Thoughts on Mother's Day: Dear Faith

Dear Faith-baby,

You really are the sweetest little cuddle bug there ever was.  I love the look you give me when I come around the car to get you out of your carseat.  It's like, "Oh!  It's you!  You came for me!"  I think you like me and I know I like you.  I am sorry for the moments in the last eight weeks that you might have been scared or insecure that your little baby body couldn't articulate.  It must be overwhelming to feel big emotions and not be able to tell anyone about them.  It makes me so sad to think about that for you.

I know that your First Mama misses you a lot.  She can barely make it a week without emailing me for a new picture.  I am, of course, more than willing to oblige.  There's been a lot of talk recently about adoption ethics and I am so thankful that your daddy and I were able to sit in a room with your First Mama and Baba and hear from their own mouths that, yes, they were willingly choosing adoption and for these reasons.  I am also so thankful that I can assure you throughout your life that your First Parents loved you so very much.  They are my heroes and my heart breaks for them that they have to have the word first in front of their title and they can't just be your parents.  I know they would have parented you if they felt that they could have, but they didn't think that they could give you everything your special little self needed.  We are so glad that they chose us to meet those needs.

Look how little you were!  You have grown up so much!

I am so proud of how much you have grown and changed in the eight weeks we have been your family.  You were a floppy little thing when we brought you home, but now you roll every which way (it's no longer safe to leave you unattended on the bed!) and you are getting so close to sitting up!  You can scoot yourself forward when we give you something to push your strong legs against and I am just so proud of every little achievement you accomplish!

One of my favorite things is the look on your face when you have just rolled over or when you have gotten your balance to sit with help.  It's this wonderful mix of surprise, pride and excitement and it is often accompanied by a little squawk of delight!  It's the best.

You think you're big stuff, don't you?

We are still figuring out the whole eating thing, but we're making it.  We've tried a bunch of different strategies, but you are a particular and stubborn girl and you require your bottle at the perfect temperature and would like to only eat an ounce or two at a time.  The doctor says that we need to get you eating more and we are doing what we can to encourage you, but I can't force you to eat nor do I want to.  I know we'll figure it out in time and you are happy so I'm trying not to get too worried.

You have your first little cold (well, it's not necessarily little, but you're little so I find myself calling anything to do with you little - "little cereal, little socks, little toys, little bottle, little bink, little, little, little") and it is making it hard for you to breathe.  You did okay last night, but this morning you were so miserable and tired and the only way I could get you to sleep was propped up in my arms:

Sicky baby

It's hard to breathe when you barely have a nose, isn't it?  Poor little snuggly baby.  You kept coughing and your eyes were watering and you just kept looking at me and seemed to be saying, "Help me, please!"  It was so sad.  Your big sis takes full responsibility.  She told me, "I shared my cold with her!"  I guess my attempt to quarantine her wasn't successful.  She just can't keep her hands off you - she loves you so!

Faith, I want you to know that Mother's Day will always be bitter-sweet for me.  I will never be able to celebrate fully without also thinking about your First Mama.  You have two mothers who are committed to mothering you in the ways we are able.  I am grateful to share that wonderful job with your First Mama.  She is an amazing, selfless, smart and driven woman.  She has sacrificed a lot - her own happiness in many ways - to give you the best life possible.  I am humbled that she chose our family to give you your best life.  With Jesus' help, we will do our best to give you your best.  I love, love, love being your Mommy.

Last year at this time I never could have imagined that I would be celebrating this Mother's Day with two little people who call me Mommy.  Consider me blissfully surprised and thankful!

Happy Mother's Day (a few days late) to all you Mommies and Birth-mothers.  And to those of you for whom Mother's Day is bitter-sweet or many just bitter  - maybe you long to be a mom and it can't or hasn't happened yet, maybe you lost your own mom, maybe you are a birth mother missing your child, maybe you are an adoptive mom grieving for your child's first family - whatever the reason, may you feel the comfort of our Heavenly Father and may this day be redeemed in your life in surprising and miraculous ways.

Thoughts on Mother's Day: Dear Lila

Dear Lila,

I am so proud of you.  You have navigated the big changes in your life with such courage and tenacity. I'm amazed by your positive attitude, your hard work and your unconditional and immediate love for your little sister.  

Lila, having Faith as a sister will not always be easy.  There will be times when it seems like we are giving her preferential treatment.  There will be times when being her big sister will require things of you beyond the responsibilities of most big sisters.  I want you to know that when we adopted Faith, we considered you.  We considered how having a sister with big needs would affect you.  And in our consideration we were convinced that you are up for the task.  We know that you have it in you to be the best kind of sister for Faith.  And in the last few weeks you have proved us right time and again.

Already you are showing us your ability to care for your sister.  You are sensitive to Faith's needs - you tell me, "Mommy, I think Faith is tired" or "Mommy, Faith is sad because she dropped her toy."  You are protective of her - we have begun to let other people hold her and this bothers you because you noticed that we hadn't let anyone outside our family hold her yet.  You advocate for her - if I don't respond to Faith's cries right away, you hassle me until I do!  You take care of her - you bring her toys, put her socks back on, tuck her in with her blanket, and talk to her when she's fussy.  You affirm her achievements - you cheer when she rolls over (a task we've been working on!) or even when she makes it through a car ride without falling asleep!

I imagine you in several years, putting all of those things to work as Faith joins you at school.  You will be the perfect support for her.  You will be her guardian, her cheerleader.  We will feel at peace with the idea of sending her into an environment where we cannot be with her because you will be there for her.  She is so lucky to have you as a sister!

Aside from what an awesome big sister you are, I am also so proud of you for working hard on obedience.  You are learning that you have a choice to obey and you are learning how to engage your self-control which is very hard for you.  I have tried to be more consistent and more patient with my instructions and consequences and we have had our best week yet since Faith came home!  Hooray!

We have reluctantly started transitioning you into a rest time in the afternoons in lieu of your naps (because if I'm honest, naps haven't been working for a long time and I just wasn't ready to give them up yet!).  I set the alarm on your little pink clock and charge you with the task of playing quietly until it goes off.  We tried for 15 minutes the first day, 20 minutes the second, 30 minutes the 3rd, etc and today you made it a whole hour without coming out of your room!  Not only that, but when you came in to announce that your alarm had gone off I asked you to go pick up the toys you had played with and you proudly informed me that you already had!  Without me asking you to!  "You wanna see?" you asked me excitedly.  And we hurried into your room to find it spick and span!  You were so proud and excited and I was soooo proud of you!  Daddy heard us celebrating and he came jumping in the room in enthusiastic support of your accomplishment!  I loved seeing how excited and proud you were!

Tonight as I was snuggling beside you in bed, I was overwhelmed with how big you are getting and yet how small you are still.  I was hit with your vulnerability and maturity all at once.  I don't even know what to say about that, but I was just undone.  I wasn't sure which to feel more emotional about - the depth of your need for comfort and soothing, for reassurance and boundaries, for security and affirmation; or the outlandish length of your legs and the grown-up way you stroked my hair and kissed me goodnight.  After you were snoring, I kissed your head and breathed in that heart-melting smell of a little girl who has played hard and enjoyed this sweet earth.  It was sweat and dirt and grass and fresh air mixed in with your own natural little girl perfume.  I want to bottle it up.  I want to bottle you up.  

Sometimes I jokingly say, "Stop being three!" when you are driving me a little nuts.  But I don't mean that.  What I really mean to say to myself is, "Stop being such a grown up!  Enjoy the thrill of high pitch squeals echoing in the bathroom stalls!  Indulge in grotesque imitations of Faith's big belly burps!  Run recklessly through the long hallways of Target just for the thrill of a long stretch of road ahead!  Jump!  Off of EVERYTHING!  Don't think twice about eating a fallen fruit snack!  Wear twirly dresses and ask perfect strangers if they think I'm beautiful!  Pull everything out of my dresser drawers and line up my favorite outfits on every spare inch of floor space in my room!  Sing!  At the top of my lungs!  Inside!"  

Sometimes I lose perspective.  Sometimes I forget that this time is fleeting, just like they say.  Sometimes I wish it away.  Gasp!

But sometimes time stands still and the beauty of your long eyelashes catches my breath.  Sometimes I am overcome just by the look on your face and I just want to squeeze all the breath out of you (you know, in a good way).  Sometimes, you undo me with a word and I go from feeling frustrated and angry to tender and affectionate at once.  

You are my greatest challenge and my greatest delight.  You stretch me and push me and I am all the better for it.  Some day you will grow up and become a mommy and you will understand what I mean when I say: I weep for love of you.  My emotions run too deep, too fierce, too wild, too strong for me to chain them in and tears flow freely - gathering into pools of affection and love with each drip-drip-drip. I am a sniffily, snuffily beautiful mess of a mama's crazy reckless love for her girl.

Lila, every day I am glad I am your mommy.  Every day.  Today is no exception.  You are the reason that Mother's Day applies to me.  You made me a mommy.  I love being a mommy.  I love being your mommy.

This picture is blurry, but I just love what it captured.  You rarely let me put your hair up and I talked you into a ballerina bun today.  I took this picture to show you what your hair looked like from behind and I love the look on your face that I accidentally captured.  You are admiring yourself in that innocent way that little girls have.

eenie-miney-mo

Our sticker chart has evolved in the last 6 months to include specific tasks that were invoking battles for us each day.  Lila can earn a sticker for getting dressed, eating lunch, taking a nap, being nice to the dog, etc as long as she does those things without arguing.

If she earns all her stickers, she gets to choose a fairy (we did princesses the first round).  In theory, she could earn a fairy a week, but she never earns all the stickers in a day so it generally takes her several weeks to earn her prize.

She earned her first fairy this weekend (after a loooooong month of sticker chasing) and now she's taken to studying her options for her second choice.

Today her method of choice was Einie Miney Mo.  It's the cutest thing.  I love the way she sings it.  I paid attention to how she sings it today and wrote down the way she says it:

Eenie Miney Mo
catch-a tiger bya-stow
bake 'em polish
make him day
my mom said to pick
the very best one
and you are not it!

She got the last part right!  I love that girl.

It is ridiculous that this picture was taken in MAY.

a lila update

So, I know the big news around here is our sweet Faith baby's adoption, but I don't want to forget about my big kid.  Lila has been having a bit of a rough go with the transition, but she's making it.  She L-O-V-E-S her little sister (she calls her "little big sis" because...well I don't know why.  I think because I make Faith "talk" to Lila and say, "Hi, Big Sis!" so she figures Faith is the little big sis.  I'm not going to argue the point because 1. we already argue about enough these days and 2. it's cute.) and wants to help feed her, hold her, bring her toys, pick out her clothes, rearrange her room, etc.  She scolds me if I don't respond to Faith's cries quickly enough - "Mommy, go get her! She's crying!" - and she is quick to remind me of what I need to do or what she thinks Faith needs/wants.

She also can't keep her hands off of Faith which has been a problem this week because Lila caught a cold and had a fever so I wouldn't let her touch Faith.  I am terrified of Faith getting a cold because babies with Down's syndrome often have very small nasal passages so breathing can be easily impeded.  Even without a cold, Faith sounds like a little Chinese rhinoceros.  We call her "Snorty" because she snorts a lot and we are very creative with our nicknames over here.  I know that a cold is inevitable, but I'd rather wait a bit.  Like for about 17 years.  Is that too much to ask?

Oh yeah, I forgot I was talking about Lila.  Now you can probably see why she's having a hard time.  That baby is just so darn distracting!  

It's a big adjustment for a little girl to go from Only to Oldest.  She is veeeeerrrry emotional most days and I have never seen so much of her bottom lip.  Our biggest problems are her propensity toward arguing and her recklessness.  I finally got to the point a few weeks ago where I realized that I had been trying to talk her into obedience.  "You really want to obey Mommy and here's why..."  I had this epiphany when I was asking her to put her shoes on and she was essentially like, "What'll you give me for it?"  She didn't say those exact words, but that was the general direction of our conversation.  I sat her down and said, "You know what, Lila?  In our house it's not a choice to obey Mommy and Daddy.  We just obey, and if you don't you'll have a consequence."  

I think saying those words out loud gave me the permission to put the boundaries back in place that had been squeezed out by mostly good intentions and a little bit of guilt.  I had been giving her a lot of extra grace because I know this transition is hard for her and we are all on a learning curve of how to be a family of four.  But I had gotten to the point where grace was looking a little too much like Lila calling all the shots and me getting frustrated.  And the thing is, kids NEED boundaries. They want boundaries.  They feel safer with boundaries.  I know this, but I just didn't realize that "extra grace" had turned into a free-for-all of Lila does whatever the heck she wants and we just forgive it or get mad.  

Blowing bubbles on the front porch.  We've been trying to give her little bits of responsibility and independence.  She usually isn't allowed outside by herself, but the Husband told her that she could blow bubbles on the porch as long as she stayed on the porch.  He was, of course, lurking behind her watching out the window the whole time!

Boundaries.  Boundaries are good for everyone.  And I think my girl was sort of panicking because here we had turned her life upside down by bringing this stranger (a really CUTE stranger) into our house and calling her sister and suddenly my attention was divided in half and my affection was shared and we have to be quiet when the baby is sleeping and she can't do somersaults on the couch anymore when I am feeding Faith because then Faith gets a heel to the head (I'm not saying that happened...) and oh the humanity!  Her life is ruined!  But she's also confused because she really loves that baby and tells me on a daily basis, "Mommy, I LOVE having a baby sister!" or "I'm so glad Faith is my baby sister!"  

And then on top of all of that, Mommy seems to have changed the rules on her and some rules that we used to have seem like they don't apply anymore and now we have new rules that seem completely unjust because that BABY needs it quiet to sleep (high maintenance) and she can't sing her Rapunzel songs at the top of her lungs anymore.  

It must be confusing for a little girl's brain so I'm trying to re-teach her what being a part of our family and living in our house looks like.  I'm trying to show her that her life is still safe even though it's different, and that Mommy still loves her even though I lose my temper easily because I'm stressed about adding a million appointments to our schedule and going back to school and trying to get that little asian stinker to eat more than two ounces at a time!  (Seriously, she downs two ounces and then just gurgles and smiles at me and spits out the rest.  It's cute and infuriating all at the same time!)

Also, I'm 95% sure Lila needs glasses.  I got glasses in first grade and my parents think I probably needed them younger than that.  I made an appointment for her at the eye doctor in a few weeks so we will see what they say.  There's a part of me - the very irrational and stressed out part - that thinks/hopes/prays/believes that getting Lila glasses will magically fix all of her behavior problems.  The other part of me - the rational and realistic part - thinks that it might fix some of her behavior problems.  As a legally blind person myself, I know how disorienting it can be when you can't see the world around you.  I imagine part of her recklessness has to do with the fact that the things more than three feet from her face are all a blur.  I also imagine that it's probably tempting to revert into an imaginary world when the real world isn't in focus and it's hard to get her out of that imaginary world sometimes especially when the real world has a Mommy saying, "Lila!  Stop singing so loudly!"  I'm kind of dreading having to cover up those sweet big brown eyes with glasses, but I'm also looking forward to how cute she's going to look.

She picked out these hipster glasses when she was at Half Price Books with Daddy.

So, if you think about it, pray for our Lila-girl.  She is still the sweetest, funniest, most creative kid I know and I just want to be able to look at her through eyes that see the good in her and not the frustrating parts of her (like asking me one million questions in the car.  Seriously, Child.  Give Mama a BREAK.)  Pray for me, too - that I can find ways to be patient and creative in the midst of a crazy season of life.  I don't want to look back and realize I "just survived" this once-in-a-lifetime bit of Lila's life.

This was on Easter this year.  My cousin Suzy was so sweet to help Lila hold the rabbit.  Lila was enamored with Suzy's red hair.  She whispered to me, "Mommy!  She looks like Ariel!"

One last little story about my Lila.  This story will only make sense to those of you who have seen the movie Tangled.  There's a part in the movie where Rapunzel is singing about being locked up in her tower her whole life and "wondrin'" when her life will begin.
Here's the clip (pay attention to 2:15):

Lila knows this song by heart and sings it constantly.  She loves pretending like my scarves are her hair and she acts out the song, flinging her "hair" around like Rapunzel does.  A few weeks ago, she was doing this as usual and then she said, "Mommy!  Do you like my wondrin'?"  I looked up to see this:

I love that she thinks a "wondrin'" is a circular something.  I love the way her mind works.  She's the best.

What we've been up to...

Whew.  It's been awhile and I have every intention to finish our "Getting Our Girl" series soon, but I thought I'd write up a quick update post to get us caught up.  Since my last post:

I turned 30! It was rather anticlimactic because we couldn't leave Faith yet so the big bash I dreamed about with all my favorite people present wasn't really practical.  The Husband turned 30 in February and his birthday was rather uneventful as well so we just decided we're going to celebrate big next year!

We finalized Faith's adoption! In Kansas you have to wait 30 days and have at least two post-placement visits with a social worker before an adoption can be finalized so on Monday April 29th we went to court and promised to love her and care for her as our daughter for the rest of our lives.  We found out the day before that we could invite whoever we wanted, so we made a few last-minute calls and our parents, my grandparents, my sister and our friends Jordanne and Holly and Russell were able to make it!  We were so thankful to have a group of supporters, but I do wish we had more warning because I would have invited the entire world to celebrate with us!  Faith is officially ours and we couldn't be more thrilled.  She is the sweetest little snuggle bug and we are still pinching ourselves that she is home!

Can you even handle the cuteness???

I started back to school.  I took the entire month of April off to be home with Faith and I started back this week for the rest of the school year.  I am grateful to only have a few weeks before the summer.  The Husband is staying home with Faith when I teach (just once a week) so she's in good hands, but I still miss her.

We decided to try to sell our house.  I know.  We're crazy.  We decided that our life didn't have quite enough chaos so we're adding showings and home improvements to the mix.  And since we've already checked numbers 1 and 10 off of our Hopes for the New Year list, we figured we might as well tackle number 5, too!  Actually, we have had our realtor come out each year for the last three years to see where we stand in the current market and we finally have enough margin to try to get out of our house and into a bigger one.  We bought at the worst possible time - right before the market fell apart - so it's a little depressing to do the math on how much we have paid into our house, how much we have spent on some big ticket updates (roof, sewer line, etc) and how much we will lose in the long run.  But since we are expecting at least one more child in our family (our Ethiopian baby - I'm not pregnant!) we feel like we need more room.  We love this little house though, and we will be so sad to leave.

We spent all of last weekend purging and cleaning and organizing so we are feeling like we are getting pretty close.  If you know anyone looking for a house, send them our way!  We aren't officially listed yet - still have a few little things to do - but we can show any interested buyers now.

Pardon me while I shamelessly advertise our house...

The stats:
- 3 bedrooms, 2 baths
- 1 car garage
- open floor plan
- hardwoods in living, dining and two bedrooms
- laundry/mud room off master and kitchen with extra pantry space and kitchen storage
- great central location walking distance to grocery, farmer's market, parks, the elementary school and Downtown Overland Park.
- the house was rehabbed in 2006 with updated electrical, refinished hardwoods, opened up some walls and turned the family room into a big master (13'X13') with a full bath and big walk-in closet
- we bought in 2006 and since then we got a new roof, replaced the big picture window in the master, replaced the sewer line, got a new hot water heater, and did a bunch of little updates throughout (ceiling fans, paint, added outlets, added vent fans in the bathrooms, landscaping, etc)

Confession: this picture is from the fall of 2011 for our home study.  I was going to take a picture today but it was SNOWING.  Ugh. Kansas.  For crying out loud - it's MAY.

Living Room: Love our big picture window and that it's open to the dining and kitchen

Living Room view 2

Dining room: built-ins with hidden storage behind them.  Open to the living and kitchen.  The door in the back walks into our bedroom.

Kitchen: Appliances and island can stay if buyer would like.  We replaced the faucet, garbage disposal, stove and dishwasher.  The kitchen is open to the living and dining room.

Laundry/Mudroom: We use this for extra kitchen storage, dry good storage and cleaning supplies

Laundry Room: It's so nice to have it right off our bedroom!  Those cabinets go to the ceiling for lots of bonus storage.

Master bedroom: Lots of light, big closet.  We love that it's separate from the other bedrooms for some extra privacy and space from the kids.  We added a ceiling fan and replaced that big window.  Franny photo-bombed this pic - cute pup not included!

Master Bathroom: There's a bathtub to the left of the sink behind the door.

Lila's room view 1

Lila's room view 2

Faith's room 

The girls' bathroom (I'm standing in the bathtub to take the picture!)

Okay I gotta get to my girls.  Faith is waking up and Lila is sick (although is currently dressed up and fluttering around like Tinkerbell so I think the Tylenol is in effect!) so I am needed!  Pray with me that Faith doesn't catch Lila's cold.  Colds are a bigger deal for babies with Down's syndrome because they have smaller nasal passages so they can have a really hard time breathing.  I am washing Lila's hands every 5 minutes and berating her for getting too close to her sister.  No kissing, no touching, no fun!  This finicky weather isn't doing us any favors either. Boo! No more snow in MAY!  Come on, Kansas!  Get it together!!

Stay tuned for the final installment(s) of our Getting Our Girl series and please spread the word about our house!

Getting Our Girl: Part 3

If Saturday was my peak of labor cry, and Tuesday morning was my "heading to the hospital" prep, then the breakfast room of the Days Inn is our delivery room.  It was in that room that I first met my daughter.

She was standing - well, propped up and supported by her birth mom - on the table.  The room was small and warm with tile floors and one window.  Faith was wearing a fleece dress with purple and blue flowers.  I remember thinking, She seems happy.

We shook hands and greeted her birth parents.  I cooed at Faith and stroked her cheek and she studied me.  I don't remember how long it was before I asked, "Can I hold her?" But then I was - holding my soon-to-be daughter.  She felt simultaneously stiff and floppy.  I cupped my hand around her head and held her close.  I bent my cheek down to rest on her head and soaked her in.  I kissed her and stroked her head.  The Husband was holding Lila and Lila was begging to hold Faith.

What happened next was both my worst fear and a great relief.  We had been warned that Faith's birth parents might not be emotional - that they had resolved themselves to this as the best option for Faith and they may not show any emotion.  As I held Faith, my mom had obeyed what I believe was a nudge from the Holy Spirit to bring Faith's birth mom into an embrace.  In the corner of my eye, I saw them hug and then this mournful wail began to fill the room.  Birth Mom was crying, wailing.  I felt uncomfortable in the exact way I should have felt uncomfortable.  I felt sick to my stomach.  Our joy was her heartache.  Our beginning was her ending.  Our soon-to-be was her almost-over.  I hardly knew what to do.

Faith's birth father took Faith back from me which freed me to hug Birth Mom.  The same wail, the same grief poured from her, and my heart met her in her grief.  Mother to mother.  And then she began to repeat in her moaning, "Thank you, Mommy.  Thank you, Mommy.  Thank you, Mommy."

My heart.  My heart.  I just held her and prayed.  It was horrible and holy.  Beautiful and tragic.  I was so grateful for those words because I just wasn't sure what the tears before had meant.  But now I understood.  I have nothing else to compare it to to help you understand, but somehow I understood how she could be thankful and grieved at once.

It was so...humbling.  It was so holy.

We have a video of this exchange, but I equate it to the video I have of Lila's birth.  I will treasure that video, watch it with a tender heart and cry each time the scene unfolds.  But it is not something I will share with anyone outside our family.  Lila's birth is a bit too graphic - a body laid bare and exposed.  This one is, too.  A heart laid bare.  A deep sadness exposed.

We have been met with mixed reactions when we explain the circumstances of our daughter's adoption.  Most assume, based on what is common culturally, that Faith's birth parents simply did not want her.  This is, without a doubt in my mind, the farthest thing from the truth.  She was wanted.  She was loved.

This assurance brings my heart a strange mix of joy and grief.  Joy because I want my girl to know that her birth family loved and treasured her - that there was no part of her that was unwanted.  I am so thankful that I can tell her without a doubt that she was loved by them.  But I am also grieved because I know that, had their circumstances been different, they would have parented her.  It grieves my heart that any parent might not be afforded the resources and rights to keep their child.  Faith's adoption was in no way coerced or forced, but if her birth parents were born into my circumstances rather than theirs, she would not be our daughter - she would still be theirs.  I cannot, and don't think I will ever be able to, fully reconcile the gratitude I feel that Faith is my daughter and the guilt I feel that she is not theirs.

To be continued...

Today

Today I picked Faith up and propped her on my shoulder and as I did that she somehow got her chubby little arms around my neck and gave me the most swoon-worthy accidental hug.  Then she looked at me and grinned.  And without thinking about it, these words came pouring out of my mouth as tears came to my eyes,

"Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you, Jesus.  Thank you."

From the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.

My heart is overflowing today.  I am so very, very grateful that I get to be that baby girl's mommy.  I just can't believe my good fortune.

Our "Getting Our Girl" series will continue tomorrow so check back in then!