Yesterday marked one whole year on Earth for Chaseton. To say that we were excited is a huge understatement – the day was filled with messages, phone calls, skype sessions and facebook well-wishers who blew me away with care for Chase.

We had an amazing party with family and friends over Labor Day Weekend, and spent yesterday together as a family enjoying the official start of Fall.

Looking back on his first year is a difficult and wonderful thing. It’s always hard for me to remember the morning after his birth (one year ago today, as a matter of fact,) when his wonderful pediatrician came in, frowned, and mentioned “a murmur.”

After that, a blur of garbled medical updates as they took my fresh baby away to the nursery. A cocktail of drugs, hospital transfers, all culminating in a trip to the Children’s Hospital in Atlanta, two hours away from where I was being kept until I could recover from blood loss during his birth. I look back and wince. I look back and am filled with pride at the amazing progress Chase has made.

That any baby could go through what he (and what many, many others) go through and come out the other side a smiling, friendly child is such a source of amazement to me.

That any child could amass over one million dollars in hospital bills before his first birthday is mind-numbing. And yet, here we are. That story is his.

All I can do is look in wonder at the miracle sitting on my lap. He’s growing, (he jumped into 12-month sizes yesterday! Well played, Chase.) He’s happy (unless the strangers at the supermarket wont wave back,) and he’s filled with life and good-humor. I could not be luckier. This first year has been by turns harrowing, heartbreaking, and awe-inspiring, but it has always been worth it because, at the end of the day, I get to kiss my hero goodnight.

P.S. Check in next month for a cardiology appointment update!