Surgery and the return of Bear-Bear

Genevieve had surgery three weeks ago to correct a deformity in her left thumb. It went shockingly well, so much that, not a tear was shed from the time we entered the hospital to when we arrived home. God was so good to spare Genevieve from a traumatic experience! The surgeon informed us that she apparently walked herself into the O.R. and even laid herself down on the operating table before being put under. Pretty amazing, this girl is! Apparently she is such an extrovert that she'd go and hang out with the strange-looking grown-ups in green pajamas and masks, rather than stay with her own parents!

As you can see in the picture, her little hand had to be wrapped up until the stitches healed. Unfortunately, about an hour of getting home from the hospital, with her hand still totally numbed up, Genevieve deftly unwrapped it, and plucked a stitch right out. Back to the doctor we went!

And through it all, you know who was always there for Genevieve? (Assuming her Almighty Father in Heaven, of course!), her trusty and faithful Bear-Bear. . .. A floppy little pink bear whom Genevieve sleeps next to, shares her breakfast with, puts under her shirt and pretends is her unborn baby. And dear Bear-Bear, though Philip and I couldn't, accompanied her into the operating room and comforted her when we couldnt. I'm deeply grateful for him, though he causes me much trouble. . . . i.e. losing approximately one hour of my every-day searching for him under our couch cushions, in kitchen cabinets and our bushes outside when he's been misplaced.

Poor, dear bear-bear...We lost him at the orthopaedist's office just two weeks after Eve's surgery. I really cant even go into the details of how heart-wrenching this was for Genevieve, because its possible I'll start crying (again). But amazingly, after a week of searching, I found a new and identical Bear online!

We told her he would be arriving in the mail, and as we ran today to the mailbox to get him, Eve began chanting as we went, "I tiss Bear. I tiss Bear" (Her "k"s come out as "t"s.) :-)

And here's their sweet, long-awaited reunion:

A joyous day indeed!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Genevieve!

Genevieve is 2! She has been patiently waiting for her birthday for weeks now...well, someone's birthday, at least. This girl looooves birthdays...Loves singing about them, loves blowing out pretend-candles, loves birthday cakes. And I, as any doting mother would, wanted to make her birthday special while still keeping things simple, as she is just 2!

Enjoying her birthday breakfast of:

Baked Oatmeal Brulee. This was an AMAZING birthday-cake subsitute, since we were celebrating in the morning before Philip left for work. It had sliced bananas (Genevieve's favorite), with a sprinkling of brown sugar put under the broiler (hence, the Brulee), and a Peanut-Butter "Icing" on top, made of plain yogurt, maple sugar and peanut butter. Boy, was it gooood. And quite a hit with the girlies.

Showing off her new jewelry to dad. Yes, I broke down and bought her silly bands and kid's necklaces and bracelets so she would stop putting tiny hair-bands around her wrists and cutting off the circulation! All that to say, when she opened this gift she gleefully shouted "Rubber Bands!".

Enjoying her new wooden birthday-cake set, complete with candles and toppings. The girls have already had countless birthday-parties all over the house since this little gift came along. :-)

The birthday girl in her birthday-hat, with her sweet cousin Isabelle who came over later in the day to wish her a happy birthday and bring a present. Thanks, Isabelle!

And to conclude: some sweet and true words about little Eve that her father wrote in a letter to her to commemorate her 2nd birthday:

"Yesterday was your birthday. You turned two - a girl with a proper head of yellow hair, now, and opinions of your own, even if, to me, you still feel like a little bag of apples when I pick you up. I remember when you were born. You were a month early, and I think I got used to thinking of you in those first days as so fragile and delicate that I’ve never quite been able to shake that image, even as you tear around the house, now, climbing any and everything, and fearlessly thwarting whatever plans your sister has for you at a

particular moment."

Yes, you are our dear, opinionated, social, extroverted, joyful little girl. You find friends everywhere you go and are always eager to charm strangers, family, and friends alike. Rather than play with toys, you are much more interested in chatting with me, telling me everything that comes into your little mind (of which there is much!). You know how to make people laugh, and even at 2, you know you can, and relish it. We are so grateful that God gave you to our family, and your sweet and cheerful disposition is a daily blessing to all of us.

All my love,

Mommy

I knew she was smart when . . .

at 15 months old, she learned how to do this:

I'll set the scene for you: Genevieve is politely eating her lunch, (Pb and J and mango), while Marielle is playing outside, not quite ready to eat her own. A tablecloth is down, both girls' seats have plates of food in front of them....This is how I left it at least. When I return, Genevieve has consumed her entire lunch, and deftly pulled the tablecloth toward her until Marielle's full plate of lunch was now within reach. She begins eating....

And somehow, I dont remember exactly how, we end our scene with this: crying baby eating her sister's lunch..I know, it doesnt make much sense.

This chronicles one of our most peaceful mornings (i.e. this is rare)....Sister bonding over oatmeal. Sigh...It was very sweet. Marielle has taken an interest in feeding Genevieve her breakfast, since Genevieve still basically refuses to take this on for herself. :-) Marielle is surprisingly adept at getting the spoon gently into Genevieve's mouth. This is a great blessing to her mother, since I can be cleaning up the kitchen or get dressed while Genevieve is still happily being fed.

I know the soft morning light filtering in is giving this quite an angelic-looking aroma, so just in the spirit of keeping things real, below is a picture that was taken just hours later during lunch!

Youre probably wondering what happened to my happy little baby!? Well, you'll just have to read that in the next post. :-)