She was due on May 16, 2012.
Raising a baby is so interesting.
You have some general idea of when they will probably do certain tricks,
Hit certain milestones.
But a baby does what it will do when it is ready.
When you throw prematurity into the mix,
It takes the guessing game to a whole new level.
You never know if your baby will do things around the same time as babies born the same week,
Or with those that were born when they should have been.
Adjusted age and chronological age are a big deal when you parent a premature baby.
You talk about them both with equal weight.
And you talk about both of their dates everywhere.
That's where the "Well, she's 12 months but she was born two months early" comes from.
People would look at my 12 month old daughter,
Whose gross motor skills are in line with her adjusted age (10 months old,)
And if I just said, "She's 12 months old,"
I would get incredulous stares, every time.
Adjusted age and chronological age are equally important in our family.
Someday that will fade and we will only talk about Macie's actual age.
But for now, we definitely wanted to mark both birthdays.
So although she had been one for almost two months,
And had a pretty awesome first birthday already,
We also celebrated her gestational birthday on May 16, 2013.
Of course, I took some pictures to mark who she was at the time.
Our yard had just bloomed so it was the perfect setting.
And the dress, a gift from my mom, made her look like a little princess.
I loved so many I couldn't pare them down.
The day itself was just a day about Macie.
I took her on a walk to the park all by herself.
Let's face it - the third child does not get much alone time with Mom.
She had a blast.
We came back and played, played, played with the boys.
And then we ate cupcakes that Ephram helped bake during Macie's nap.
Yes, we sang to her too.
I'm so grateful for every day of our first year.
It was a year full of miracles.
And she's a daily reminder of everything good.
I just love her so.
