Tuesday, February 19

Watch Her Grow

Time flies when you're having fun (and are sleep-deprived), and I've got the photos to prove it. For a while now, I've been meaning to pull together my favorite photos of Alexis. I finally did it. In the interest of keeping things relatively short, I decided to force myself to pick my favorite one from every month of her life. I'll keep adding new ones each month, and you'll be able to find them through a button in the sidebar.

When you look at the photos, you'll be able to see the hemangioma (birthmark) on her forehead appear, get worse, then mostly disappear. Just a couple of notes on hemangiomas:
- They are more common in girls than boys.
- The cause is unknown.
- They are not genetic.
- They nearly always go away on their own.
- They can bleed profusely if bumped hard enough.
- You should never do a Google search for them unless you WANT to see the worst-case scenarios.
- They are far worse for the parents that have to hear the annoying comments from every human under the sun than they are for the kid who has it.

























49 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:00 PM

    I love me some Alexis. She's such a cutey patootie.

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  2. beautiful pictures!...she was even beautiful when she was just born! look at the nice round head and the chubby cheeks! (no offense to any of you out there whose babies were born with the elongated heads)

    and how wonderful that her hemangioma is going away on its own--but when it's gone, where will you kiss her??? :) My cousin's was quite large--about the size of a small strawberry sticking out of her forehead. We called it Tonya's Strawberry. When she was about 9 months, doctors successfully removed it because it wasn't going away. We have all these pictures of her crawling around with a big bumper of bandages on her forehead. Gave new meaning to Bumber Baby. ;)
    But, I digress. I think my fav in the group of pics is the one with Meg. Alexis looks so peaceful while hugging her buddy.


    oh, and I tagged you at my site.

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  3. OMG--I just love her. LOVE her. I am such a baby addict and she is absolutely beautiful! I like what Colleen said, "but when it's gone, where will you kiss her?" All over, I am sure. What a DOLL!!!

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  4. She looks like such a happy child! She is just precious!

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  5. That is one beautiful little lady. I love the pic of her sleeping with her toosh in the air. So cute!
    My son had a hemangioma almost the same exact shape and size on his tummy. It is just about gone now. Can barely see it. We call it his kiss spot. I told him that is how I know he is my Tommy.

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  6. Anonymous12:57 AM

    awww...such a sweetheart! :)

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  7. Personally, I love the painted baby! Both of mine used to find the strangest things to paint or color on themselves with! I can't even remember how many times they had gotten ahold of an inkpen and used their arms, legs, bellies, hands and feet as paper! :)

    She is darling!

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  8. She's absolutely gorgeous! I LOOOOOVE the "vintage" shots!

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  9. She is such a happy girl! All of these photos are great.

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  10. Wow, that went by so quickly, didn't it? What a cutie! I've got some favorites in there, but I think the last one is the best of all.

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  11. Anonymous8:19 AM

    My favorites are 1, 6, 8, 11, 15, 17 (with the Bully), 23 and 24. She's a BEAUTIFUL little girl!!

    I can't believe how much the hemangioma has faded!! I never knew they could bleed profusely if bumped hard enough. I'd be a nervous wreck if Morgan had one!!

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  12. When I saw the first one, I thought "That doesn't look anything like Alexis". But, then the second - there she is! It is amazing how that special Alexis quality can be seen all the way through. I don't know about you, but it always frustrated the hell outta me that people would comment on Dylan's helmet(or Alexis's hemangioma) because I felt like there is so much more to him - how can that be what they want to talk about? She is beautiful and SMART! (That is what the one shirt says, isn't it - but what about my brains?)

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  13. P.S. Liking the type now! Do you?

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  14. Yeah, it goes SO fast! I makes me so sad! I love the pictures, she is a doll-baby!!!!

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  15. She is absolutely precious...and the hemangioma looks like a kiss. I love the photo of her sleeping in the green pajamas (looks uncomfortable, but it's funny how they love that baby position!).

    Love the new look of you site! God bless.

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  16. Oh my gosh she is sooooo beautiful! Awesome photos. I plan to do something similar with Jonathan's photos at some point..maybe this will inspire me.

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  17. She is SO, SO cute! I love the one of her and the dog, and sleeping with her little but in the air. T used to do that and I couldn't help but take a pic everytime.

    Great collection!

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  18. Alexis is totally adorable.

    I'll bet you get awfully tired of explaining her hemangioma, huh?

    Hope was born with two small ones. One on her eyelid the other right in between her eyebrows.

    My fil being the nice sensitive person he is said the one on the eyelid could stay but the one between the brows had to go...nice, huh?

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  19. She is scrumptious! Simply absolutely wonderful!

    I loved the baby photos. Wallace was such a little beach ball as a baby and so many of those photos of Alexis could be Wallace's little sister.

    She's absolutely adorble!

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  20. Love it. She's beautiful. Thanks for sharing.

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  21. What a great job you've done capturing each stage of Alexis! She is just so full of joy, I can't help but smile everytime I see her bright little face!

    Thanks for sharing these photos with all of us!

    Lizzy

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  22. Don't you love those unsolicited comments from people? Last weekend, I took my kid to the zoo and after he refused to wear his hat by pulling it off 300 times, I finally gave up on the hat. Then, people (usually old) remark "Well - your son needs a hat! It's cold!" Yeah, thanks. I responded with "He IS wearing a hat. Isn't it adorable?" It's fun to be as deranged as I am.

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  23. I'm such a sucker for Alexis pictures! I kept thinking, oh, that's my favorite. And then I'd see the next one and have to rethink! I finally decided that I love them all.

    She is insanely adorable! ;-) Thanks for sharing all of these!

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  24. I insist on the story behind why you painted your baby? A link to a past blog post will be satisfactory.

    The second photo I think is my favorite. She has that newborn "where the feck am I but it doesn't really matter because I'm quite content" look. She's a doll!

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  25. Anonymous12:43 PM

    Those are gorgeous pictures. Some of her smiles just make you melt.

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  26. man is she cute!!! wow! i love the one with the paint! so adorable. makes me wish i had a little girl. (sometimes!)

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  27. Tootsie--Me home all the time = trouble. I thought it would be a fabulous idea to make Mr. Husband a t-shirt for Father's Day. I neglected to consider that the 8-armed bandit would eat anything that wasn't nailed to the ceiling. The shirt.

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  28. OMG she is TOO stinkin' cute! I love this- thank you for sharing. How amazing! She is beautiful!

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  29. hmmm.... cant really decide which one i liked best. the last one tho? precious.

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  30. She is so photogenic. The one with her and your doggy is so precious. I love them all.

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  31. I thought of you today, btw. One of the pathologists I'm working with was talking about how all of his fish have "fish lice." Apparently, you have to catch each fish and pull the lice off! I was thinking, "Wow. And I thought Burgh Baby's Mom had problems." Funny how this bloggy world works.

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  32. Anonymous2:30 PM

    So let me get this straight... Both of our kids have hemangiomas (interesting that you said they're not genetic, as I was born with one too and assumed that's where Little Man had one), both of our kids sleep with their butts in the air and you and I have the same freaking sheets!

    If it weren't for the fact that I have no ties with North Dakota, I'd start wondering if we were separated at birth.

    And my favorite picture is definitely the painted Alexis or the Alexis and Meg pic, too much cuteness in one post though!

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  33. They are all so wonderful. From baby until now her nose has been her nose! It really hasn't changed much. Adorable.

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  34. Alexis is the cutest baby ever, apart from my kids, of course!

    My daughter had a hemangioma on her tummy. It went completely away on its own by the time she was 7 or so.

    Just FYI, and I'm sure you know this, lasers can remove some hemangioma. My BFF Mrs. Perfect had her perfect little daughter's lasered off with perfect results. I'm not saying I'd do the same thing (No one will EVER call me Mrs. Perfect) but, you know, just mentioning it.

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  35. Oh my goodness! She is such a doll! I'm amazed at how many shots you have of her smiling..especially the early ones! What a precious, happy girl you have :)

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  36. She. melts. my. butter.

    I especially love the bunny ears and the dog shot (of course). You truly do have a beautiful litle girl.

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  37. I love the one where she's covered in paint. Were it not for the other paint colors, I'd have thought the mustard color on her knees was exploding diaper.

    Okay, so birth marks are different? I have a friend who has something very similar to Alexis' NOW (lighter in color), and all of her kids have it as well, in about the same place. Of seven kids, it's less noticeable with each child, but they all have it. And my friend still has hers. Makeup covers a multitude of pink. But I always thought it gave her character. Like freckles.

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  38. What a little cutie you have there:)

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  39. GAWD~ she is so gorgeous!
    I loved watching that progression!! she is so darling!!!
    We have a good friend whose daughter has a huge hemangioma on her nose/forehead and she freaked when she googled it, too.
    I made the mistake of googling sebaceous nevus when Noah was diagnosed with it. Don't. do. that!!!

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  40. Anonymous8:05 PM

    So beautiful! If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be paint baby holding feet.

    But they're all cute.

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  41. What a little angel! She is so precious!!!

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  42. Anonymous9:09 PM

    I love this. They are so cute. I remember when I started and she was in the infant room. Wow she has def. grown. TOO CUTE!

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  43. My ovaries hurt even more after looking at her newborn photos!

    Man I want another baby!

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  44. Cute pics.

    I have a hemangioma on my arm. When I was a baby until I was about 3, it took up most of my upper arm and my parents would get all kinds of lovely comments about how they shouldn't beat me or that they can always have other, prettier children. People, they are friendly.

    I still have it, it just isn't red anymore so someone has to really be looking at it to see it.

    And my parents did go on to have a prettier child. Another girl with two, one on each cheek.

    She's absolutely beautiful!

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  45. Ever so sweet and inspirational. Kinda makes you wanna have a whole batch?

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  46. I love how you attempted to cover up her little mark with paint in one picture and with cake in another picture. Good ideas! :)
    Love the photo spread!!

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  47. She is so adorable!! I just love her! :)

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  48. OMG - your baby is so, so adorable!! My daugher had the same thing on her thumb when she was a baby but it's gone now. Can't even tell it was ever there!

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