A Day of Celebration

Today was an important day in the Sridharan household for two reasons:

1. Stella Grace Sridharan is 18 months old today

and 

2. David and I celebrated the day that began our family - today was our 5th wedding anniversary.

What a crazy, wonderful, emotional whirlwind the past 5 years have been for us! 

We always wanted to start a family after enjoying about 3-5 years of marriage and we imagined that we would have 2 kids back to back (or close to it.) We would worry about things like what to name our kids if we had boys or girls, what they would be like when they were teenagers, what types of family vacations we would go on...normal things like that. In our wildest dreams we never talked about if we had a special needs child or if we had a child with medical issues - we just assumed that nothing like that would happen to us. It's crazy to think that 1 out of 100 kids are born with a heart defect and there are so many families going through a similar situation to ours; I had never met someone with a child born with a CHD before Stella was born (or at least they weren't talking about it!) Now I would never wish that any child would have the issues that Stella has and if I'm being honest I would have to tell you that I wish that Stella didn't have ANY medical concerns. Having to endure our situation has caused strains on our marriage and on our relationships with everyone around us...but it has also brought us so much closer together. I love Stella so much just the way that she is and I am thankful for everything we have gone through because it has taught us so much about life, love, God, and everything that is truly important. But for Stella's sake I wish she could be "normal" because the road she's traveled and the road she still has ahead of her is not something a child should have to encounter. 

It's hard to believe that Stella is already 18 months old...although we have had some really LONG days the past year and a half; overall it has flown by. She already has such a big personality and I can see her stubbornness shine through (somedays I have to remind myself to be thankful that she is so strong-willed and stubborn because when she was fighting for her life it was those traits that kept her alive!) She has her moments but most of the time she is a very happy, social little girl-her doctors are amazed by her constant smile especially with everything she has been through. Stella has a long way to go to catch up with what a "normal" 18 month old is able to do but she is making a lot of progress and with her strong-willed personality it is evident that not many things are going to hold this little girl back!