Six Months Home and Broken Arm Challenges

We have been home six months, and Wendy is doing so well. She loves going to school and cheers every day when we pull into the parking lot. Her vocabulary is expanding daily, and she is becoming more comfortable with new people and new situations. We are so grateful every day for our beautiful girls.

So really, this post is dedicated to Maddie.

We were just settling into a back-to-school routine when Maddie broke her arm in two places at sixth grade camp on Sept. 17. None of us have ever broken bones before, so this is new territory. I know kids break their arms every day and heal just fine, but it seems like Maddie's experiences have been extraordinarily challenging. To sum it up, doctors have attempted to reset her bones a total of four times, including two emergency surgeries a week apart. With each new procedure, the groundhog has predicted six more weeks of casts. Ugh. She is on her sixth cast now, and in typical fashionista style, Maddie has chosen a different color every time--white, blue, yellow, pink, tie-dye and black--many of which have come with sparkling glitter. Last night we purchased silver and gold metallic Sharpies so her friends can sign her newest cast. We are really not sure what Maddie is planning to do with her collection of used casts, but I'm envisioning she will create some sort of art project or cast museum.

Because it is her right arm, Maddie needs a lot of help with bathing, brushing her hair, getting dressed, doing homework and taking notes. We are so grateful to her friends and teachers who have been nothing short of amazing at accommodating her needs. At home, it seems like I have two toddlers sometimes, which is exhausting, but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and focus on the fact that this is only temporary and that Maddie won't need me to take care of her forever.  When I start to feel overwhelmed, I remind myself it as an opportunity for us to spend more time together. I know some day in the not-so-distant future when she is off on her own I will look back on these days and see them as special time together. Maddie's own resilience during this challenging time has been inspirational, and her thoughtful teachers recognized her positive attitude by naming her Student of the Week. I was also so proud of Maddie when she designed her mask project for drama class around the idea of overcoming obstacles. She divided it into three parts: 1. a picture of Wicked to represent her love of theater and the song "Defying Gravity," 2. a photo of the Great Wall, which represents our journey to Wendy and her pride in climbing it last April, and 3. a picture of her pink, glittery cast, which has been her latest obstacle.

During all of these challenges, Wendy has had to adjust to not always being the center of attention, which isn't really a bad thing. She has also learned the words, "cast" and "hot mess," but fortunately did not pick up any profanities I may have uttered during this time.

She also has had a blast experiencing more "firsts," including my birthday and Halloween. For the past seven years, my annual birthday wish was to bring her home soon, so it was so wonderful to have her on my lap when I blew out the candles this year. As for Halloween, she loved dressing up like Minnie Mouse and thought it was great how all of our neighbors gave her candy. It has been so much fun teaching her about our holidays and family traditions, and we are just getting started. She won't believe what November and December have in store for her!

We love our matching aprons from Umma and Boompa!

We are teaching Wendy about Daddy's annual Halloween costume. That's how we roll.

For some reason, this is her new surprised "photo-posing" face. It cracks me up every time. She is enjoying our traditional "Mummy Dog" dinner for Halloween.