Love Day!

We kept Valentine cards simple this year.  My friend has a photo studio in her basement and always gets such cute Valentine pictures.  We used their picture and an Air Head candy taped to the back.  It was so simple it didn’t even require any writing.  And the teachers each got a package of expo dry erase markers for their white boards.  

Mia’s Winter Wonderland Birthday party decorations and balloon banner have been up since her birthday last month.  Switch out a few snowflakes and replace them with some hearts and voila . . . looks like we’re die hard Valentine’s Day celebrators.

The kids all got a Valentine breakfast before heading out the door to school--pink waffle hearts, strawberry milk and lots of candy, cards and a little gift.

I saw a picture on instagram last night of my friend’s kids sleeping in their beds with lipstick kisses on their faces.  I loved it and decided to help Cupid with his stop at our house.  My first obstacle was finding lipstick.  I looked through Mia’s play make up and came up with nothing.  After searching through my stuff I finally found an old Mac lipstick palette.  Opened it up to see Mia had been using it for her play make up, lipstick smeared all over and mixed together.  I used the closest color to red that was in the palatte -- coral.  And started making my kissing rounds at 1:30 am.  I couldn’t stop laughing while I was kissing Jack and it woke up Ryan.  He sat up and said, “Oh hi, Mom.”  I went over and tried to give him a kiss but couldn’t stop laughing.  He got scared and asked me what I was doing.  Somehow I managed to kiss his cheek and wish him a happy Valentine’s day.  Jack almost walked out the door to school this morning with a kiss mark on his cheek.  He hadn’t even noticed it after his shower and while getting ready.  I said something about Cupid leaving his mark on his face last night.  He went and looked in the mirror, “What the crap?”.  Mia was more interested in knowing more about Cupid.  Was he a reindeer?  Did he fly into her room?  I had no idea what she was even talking about until later on when I realized there is a reindeer named “Cupid”.

I spent the afternoon in Morgan’s class, helping with her party.  Her favorite was the cookie decorating station.  She put a little bit of frosting on the cookie and the rest in her mouth.

Morgan and her amazing teacher, Mrs. M

Happy Valentine’s Day!
Hope your day is surrounded with love, family and friends.

Happy Heart Day

TEN YEARS.  It’s hard to believe it was 10 years ago that I handed over my four month old baby girl to the arms of an anesthesiologist, who was ready to take her back to the surgical room to begin open heart surgery.

We took lots of bath pictures the night before her surgery to help us remember what her chest looked like before the surgery, scar free.  And then a family photo of all of the kids together before bedtime.  Sleeping bags and underwear hats and all.  Such a busy time of life ten years ago, four little kids all 5 and under, but so full of great memories.  One of the blessings that I most looked forward to with her surgery was that she would be able to nurse again.  No more pumping.  No more NG tube feedings.  No more tape burns on her cheeks.  It had been a long four months of pumping and my milk supply was getting lower and lower.  I needed her heart to be strong again so she could nurse and gain weight.

The surgeon was able to successfully repair her AV canal with minimal leaking on the left valve.  I felt an enormous love and gratitude for Morgan’s surgeon, knowing that he had given my daughter a second chance at life.  It was hard on her siblings to see her all hooked up to machines and tubes and to understand why she had to go through all of that.  Hadley’s first words every morning were, “I see Din-Din” and  would run out to Morgan’s swing hoping to find her home again.  She spent about a week in the hospital and then came home and made up for all of that missed time from those first few months of life.

And look at her now!  10 years old and as feisty as ever!