A Birthday, Siblings, and A Diagnosis

Happy Birthday Dear Mommy, happy birthday to you!

 I have always loved a good birthday....

 neighbors delivered goodies and the texts messages came throughout the day, phone calls were aplenty and I was surrounded by my family, all of them.  For that, I am so thankful.  And one of my favorite moments was watching these four go through our blog book together.  I love that they love reading about our family and remembering together the things that we have enjoyed and experienced.

 The weather has been amazing!  And this little girl loves being outside!

 Maryn is always up for some time outside as well!

 Throw in a big ball and a big brother, and you have yourself a most satisfying afternoon!

 This guy.  Pryce is one of my two big brother rockstars.  All of his siblings adore him and I love that he can go from playing chase with his little sisters to throwing the football and talking sports with his big brother all in a matter of minutes.  

 Our little ray of delight.  

This girl continues to nestle her way right into all of our hearts.

 I love that Pryce has this time with his two baby sisters.  He calls it recess:)

 And I am so thankful for this relationship.  His time with her has helped to make our transition from five to six so easy!  

 Miss Maryn....always our miracle baby....she wants so badly for her hair to be long, as long as her sisters and she always asks for braids.  These piggie braids were so cute on her!

 This baby girl.  She has done and continues to do so well.  She eats well, sleeps well, plays well.  She laughs and cries, sings and babbles.  She is already understanding so much of what we say and will say words that we ask her to say.  

 She is just a joy! Her favorite thing is riding in the carrier.  If she is upset, I just scoop her up and she cuddles up inside of her little safe place and settles right down.  

 When she is free to roam around, she is quick to get into anything and EVERYTHING.  This week she found the Gospel of John book in our closet and made me laugh because she just walked right over to a pillow on the floor, plopped down and began thumbing through the book as if she was seriously reading it word for word!

 MK has made some sweet new friends at school this year!  We love knowing that our girl is happy and thriving!

 And these two continue to bond and learn to love each other.  I love catching them during the sweet moments they spend together!

 And Miss Maddox....she LOVES school, LOVES her teacher, tells me all the time she does not want to be homeschooled - all things good! 

 Our homeschool co-op has been so good to us!  I am in Chapman's room with my sweet friend Rebecca.  Rebecca makes the cutest little keepsake arts for the children and I love that we will have these for Chapman!

 Chapman was a good sport with the paint....

 Maddox was the Student of the Week in her class this week.  She was responsible for taking care of the classroom pet, Fluffy.  She especially enjoyed taking Fluffy to Target to play in the Halloween aisle with the masks!  

 And Colin.  This guy adores his littlest sister.  And the feeling is mutual.  I love that Chapman has taken to him from the moment she saw him.  Colin just keeps us all laughing!  We love this guy and we are thankful he puts up with us all!  

 Cuddles with mommy. 

This sweet baby will endure a lot in the upcoming weeks.

We are all so grateful she is home where we can provide her with the medical care she needs.

 Chapman was born with Spina Bifida Occulta.  

We were given pictures and MRI studies yet there was no real confirmation on her medical condition while she was in China.  We were all encouraged to see her walking and crawling in videos from China.  

This week she was given a very thorough MRI scan of her entire back.  We were not surprised to learn that her spinal cord is tethered.  We expected this but we were hopeful this was not the case.  

We are so thankful there were no surprises.  Her spine looks good, other conditions that could go along with SB were ruled out.  She is physically doing so well and shows no ill effects from her tethered cord.  This is a huge praise!  

Chapman will have surgery on October 19 to untether her cord.  This surgery is needed in order to ensure her growth and health as she grows up.  We ask for your prayers in the days ahead....please pray she will feel our love, our comfort and pray specifically that the doctors hands will provide healing to our sweet baby girl.