One year left....ahhhhh 30, here I come!

I can not believe I am 29, yikes! Life goes by entirely too fast. Riley is getting so big! She took 3 steps today! Lulu, she had a blast playing in her ball-pit today, I love those deep belly laughs when she is having so much fun. Tomorrow she has her first school photo shoot! I am so excited for her. I'm sure she will be looking backwards, yanking on the back drop, or biting the photographer so she can play with the camera. In these pics, Riley and Donnie playing in the ball pit, and Riley enjoying her favorite veggie, corn...she eats her whole (half) cob. Don't you love her tan line at her neck!

I was going to title this entry "Why bad things happen to good people"...but didn't want it to be so depressing. However, I just want to say that I just read on the bottom of the tv screen on "E" that Rev. Run (Run DMC) and his wife just had a baby that was born with all of it's organs on the outside. It did not survive long after birth. There was a baby at the NICU the same time Riley was there that had the same thing. They sort of explained it as the same thing as what Riley was born with...but in the front....instead of the spine and spinal cord not fusing and closing, the chest bones never fused. They had been waiting for a few months already and had not closed her up, I guess research shows it's better to wait. I wish I knew how that little girl was doing. Anyway, I remember watching Run's reality show every once in awhile earlier this year. I remember them talking about trying to have a baby. Run seems like a very genuine person and extremely focused on his family...not like some crazy rap star. I guess what I am getting at is that knowing in part what this family is dealing with, I feel a deep pain for them. Trust me when I say that I wouldn't trade Riley or her condition for the world, it will make her who she is....but to go through the pain again....or to watch her struggle as she learns to walk....I wish I could make her whole. We are forever thankful that we were chosen to be her parents, and she amazes us everyday, by far surpassing what the doctors expected.
I know HE will get Run and his family through this painful time....HOPE, it's what got us through!