Nearly Christmas

Wow, has it beens two weeks already since surgery.  Life has a way of just marching on.  I believe it has been two weeks because Grace looks fantastic.  She has healed so nicely.  I am going to be honest here.  I am feeling a bit weird about the surgery.  I always wondered how I would feel if my child was born with a visible birth defect.  My kids are so adorable, I just didn't know how it would affect me to have one of them born that wasn't "perfect".  When we were matched with Grace, I was in love with her.  Her eyes were so big and so lonely.  She didn't smile in the pictures.  She looked hesitant.  I didn't want my baby girl to feel that way.  I fell in love with her with her cleft lip.  It didn't take away from her beauty at all.  She was gorgeous, and I was in love with her.  When we met her, we didn't feel any different.  She was still precious, and I loved her first smile.  With the cleft lip, it filled half her face.  She was so joyful and loving.  I was again in love with this precious child, just the way she was.  When we knew we would have a child with cleft lip and palate, we immediately looked into how to fix it.  I know it is better for them to have a repaired lip and palate, but I was totally in love with the little girl God had given me, I was scared what would happen after surgery.  Would she look the same?  Would I feel guilty about wanting my daughter to look "perfect" like her siblings?  Would she have the same spunky adventurous attitude we were beginning to see in her?  All of these unknowns were hard for me.  I look at my daughter now, after 2 weeks with a new face, and I am still just as in love with her.  She is returning to the spunky little one we love.  She had a rough first week because she was in pain, but she is doing so well now.  Right this minute she is playing blocks with her older siblings.  She has mastered the stairs, up and down, but I am still very nervous when she tries.  She will eat anything we put in front of her, including tomatoes (she gets that from her dad).  She loves to cuddle and wakes up grumpy.  I don't see her any differently than I did before, but she looks so different to everyone else.  She is beautiful and amazing, just like her siblings.

Baby Stair Climber

Repaired lip

First day on the slopes.  Awesome.

Christmas time has been busy.  The boys had a school concert as well as a piano recital.  Ainsley finished up her basketball season (which was so adorable), and Brandt has a bit of a break from his hoops.  We have spent the entire day in our jammies, and have only left the house to run through the Starbucks drive thru.  I love days like this.  I don't ever get them.  I think we will finish the Christmas cookies, then go and watch a movie.  I can't find my camera cord right now, so I have only included pics from my phone.