Christmas with our little girl

Christmas this was was a bit different around our house.  For 14 years, we have woken up with just the 2 of us here for Christmas morning.  This year we had the joy of waking up with our little girl with us.  I was excited about getting to get things ready for her and have Santa the next morning.

The only issue with that was, she decided she wanted to stay awake all night too.  It was a rough night of sleep for her, but she finally
went out.  She had such a hard time sleeping with the arm braces on.  We woke her up around 7:15 to get her fed and then downstairs we came.  I was sitting in the room with the tree and toys and Amy brought her around the corner.  She put her on the floor and it took her a second to notice the first toy sitting there.  She then took off down the hall with a huge grin on her face.  A moment we had been waiting for.  I can't say she really knew what was going on and what Christmas was, but she was excited about her new toys.  She played with each little toy all morning.  She got a kitchen set to play with and she wouldn't stop playing with it and still hasn't.  She also got a little tin tea set and she and Amy will sit in the floor and pour tea and pretend.  She loves it.  As I sat and watched her, I couldn't help but think about what last year was like for her and about all the other little children around the world who long to have a family to be with for Christmas.  They may not know what that means or looks like, but I do and it is a hard thought to process just knowing there are so many out there.  We went to church Christmas morning for communion and to celebrate what Christmas is all about.  As we were standing there, those thoughts continued in my head.  I am so thankful that we have her now and there is one less that is longing that forever home.  She spent the rest of the day playing with her toys and then we had Christmas with Amy's parents and family.  She would at times seem just as content playing with pieces of wrapping paper as she would playing with a new toy.  I am not sure if it didn't overwhelm her just a little.  This was an awesome day and one we will cherish forever.

Now I sit back and
think about next
year.  We will not only have her but will have a 10 month old little boy crawling around and getting into everything as well.  I can't wait.


 I just hope she isn't getting mad at him for getting all in her stuff.  I told Amy that I could see some aggravated fights already with that kitchen set between the 2 of them.

This is a tough little girl

Beautiful!

I'm all ready to go!!

It has been a while since our last post. These last few weeks have been really busy. We have had several doctors appointments as well as all the holidays at the end of the year and that has really kept us going. Sarah Grace has now gone thru her first surgery and has had her palate repaired. She had the surgery on 12/19 and spent a couple of days in the hospital.  It was hard watching them roll her back as she stared at them as if wondering what in the world was going on.  We went up the night before and spent the night in the Ronald McDonald house by the hospital in Winston Salem. 

She was just a happy little girl that night and the next morning even as we went to the hospital and were in the surgery waiting area. She had no idea what was going to transpire that day and the hard part was you couldn't prepare her for it. The time came and the surgery went as planned. They repaired her palate and put tubes in at the same time. It lasted about 2 hours total. Amy and I sat anxiously awaiting our opportunity to get to see her. They finally came out and they were moving her to a step down ICU area due to her oxygen levels not being stable. This scared us for a bit, but they explained that this wasn't uncommon since they had put a breathing tube in and she just needed to come to enough to to get her breathing back in line. When we saw her, it broke our heart. Her little face was swollen and she had an IV in her as well as the other monitoring cables. I will say, the staff at the Wake Forest Baptist Hospital are great. They were so helpful and they didn't want her hurting anymore than we did. Over the next couple of days, it was a hard process watching her get over the anesthesia. I remember talking with Amy and we were just dying how much this little girl had been thru in her short life. You read and see these stories, but it really hits when it is in your hands. She was released from the hospital on Sunday and we made it home. 

Ready to go HOME!!!!!

These braces won't slow me down.
I can still pour tea!!

She had to wear the arm braces for the next 10 days to keep her from getting her hands or anything else to her mouth. She amazed us. She never minded putting these on and she didn't let it slow her down. She just figured out how to make due with what she had. I guess she had spent most of her life figuring this same thing out. The only thing that changed was her sleep. She couldn't get comfortable with these on her arms. She stayed up most of the night and never really had a good nights sleep for the next several nights. We went back to the doctor for her follow up appt on Tuesday 12/30. They were happy with how things looked and she was released to take these arm braces off. During these last several days they have become part of her normal. We would take them off only at bath time. She would stretch her little arms and act almost as if she didn't know what to do with them. We would lay her down and get ready to put her arms back in and she would simply lay her arm right in the brace and wait. She also has been on a soft diet with mostly baby food consistency type stuff such as mashed potatoes, yoghurt and smoothies. We were excited about this day so she could eat again. 

Relaxing on the pillow mommy made with nana!!!

They also released her to eat her normal foods. We went to lunch right after her appt and this little girl ate and ate. We later went to PF Changs and celebrated. Once again, to no surprise, she ate her weight in food. You could tell she had missed her bread. That night she slept better than she had in a long time. Once again she was able to lay in her bed and drink her bottle and roll over to go to sleep instead of being had feed with a syringe. We still have a little recovery to go but she is doing great and the most of it is behind us now. This little girl is one tough little bundle.  Not sure I would have ever found an adult that would have
done as good with this as she has. She has taught me some things and I truly think we are the blessed ones in this situation to be able to be a part of this with her.

I can finally eat what I want again!
One Happy Little Girl!!!!!