Post Op

Maddox had her surgery this morning and all went very well. Right now she is resting, but starting to come out of her "fog". She has been able to drink some apple juice and Pediasure, which we are very happy about. We're pretty optimistic that we will be discharged sometime tomorrow afternoon, as long as she continues to drink. Our Doctor stated that it was a "very wide" cleft and that it was difficult to repair. It turns out that although her cleft lip was unilateral, her palate was bilateral.

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for Maddox! We appreciate each and every one.

Maddox's Surgery

Pray for our sweet little Maddox. Tomorrow she will have her first surgery to repair her cleft palate. The surgery is scheduled for 7:20am and will take a total of four hours. We have heavy hearts tonight. The surgery has to be done and is in her best interest. However, to go to sleep knowing that tomorrow your child will be in pain, well, it is just sad.

On This Mother's Day, I Am Thankful For.....

Ryan. Ryan made my dream of being a mother possible. Before marriage, we discussed children. His comment, one at a time. My comment, FOUR. When others were planning their careers, I knew what mine would be, a mother. That was my dream. Always. I was the child who faked sick (sorry mom) in 6th grade so I could draw my dream house plans complete with a bedroom for each child and then I got out the dependable Sears catalogue to shop for furniture to go in my dream home. I always planned for a family and Ryan has made that all possible.

My mother. For always being honest. My favorite line that I can still hear my mother saying is, "Are you going to wear that?" I would give her a snide look and she would shrug and say, "Well, alright." Though I do not always agree with her thoughts, she is the one who never fails to make me think. Thank you for helping me see the bigger picture when my own eyes are squinted.

My mother-in-law. For raising Ryan to be the man that he is. Ryan is patient. Ryan always jumps in without a complaint. Ryan loves his family. Ryan does dishes. Ryan goes with the flow most of the time - if he really has an opinion, he will express it and I have learned to listen up.

My boys. For making me a mother first. I felt you kick for the first time, I wiped your first tears and I celebrated your first smiles. I love that God gave me the privilege to parent the two of you. I love that I can look at each of you and see a piece of your father and myself present in your beings. I love that you are our biological children. Because of you, I know the sacrifice that your sisters' birth families made when they chose to surrender them to another's care.

My girls. For being the icing on the cake - you made our already happy family even happier. I will never forget the day that we met - I knew you at first sight - your eyes fixed on mine, filled with curiosity, mine filled with tears. I love that today, MK, age four, without any prompting, looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I am so glad for happy mother's day. Children without a mother or a father don't have a happy mother's day." Because of you, I know unconditional love has no boundaries.

Milestone

Though Ryan has always been a favorite with my children, he has had some work to do with Maddox. Where MK immediately took to him, Maddox immediately took to me. No complaints here as I have LOVED getting all of my hugs and kisses and pats on the back (she does this quite often) and sweet cuddling time. She is my little sweetheart! Today, though, we saw an excited Maddox when her daddy arrived home from an overnight camping trip with the boys. The boys were wanting to hug on her and dote on her yet Maddox had other ideas in mind. The minute she saw Ryan, she took off in one direction, and one direction only, and nothing was going to stop her. She made her way to Ryan and grasped hold of his legs and squeezed them as tight as her little hands could. It was absolutely precious!

Our Girls

Girls night out! With Ryan and the boys spending some quality time on a local lake with friends, the girls and I spent some time together around town. First up, the prep. Baths, showers, make-up - gasp - yes, MK applied real lipstick for the first time tonight all.by.herself. She thought it was bee-u-ti-ful! Next up, the nails - MK's must do on a girl night. We introduced Maddox to our favorite nail salon, you know, the one with the bunny chairs. Only now, they have Princess chairs, very appropriate. MK walked in, chose her colors, introduced everyone who would listen to Maddox and took her seat. This is what our evening in the nail salon sounded like - "Mom, Maddox loves my nails. Can you please take her over there where she can't get into my chair? Maddox, come here, come over here and see me. Um, Mom, she is messing up my nails." In other words, MK could not decide if she really wanted Maddox around or not. Following our nail makeover, we went to dinner. Our favorite, pizza outside with the band playing next door, MK coloring and Maddox dancing. Perfect.

Celebrating Maddox

On Saturday, April 30, my parents held a party in honor of Maddox. People that I have known since my childhood as well as folks that I have not seen in years, all gathered together to share in the love of our little girl. What a true blessing it was to have everyone present for this event.

There were not many photos that were taken. One can imagine how distracted I was :) Between talking about our new addition, chasing our newest addition and feeding our newest addition, my hands were tied. My lips, however, were moving constantly trying to get updates on those that I have not seen in so long. The mental image will be forever etched in my memory from this night of celebration. We not only celebrated Maddox, we celebrated our family!

Maddox tried her very first piece of cake. As expected, she LOVED it and wanted more and more of the icing. What a treat!

Thank you to all who came out for the evening. Every one of you has meant so much to my family - my father, mother and siblings as well as my husband and our children - and I love that you continue to support us with prayers, encouragement and love as we move through life. Thus far, it has been a wonderful journey!

Happy Birthday Pryce!

Nine years ago today, Pryce entered our world and immediately made it a better place to live. With him, he brought peace, laughter, sweetness, kindness, a way to calm others and a good friend to all whom he meets. We love this little guy with all of our hearts and we are so blessed to be able to call him our son!

Pryce loves his siblings. He and Colin are the best of buddies. He will play and play with MK. He adores Maddox and always wants to know what he can do to help with her.

Pryce inherited his mother's "planning gene." I am, by nature, a planner. I remember as a child planning out my birthday parties months in advance. Pryce is the same way. He loves a good plan. The party plan has been in place since Christmas and he was so pleased with the outcome. On Friday, Pryce had four homeschooling friends over for a campout. What a great time they all had. They made yummy ice cream sundaes, they went Snipe Hunting, they told stories until the wee hours of the evening and they had many, many Nerf war games to attend to. It was perfect boy fun!

On Saturday afternoon, Pryce invited some neighbors, some school buddies and some Boy Scout den members over for a party in our backyard. Again, Nerf wars were fought, balloon toss was a hit and a treasure hunt ended with a great surprise to take home!

Pryce's backyard crew.

The birthday sing-along.

The homeschool crew. What a great group of friends Pryce is surrounded by!

The birthday boy! Nine years old. Wow, they really do grow up way too fast!