17 Months, 17 Days

Ella is the exact same age today that Amelia was when she had her hand surgery. I can't imagine having to spend the night at Scottish Rite tonight. I'm so thankful we will all be in our own beds. There are days when I wonder if I will "forget" about the surgery. I don't think about it every day, but I would probably say I think about it every few days. Of course I wouldn't change one thing about Amelia. She's my mini-me. I love the connections we've made with people through this and the connections we hope to make with others in the future. But tonight I'm thankful we were able to fellowship with our friends from our church's small group and then come home and put our babies to bed. At home. In their pjs and not a hospital gown. And then just chill and watch tv.

2 Years and 10 months

Tonight all I can think about is that I am so glad I'm not in a room at Scottish Rite nervously awaiting Amelia's surgery. Tonight I am glad we are home as a family. We are all sleeping in our own beds. I am thankful "cool hand" is a part of our everyday conversations. I am thankful I don't have to make another life-changing decision for my child and wonder if it will be the right choice. I'm thankful friendships were made because of this. I'm thankful. But I am mindful about other children and their families going through this heart-wrenching process. So I said a prayer for them tonight. I've been there, and quite frankly, I don't ever want to go back. On this 2 year anniversary-eve of her surgery, I still thank God for perfect little Amelia. She is the light of my life.

It is extremely difficult to get a picture of Ella these days. She never stops moving, so I had to borrow one from a couple of weeks ago. She's my kid that is in to everything. Before we know it, I'm sure she'll be jumping off the furniture, playing in the potty, and have climbed up the stairs while I'm not looking. We are her human jungle gym and trampoline. She occasionally stands on her own, but she definitely prefers to hold on tight. She holds her bottle sitting up for fear of missing something that might be going on around her. She is still a really good eater. Duh, right? She hates carrots, loves fruit, and can put away some Chic Fil A. She is wearing 12-18 month clothes and even wore an outfit out of Amelia's closet the other day. She kisses, she hugs (on her own terms of course), and can make you fall in love with her in about 2 seconds. She screams dadada and mamama about 7 zillion times a day. She reaches for us and definitely has a preference of who she wants to be with. She's napping twice a day and sleeping great at night. I love this girl so much I feel like my heart will explode!

See You Next Year

Amelia had her 6 month check up at Scottish Rite today. Note to self: make next appointment at 9 am. We were out of there in record time. Don't get me wrong, I love love love Scottish Rite, but I abhor the amount of time we usually spend waiting. Amelia had x-rays today for the first time since her surgery. We got to see a side by side comparison of her hands, and the doctor explained what bone was shaved down, where the growth plate is and how it is still open, and how the base of her thumb looks stable. I explained how "cool hand" has taken on a life of "his" own and shockingly her surgeon didn't send any of us to the psych unit, but he did give me a strange look. Let me clarify: Amelia claims "cool hand" is a boy. He is often in time-out and grabs toys from her right hand. And she can't kiss him because he's a boy. Oh the imagination of a soon-to-be 3 year old. But the best news we got all day was that we didn't need to return for a year. We also met another family with an 11 year old daughter that had pollicization at 2 years old. Pretty cool. Guess that means we will be going to Scottish Rite for a loooong time. Oh, and the term "Radial Dysplasia" is soooo 2007. It's now Radial Longitudinal Deficiency. You know, just in case you were interested.

Moving Her Thumb

Sorry about the very poor quality of this video, but Amelia moved her thumb a ton tonight. She's been moving it for a while, but tonight was the first time when I told her to move it that she did. I still have to hold her other three fingers. It is just one of the most amazing things to me. Enjoy!

A Girl Can Only Dream

I hope I am not crushing her dreams by saying this, but I am pretty sure she isn't going to have a future in the WNBA. I think the term "Vertically Challenged" sums it all up around here.

Just wanted everyone to see too how nicely the progress is going 11 weeks post-surgery.

Already Helping Others In Need

Just another quick update on Amelia. The picture below is shortly after her surgery. Her entire hand is covered so her cast looks like a club. Hence the name "weapon of mass destruction." One of the physicians who assisted in her surgery approached us yesterday about the possibility of using a part of the nerve in her thumb they removed to help aid them in research of abnormal nerves in childrens' fingers that grow unusually large. They want to study the DNA from both types of nerves. It was strange to hear that Amelia had a normal nerve in her abnormal thumb, but once again God is revealing his purpose to us in this situation. Of course our response was "ABSOLUTELY!" We are so blessed with the team of doctors we worked with and their excellent care of our baby.

And another blessing--Amelia stood up by herself today when we got home and walked around the living room. It just proves to us how resilient she truly is. All we can ask for now is that she is able to get full range of motion of her new thumb (her former index finger) so that she can use her hand to its fullest potential. Thanks again for the calls, visits, prayers, and food. We feel so blessed.

"For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don't look at the troubles we can see now; rather we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever." 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

We Are Home!

We are home and Amelia is doing well. She is such a trooper, and the saying "It's harder on the parents than the child" is definitely true. We are so so appreciative of all your prayers and thoughts during the past few days. Everything seems like such a dream since we had such short notice. I will post more later and hopefully have a couple of pictures. Please know that if Brad or I have a black eye or bloody nose in any of them it is because Amelia has beat us with her "weapon of mass destruction" as we like to call it and we don't hold it against her.