dear milo.....

Dear Milo,

A year has past since we started on this journey together. It has been a year of ups and downs, of joy and pain, and of making progress and grieving losses. But mostly it has been a year of love and hope. Your name means soldier...that is not why we named you Milo, it was just a name we happened to like, but we are so glad we did. It is a name so fitting for you because you are such a little trooper, such a fighter, and so strong. We are bursting with pride. Happy first birthday little peanut.

Love Mom and Dad

happy thanksgiving....happy birthday!

so today it's official...milo is a one year old! i know i've been talking about it for weeks now but today is the actual day....and it's milo's daddy's birthday too, so happy birthday jesse! and to everyone else, happy thanksgiving!

picky eater

we have been working on eating solids with milo for a while now, and he is doing really well....as long as he is eating gerber stage two macaroni & cheese. i'm serious, that's the only thing he will really eat. he will take a few bites of other foods, and then make a face like he is totally disgusted, but he will eat the whole jar of mac & cheese, so i know he is capable of eating, he is just really, really picky! what do i do? does anyone else have babies that are this picky?

milo parties like a rockstar!

milo's party was really fun....we made way too much food, it was a cupcake party and we made and decorated 100 cupcakes!

we also had a bunch of unfrosted ones for the kids to frost and decorate...

milo got some great presents and it was really nice to get everyone together to celebrate...

...we of course missed our family in maine and they were in our thoughts. happy (early) first birthday milo!

birthday party day!

today is the day of milo's first birthday party!! i will try to post some pictures either tonight or tomorrow so stay tuned....

video of milo being a cutie....

milo

a letter from daddy

From Daddy.

Almost a year ago, I was given a special birthday present few other dads can say they have ever received. Since that day my life has never been the same. It has been a year of joy and laughter. Pride and strength. It has also been filled with tears, worry, scares, and despair. Now this first year of your life is done and you journey into year two. I will be there with you. I will be there to hold your hand when all your hard work pays off and you take your first step. I will laugh and sing with you when you can hold your head up high and clap your hands.

The road this far has not been kind to you. The roads ahead may not be any less rocky. But at least now we will know different paths to take and if not we will get a bulldozer and just push right through. Because I know nothing will stop you from being the best you can be. The world is sometimes a cold and cruel place, but whenever I see your blue eyes shine at me and hear your gentle little laugh I know that there is hope. Hope for all of us.

You are strong. You are brave. You are Milo James Speed. You are my son.

I love you always, Dad


milo was born six weeks early last year on the day of his dad's birthday...it was a very unexpected birthday present since we were definitely not expecting him to make an appearance quite yet, but it was a very special day and we like to say that milo came early just to wish his dad a happy birthday.

a birthday quickly approaches

things have been a bit crazy around here with pt, ot, and speech therapy for milo three times a week now at our children's house...plus all of his doctors appointments and specialists which already kept us pretty busy. i feel like i'm never home, but busy is good because when your busy there is less time to think and dwell on things and become overwhelmed.

milo's birthday is coming up and i guess i never really thought about how i would feel about it...i mean of course i'm happy because it represents the fact that we all made it through this challenging year, and of course it's a birthday, which is suppose to be happy, right? but it also reminds me of all the things that a "normal" kid milo's age would be doing right now...learning to walk, saying words, even simple things like eating food...milo can't even hold his head up let alone sit or stand, and he is fed primarily through a feeding tube.

overall i accept the way things are at this point, but i still have my moments where i get stuck on thinking about how unfair it is, and his birthday has sort of stirred up all of those feelings. it also brings up the memories of how he came too early, and if he hadn't things might be so different...sigh. but that's just the negative emotions i've been feeling...and there is so much more positive than negative.

picture post

first of all here are some halloween pictures...

we went with the batman costume



and who doesn't love pictures of babies eating, with food all over their faces?


here's a couple of milo being silly in his crib...


and last but not least, to show off those beautiful blue eyes...

long overdue update...

i have not been a very good blogger lately...things have been a bit hectic around here. milo has started going to therapy three times a week at our children's house and we are trying to sort of find our flow and our routine...we are starting to get the hang of it. i am going to post a bunch of pictures later, i just haven't put them on the computer yet. milo's birthday is coming up in a couple weeks and so i am going to post the link to his wish list on amazon.com for those friends and family who have been asking for help on what milo might need. this is just a short post for now so that everyone knows were still here. i will write more later along with pics!

milo's wish list