah at 1 month old -

She was a binky girl for sure - at least for the first couple months.  All newborn pictures are from this angle, aren't they?  Laying on the bed or a boppy with mom taking aerial shots.  That does not help avoid the shots of the double chin, does it?? At least it's cute on a baby.

Calah at 2 months old -



"Whoa, Mom, watch out! There's a dead animal on your head!"

 





Finally wearing NB cloth diapers w/o drowning her legs



Calah at 3 months old -



Reg. size cloth for the 1st time - still a little big



Tummy time on the boppy

"You'd better back up off my Fruity Rounds!"

Calah at 4 months old -

First experience with cereal

She sat up at four months old!  If she fell over, she couldn't get back up but she was very steady in a seated position.

The brothers trying to run away

Calah at 5 months old -



Tinkerbell!

 

She got her first tooth at 5 monts.



Calah at 6 months old -

Thanksgiving pictures - things always get interesting when we try to get all the great-grandkids together for a photo op.

Calah at 7 months old -



Going for the Hitler look



She started army crawling at 7 months.

Calah at 8 months old -

Calah at 9 months old -

Calah at 10 months old -

Hubs sent this picture to me while I was at Hearts At Home

She started crawling on her hands and knees while I was at the conference just before she turned 10 months old.
Calah at 11 months old -

She started pulling up and cruising at 11 months and takes steps when you hold her fingers.  Her balance need some improvement but stands pretty well with little help.

It has been so exciting to watch her grow and learn this first year.  She seems to get a new tooth every other week and LOVES to brush them.  She is really observant and keys in on people's moods and emotions and is very cuddly when she is scared or upset.  She likes to pat you on the back and comes in hard for a kiss.  She can say mama, da, Bop (Benji), Jojo, more, and good.  She can sign milk, more, again, and please.  She loves to dance and tries to sing along with the music. 

She was not in our original plan, but God knew she'd be here the whole time and we are thankful that she is.

Happy 1st birthday baby girl!