Reagan turned a year old.  One.  One year old.  I'm looking out on a very cold, very wet, very damp day and I have a terrible headache.  I have a terrible headache, my throat burns, and I have a runny nose.  I smile though because my baby girl turned a year old and I am remembering that this time last year the pretty nurse with the cheerful smile kept coming in to my recovery room every three hours to say "What a pretty baby girl!  Here's your crackers and your pain medicine."  I really could use that sort of comfort today.

The last of Reagan's birthday parties occured last night.  This party was the party for the neighbors.  We have lovely neighbors.  Wonderful neighbors.  You have never seen such neighbors unless it's in the pages of a Southern Living magazine when they talk about progressive dinners and back to school parties.  I used to think those were staged because I've never seen a neighborhood like that, but I can testify that these sort of neighborhoods and neighbors do exist and we have one of them.  We are very lucky.

Back to Baby Girl though because it's really all about her and her 1st birthday...

The day started off with the trip to the pediatrician.  I know it's probably not fair to start off a birthday with a round of shots, but you gotta do what you gotta do and the only way I remember appointments is to schedule them on important days.  We also scheduled Wilson for his 5 year check up so that I wouldn't need to make two trips.  Multi-tasking. 

Wilson asked us over the weekend if he was going to have to have shots.  I told him I wasn't sure but probably he would need to because he has to start kindergarten soon.  For the last several days he has been stressing over the shots.  He's tried to bargain his way out of them.  We explained shots are helpful, even if they hurt a little bit.  We also told him Reagan would have to get shots too. 

"Who do you think will get more shots?"  He asked. 

"I don't know."  I said.

"I think Reagan will get more shots than I will.  Who do you think will cry more?"

"Don't know."  I said.

"I think it will be Reagan.  She'll probably cry a lot more than I will.  I want to go first so I can watch Reagan get her shots."

Of course. 

We entered the doctor's office and started the kids' exams.  The doctor looked at the charts and said "Reagan gets two shots today.  Wilson doesn't need any vaccines but we need to have him pee in a cup if he can." 

Wilson grabbed my arm and said "I don't want to drink pee Mom, I'd rather just get the shots!"  So our pediatrician explained he wasn't going to need to drink anything.  Chris took Wilson down to the bathroom for his very first urine sample while I stayed with Reagan who was getting her shots.  Wilson was disappointed he missed out on that.

Last night I watched Reagan and, like all moms, wondered where the last year had gone.  I remembered what a miracle baby she is - from the 6th, 7th, and 8th weeks of the pregnancy when we were worried I was miscarrying her to the inability to find her heartbeat so many times.  From the run to the hospital, the bedrest and pre-eclampsia, from the dropping heart rate during her birth, to the cord around her neck and the jaundice - so many things that were going wrong, or things that could have gone much worse, there she was in our living room playing on the floor and laughing as though none of it had ever taken place.  There were times during the pregnancy when I believed I would never actually get to hold her or to have the opportunity to celebrate her first birthday, but there she was smiling and reminding me that hope, faith, and love are all still very much alive in the world.  She is a precious gift and we love her very much.