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I can’t believe that Caroline is 1 year old already! On one hand, looking back at everything we have gone thru in the first year, whether it be receiving her diagnosis or what seemed like endless doctors appointments at one time, it seems like it’s taken 1 a while to get here. But then again, looking back, it’s all passed by in the blink of an eye. Being a WHS mommy, the accomplishments that we have to be proud of at age 1 are a little different than most people would think. We aren’t celebrating the fact that she is crawling or walking, but the fact that we made it through her first year ER and hospital stay free (aside from birth)! I thank God every day for blessing her with good health thus far.

Aside from that, there are a few other accomplishments that we got to celebrate in her 1st year as well. At age 1, Caroline is saying “da da” and what we think is her brothers name “Aden.” She is sitting independently, and yesterday pushed herself up into a seated position from laying on her stomach for the first time. She is still eating primarily baby food (stage 2 and some stage 3), but has begun eating the baby finger foods (Gerber cheese puffs, yogurt melts, mum mum’s, cookies) and I have started to experiment with pureeing her some of our family meals (she ate pot roast with carrots, potatoes, and rice as her first “real” meal).

She is still being followed by all 8 specialists, although our Geneticist is retiring in late June, so we have yet to decide if we will take up with a new doctor or just cut Genetics out. We were hoping to be released from GI earlier this year, but unfortunately her weight gain velocity dropped off from the constant it had been holding at, so we are now experimenting with concentrating her formula to 24 cal/oz to see if this helps to make up some of the difference.

Overall, I would say our first year has been great! It’s so scary not knowing what is going to happen from one day to the next, and looking back I wish I wouldn’t have worried so much about the unknown and tried to enjoy each accomplishment much more than I did, but I guess hindsight is always 20/20. Caroline is such a happy little girl! She is loved by everyone that she meets, and I am happy that she has been able to provide hope and encouragement to other families.  She still is struggling in some areas, but she is a very determined little girl, and I know that she will achieve everything she desires in time. Here are some recent photo’s of Caroline!