Happy Mother's Day!

Who Says?

Let me give a caveat and say that I typically do not listen to teeny bopper singers. I couldn't recognize a Justin Bieber song if my life depended on it. Well, ok I do love me some Taylor Swift but she is in her twenties and I didn't listen to her before her Fearless album so that doesn't count. Plus it's not like her audience is limited to the Teen Choice Awards. Anyway, this song by Selena Gomez came on in one of my workout classes way back when and I loved the message and upbeat vibe.

Today I was making dinner and Anna was doing what she usually does, which is sitting on the floor next to my leg (despite the abundant toys in the room a few feet away :) This song came on my ipod speaker and it made me think of her and everything we've been through, including some news we've been faced with regarding the healing of her leg, leaving us unsure about whether she can have a 'normal' looking prosthesis. In the midst of all the questions, I felt a surge of happiness, and I swept her up and danced around the kitchen. And I could honestly look at her and say, "Who says you're not perfect? Who says?" She thought it was funny and giggled plenty.

It was a special moment. This is the kind of song I would have related to back when I was a teen, and I hope to instill that message in Anna... that she's worth it, that she's beautiful, and that appearances and looking like everyone else are so overrated.

Here's the video- I think it's kind of fun. I apologize if this song was, like, a way overplayed one from a few years ago (I don't listen to the radio remember?). I do think it's a little ironic that Selena is singing about how she's no beauty queen, yet she looks like a beauty queen. Oh well :)

Anna, you've got every right to a beautiful life.

Splish Splash

Smiling.... and Project Simplify

Some things I am smiling about right now.....

A very generous gift received in the mail from anonymous. What a blessing! Totally unexpected! What kind of awesome person does this?

The Shr*ner's comment on our way to the hospital, "The last driver told me he was so impressed with your husband and how attentive he was to that little girl."  Music to a wife's ears.

Finally finding the perfect convertible carseat. Only took three tries.

Skyping with a couple from Thailand who wanted to know more about the treatment of Fibular Hemimelia in America. It was fun talking with them and seeing their sweet little girl.

Anna's face when riding this at a friend's house.

The OneRepublic album Waking Up. I know I may be a little behind, but I don't listen to the radio much and am enjoying it.... if a few years late.

The book "French by Heart" by Rebecca Ramsey.

Anna turning back into herself now that her casts are off: no more meltdowns on the kitchen floor. Sitting like a perfect angel in the shopping cart for the entire grocery run. Making friends with everybody.

Kroger carrying more health food/allergen-free food than I thought. I was looking in the wrong section. Foods I  didn't think they carried are available and clumped together in the Natural Foods section.

Only four more months until Ben graduates.

And Project Simplify....

I'm a big fan of keeping things simple. I don't like living with endless clutter or a million books, photos, toys, magazines, etc. This $5 e-book, "One Bite at a Time: 52 projects for making life simpler" put out by Simple Mom has been a great motivator for me. I love the idea. Each project is only 1-2 pages long. Many are things I have been thinking of doing or already started on before reading the book. I love that it's an e-book, so you can click on links and page numbers easily. I did print out the table of contents so I can check off the ones I've done so far.

I take it slowly and do one project here and there. Of course there are some that I don't need to do, or am not interested in, but overall it's good stuff. If you want to see what kinds of projects are included, I scanned my table of contents. Hopefully some of you will enjoy this e-book, too.

(Sorry if it's too small to read! Check out the link if you want).



Casts Off

Anna's procedure went well and we are all home resting up. The trip was long but good- I rode in the Shr*ners van and stayed right at the hospital. It was really convenient this way. I pulled my back out a week or so ago and then re-pulled it the day before, so I was not looking forward to taking this trip solo but I tried to pack really light and brought this for Anna to sleep in instead of the pack n play:

It's a Kidco pea pod tent- a gift from my parents a while back. It has a little inflatable mattress that goes inside, and it folds up to become the lightest thing you will ever see. Anna slept 12 straight hours without a peep. Nice.


Good choice because I ended up lugging our bags around and didn't mess my back up from it. The timing of the arrival was great as Anna went to bed fairly soon after we arrived. I stayed up and watched The Voice thanks to the pleasant surprise of cable in the room. I had some major trouble sleeping- not as bad as the night before the first surgery where I didn't sleep a wink, but it took a while to fall asleep. I kept kicking myself for telling my mom several months ago that she didn't need to come down. Despite being 8+ hours away and having a bit of an aversion towards hospitals following my father's coma and death, she was ready to be there at 6:30am to give emotional support, and I was feeling like I desperately needed it at that point. But I tried to view it as an opportunity to be a full fledged grown up. I think I stood up to the plate well- we only had two minor catastrophes the two days :)


Anna went under anesthesia at 8am and came out at 8:45am. She was not happy, but it was easier this time because she wasn't on any pain meds. I ended up in the same room as this really great woman from Florida and we talked pretty much the whole time. I was very thankful for the company. She flies in from Tampa every 8 weeks for her 3-year-old daughter to undergo surgery and receive a new full torso cast for her infantile scoliosis. My heart really went out to her for everything she has to go through- I think she said this was her eleventh surgery! I can't imagine. I was so thankful that Anna only needed her cast on for 6 weeks. The hospital was wonderful and all the staff were top-notch. Anna received a special toy and a new outfit for her Build-a-Bear, per tradition. I thought I wanted to go locally for her first prosthetic but now I'm not so sure. Side note: why didn't I ever think to go into prosthetics? It would have been such a great career field. My mind goes back to all those people in India who couldn't walk because they didn't have a prosthesis. Can I go back in time please?


Anna is doing great. Only one more day with the bandage and then she can go in the pool and bathtub. Two weeks wearing a compression sock and then we go back to have her leg checked and see if she is ready to be casted for her prosthesis. She is already putting weight on her left leg. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it isn't much shorter than her right, so she can still stand and cruise around. She still drags her leg along as if she had her cast on, which is pretty funny.

Anna dropped two diaper sizes (stress? burning off tons of calories?) and she is a skinny-mini. It's so strange to hold her without the cast! We are already thoroughly enjoying the lack of cast complications.
We are relishing in the following:

12 hours of sleep that is uninterrupted from bursts of crying and wet casts.
The ability for her to sit up- we don't have to hold her up for everything.
No more hijacking my blow dryer back and forth from drying Anna in her nursery to drying my hair in the bathroom.
She can fit comfortably again in her carseat and highchair.
Going back to our cloth diapers.
She can wear ANYTHING now! Yay!
She no longer smells like urine from the cast lining.
She can take a bath and get in the pool. Hooray!
I can take her outside when it's hot because we don't have to worry about her getting a rash.
I can feed her all the messy foods she hasn't been able to have- including her favorite, spaghetti.

The last six weeks have been some of the hardest of my life. I am going to go ahead and say they were the hardest. But it just makes the joy of the present that much more. Hooray!