River’s first year of life has come and gone! 365 days have passed since the last October and River Ryan Ishmael is officially one year old!

I can’t believe it! I can NOT believe that I have already documented a year of this sweet girl’s life!

Life started out so perfectly normal with newborn photos. Shortly after, Ryan and Kelsey discovered that River had a heart condition. The next couple months of your life was full of worry, doctor appointments, hospital visits, and ambulance rides.

At her 3 month portraits, she was on a strict medicine schedule to maintain a normal heart rate.

At 6 months, River’s parents were able to finally relax some and trust that God was healing her little heart.

At 9 months, River was well on her way to being one! The talk of weaning off meds excited her mama more than I can imagine! A healed heart is all she had been praying for.

Today, at 12 months, River is officially off meds, and we will see how she does from here! Sweet River, I pray that God had healed your heart and uses your story to provide peace and comfort for other mommies and daddies who have children with medical issues so early on in what is usually expected to be a perfect, healthy baby!

I have so enjoyed documenting the stages of life of your first year! I love how you look so different, but your face is still so the same. I can’t wait to continue to watch you grow into a toddler and beyond!

I can’t believe it’s time to say that here is the last blog post from your 1st birthday party and 1 year old portraits!

OUR TIME TOGETHER

A little party entertainment for the kiddos.

The pumpkin cupcake was enjoyed by the birthday girl!

River enjoyed opening many present! She was so cute, she kept wanting to play with each toy she opened instead of moving on to the next one. Her family had to keep hiding the toys so she would open the next one!

River had so many family members in town, we had to document the special people who came for miles to celebrate her first birthday!

BLOOPERS