Easter Eve

Heart. melt.

John Paul asked to hold Sarah today which he has never done. I put her on his lap and he started talking to her and petting her head. I said, "Sarah, your big brother loves you!" And he said, "I really DO love her, mommy."

One year ago yesterday

Leo had his cleft palate repair.  I'm so amazed at how far he has come.  He is speaking so much more lately, he knows every one of his abc's, and he is such a great eater.  What a wonderful blessing he is to our family!  I'm still praying he doesn't need a second surgery.  Only about 20% of kids need it but his cleft was pretty wide, so he could be one of those.  We won't know til he's around 4 though.

Today we went to the Children's museum and I saw a little boy who was about 3 with an open cleft lip.  I asked his mom if he had a cleft palate too and she said yes.  I told her Leo had a cp and had surgery a year ago.  I told her all about it, showed her pictures, and she was able to see him and how well he is doing.  I told her he didn't mind the arm restraints and did so much better than we had expected.  They even have the same surgeon - for both the cleft and ear tubes!  She had just adopted him from China 5 weeks ago and he had had nothing but rice/formula bottles since then, and barely had been out of his crib!  He's THREE!  I gave her my phone number and told her to call me with any questions.  I'm so happy to have been able to help out and put her mind at ease.

Kids enjoying (hopefully) last snow

And I'm enjoying my new camera!

Madeleine is 6!!

I can't even believe it.

PSA

You're probably wondering why I haven't published any new pics with my awesome new camera.  Well, it's because it's not here yet.  I'm telling you right now, NEVER ever order anything from Mellodigital.  And apparently everyone on the internet knew they were thieves and liars except me.  (ALWAYS read reviews of a place before ordering something.  Lesson learned.)  Anyway, we cancelled the order and I ordered one on ebay and it should be here this week.  Unfortunately not in time for Madeleine's birthday, but soon afterwards.  While I've been waiting, I've been working on editing photos.  Maybe an old dog CAN learn new tricks!  We shall see!

Speaking of Madeleine.  She got in huge trouble tonight for directly disobeying and spent most of the day in her room.  She came down at dinnertime and said she had asked God for help to be better.  We also prayed a decade of the rosary as a family (what we are doing for lent.)  I made sure to tell her that we still loved her and we would always forgive her if she asked, just like God does for all of us when we mess up.  She was pretty penitential :)  

We are doing the Papal Unit study this week over at Shower of Roses.  It has been so fun!  We watched Pope Benedict's departure yesterday, and talked about the conclave and looked at pictures of the Sistene chapel.  Then we made a German feast in his honor, complete with soft pretzels.  Yum!  

Ok I'll leave you with one more with my point and shoot I'm happy with, until my 3200 gets here!  This is the first really good smile I've caught on camera :)