Lots to be thankful for...

Yesterday was Mabel's first Thanksgiving! I also like to look at it as our first Thanksgiving as a family too! She did amazing. She started wowing me at 4am when I woke up and realized that she was still sleeping and hadn't woke since I put her down for bed at 8pm. She then slept until 6:30 - that's such a good girl!

After our regular breakfast and some down time and a feeble attempt at a nap, we got ready for our big Thanksgiving adventure. I dressed her in the most autumnal colored outfit I had that fit her. I found a little brown skirt that I retrofitted to fit over her head. It was a size 4T! That cast is a lot bigger than it looks considering she still fits into size 6-9 month clothes! For our Thanksgiving we went over to Zack's cousin's home. We do it every year, but this year our plan was to stay there and not cook at our house afterwards like we usually do. My mom and a couple of other people typically join us at our house in the evening after we go to Zack's family dinner. This year my mom came with us to Zack's family celebration...I wanted my mom to be there for Mabel's first Thanksgiving (she did too!). We had a great time. Mabel armed with only a 20 minute nap under her belt did great. She wowed the crowd with smiles, showed off her cast and she and I spent some time going from mirror to mirror in the room looking at the "baby in the mirror" and saying hi - Mabel loves that game! She even let people hold her. The only tears came when we tried to get some pictures with Zack's parents and the kids...but to Mabel's credit at that point it was about 3:30pm and she had NO sleep.

Zack's aunt was very interested in learning about Mabel's cast and Mabel is proud to show it off, especially since when we arrived Mabel had made a present for us and I had to change her diaper. I don't think people realize how much of a baby's body is covered with a spica cast and it is shocking to see the first time. We are lucky that we have that loose left leg in our situation, I always point that out to people. It was a really great day. Most of the family didn't even realize Mabel was going through treatment for hip displasia. A couple of the guests (that were not family) thought Mabel was a boy! Can you believe that? I mean, #1 She looks like a girl! #2 Her shirt has pink in it! #3 She is wearing a skirt!!! Oh yeah and her name is Mabel! I try not to be offended when people mistake her for a boy...try. But Mabel was a star, very coy and sweet the whole time. She fell asleep on the way home as I expected. We did our nighttime routine and she went to bed a little after 8:30. I don't like that she's taken to going to sleep so late, but she again slept through the night and is still asleep now at 6am so I guess I shouldn't complain!

You know when I learned Mabel would be in her cast for her first birthday & the holidays I was so upset thinking that all her pictures would be of her in this horrible cast, but in reality it isn't at all bad. Mabel is Mabel, cast in all. This is part of who she is and it doesn't upset me anymore. I don't even think of it. When she is older we'll tell her all about this time and she'll probably never understand how hard it was for us - she'll look at all the pictures of us and think how happy we still were - and we are happy. That's what I want for her.

Lots to be thankful for this year...