ReasonS to Celebrate

 As I sit down to write this blog post, let me just tell you where I'm supposed to be.....the sleep clinic. But instead, I'm sitting on my couch. Why you ask? After talking with Kellan's physical therapist last Thursday, Brett and I decided to make a huge change in Kellan's life, one we were really dreading. We decided to make the transition to take Kellan out of his sleep sack swaddle (don't judge!). Yes, he was over 1 years old when we finally decided to try it out. After many, many, many, nights of terrible sleep, we've realized that Kellan spent his nights trying to break free! If only that little bugger could talk to us, we probably would have started getting some sleep several months back. So, we've postponed, hopefully cancelled his sleep study for now.

We can't look back at what we should have done, instead we are celebrating the little sleeper we have on our hands. I probably have about 15 pictures of him sleeping in the video monitor, it doesn't get old. He looks so comfy. Some day when you read this Kellan, you won't remember that straight jacket we kept you in (thank god), but you have made Mom and Dad really, really proud. Definitely a moment where I realized that milestones for Kellan are seriously exciting!

We celebrated our favorite one year old on his birthday, Saturday, December 29th. A reason to celebrate, yes indeed. What a first year our little man (and Brett and I!) have been through. The party was a success. We had appetizers, soup and salad for lunch. Due to Kellan's milk allergy, he had a special little cupcake that he wasn't too crazy about and the rest of us had a super cute cake! With Christmas and his Birthday, Kellan clearly has lots of people that love him. He is stocked up with some great new toys and cute outfits.

Here are a few pictures from the party....

I printed out his monthly photos and had them hanging!

 

Cousins and Neighbors!

  

Dad, Kellan and Poppy hanging out after the party... 

  

 

We forgot to take a picture with the little Birthday Man, he's in the monitor sleeping! 

My homemade cake topper.

 As the night before his birthday arrived, it felt like just yesterday that my contractions had started and we were heading to the hospital to meet our little boy for the first time. I often think about the times when we didn't know Kellan's diagnosis. Granted, I'd never want to go back to those times because he was a sick little guy with the un-diagnosed milk allergy....but not knowing the fate of our little boy, imagining the picture perfect little life I always imagined for my babies is a nice thought to drift back to every once and a while. We are blessed....(don't get me wrong) with seriously the happiest and greatest little guy in the world, it will just be a different world for us as we watch him grow up.

In other news, we decided to start Kellan in swimming lessons. We had our first lesson and what a fish he was! Kellan was already excited just getting changed in the locker room with the kids in there. I've never seen a baby more enthralled by little kids. He. loves. them. When we walked into the pool area, I'm not sure if it was the change in temperature or the movement of the pool, but he let out a huge happy screech and started laughing. He literally kicked the entire time we were in the pool. He even had an audience, Grandma Daiker and Poppy came to watch!

 

We only have one appointment at Children's this month, a nice little break from December. We met with the Allergy Doctor and confirmed the milk allergy. We also tested him for latex and avocado since he has reacted to both of those things. We learned that latex, avocado and bananas are linked together. Strange. We ramp back up in February with quite a few follow up appointments. This month, we meet again with the Audiologist to see if we can learn more about Kellan's hearing loss in his left ear. We continue to patch his eye for at least an hour a day. Well, usually at about minute 59 we let Kellan claw the patch off. He doesn't like it, to say the least. We work really hard to play and find fun things for him to do for the hour of patching. His weak eye doesn't do great when his strong eye is covered, not sure what they are going to say when we go back there in February. Trying not to think about it for now.

Here are Kellan's 1 year stats:

Staying steady in the 13th percentile for Weight | 18lb 13oz

Becoming long and lean like his Dad for Height | 30"   51st Percentile!

He's growing and the past few weeks he has made us really proud. He has started to eat cereal, veggies and fruit well again, drink bigger bottles, and sleep sleep sleep. Hopefully I don't jinx myself. Alternating "who's night" it is between Brett and I has sure taken on a new meaning.

As I think about what to write for a blog, I usually start a list of things I want to talk about. I asked Brett if there was anything I was missing. Later that day, I noticed he wrote something on the list. So here is Brett's contribution to this post.....

"He's [Kellan] the most beautiful boy in the world."

I hope the Holiday season and the New Year brought whoever reads this true joy and happiness. Kellan has given us many, many reasons to celebrate this past year and we look forward to seeing what 2013 has in store for our little bug.