Happy Birthday Lynnea!

Birthdays are always important milestones, and in Lynnea's case, being able to celebrate her birthday today was extra special because there were several times over the course of the past year that we were reminded that reaching her first birthday was not a guarantee. During her first year, she had five heart surgeries, six heart catherizations, she spent 176 days in the hospital, and 189 days at home. We celebrated today with a party that included grandparents, aunts, uncles, and a few of our close friends. We were worried about how well Lynnea would handle having so many unfamiliar people around at once because she still has a significant amount of stranger anxiety, but as long as Mommy and Daddy stayed close by, she really seemed to enjoy herself. She was excited about the balloons, and curious about the cake. She stuck her fingers in the frosting, and then promptly began to fuss because her hands were sticky. She absolutely refused to allow any cake or frosting into her mouth, but we kind of expected that from her. She had fun pulling presents out of the gift bags, she liked playing with the wrapping paper, and Ashlyn did her big sister duty of "helping" Lynnea open her gifts. Ashlyn also acted as "gift inspector" and thoroughly checked out all of the new toys before giving them to Lynnea to play with.

Lynnea has another cardiology appointment at the U of M on Monday. We are hoping to spend at least another week at home before she needs to go back into the hospital for another heart catherization, but we'll see what Dr. Gruenstein has to say about that.