Happy birthday Phoebe!!

Happy first birthday Phoebe Rose!

Today Phoebe went back to CHEO to have her blood tested.  Her white cell count is now down to 20, and she only needed a platelet transfusion.  She was given platelets from a single donor, which is rare to get as it takes one person multiple visits to donate enough for another.  Even for a person as small as Phoebe.  Something to think about, and something that once again, makes us so very grateful to everyone out there who donates blood and platelets regularly.  The single donor platelets will hopefully last longer in her body, so Phoebe will not have to be seen again until Thursday.

The lovely folks at CHEO sang happy birthday to Phoebe today, which she really enjoyed.  It is funny that we spent part of Phoebe's birthday at CHEO because it is here that she spent most of her first year.  She learned to roll over and sit up by herself in Rm. 1 on 4 North.  In room 14, she ate real food for the first time, learned to wave good-bye, to babble, and she said something that very closely resembled daddy.  She made her first friends at CHEO, and in room 14 she had her first play date with an amazing and incredibly strong little guy, who undoubtedly taught her a thing or two about courage and strength. 

Looking back on Phoebe's first year is very difficult for me to do without shedding some tears.  Some of my tears are tears of sadness because of what my baby has missed out on and all that she has been through, but there are also tears of joy.  Phoebe is here and she is amazing.  We have an immense hurdle directly in front of us, but she is still here.  We have yet to hear from the doctors at St. Jude's, but we are hoping to hear something soon.  It is difficult to live each day without any knowledge of what is to come, and what are next steps are, but we are taking things one step at a time, and enjoying every minute that we spend together as a family.

Before I forget ... Phoebe wasn't a fan of her birthday cake, but we learned that she likes pickles and ketchup.  She also liked watching her big sister open up all of her presents and she can't wait to play with them tomorrow.  For now, she is sleeping peacefully, and dreaming of big days ahead.