SANTA!

Well, I know it has been FOREVER since I updated. I have a lot of blogs in my brain, just no time to post them! I hope to get caught up here quickly. So you have to start somewhere, so here we go!

Every year, the Heart Clinic at Cook Children's hosts a Christmas Party at the Medical Center for all of the Cardiovascular Surgery Kids. (what a mouth full!) It's a fun time to see friends who have gone through your experiences, and to see all of the nurses and doctors again. (and not in the clinic or ICU!) This year the party was on Monday evening. (I read in the paper on Tuesday that the Cowboys were at Cooks on Monday, too. Unfortunately, not at our party!)

It is also nice because as long as we live in Fort Worth, I will never have to wait in line at the mall with a child to see Santa!!!!!! They have a really great Santa with a real beard!

Emma's first Christmas party, she was more interested in her new shoes, which was actually the first time she really wore shoes period.

December, 2006:

Her second Christmas party, she was NOT a happy camper!

December 2007:

So what did this year have in store for us???????

We tried to really warm her up to the idea for a couple of days beforehand. That she was going to get to meet Santa Claus....get to sit in Santa's lap and tell him she has been a good girl this year, and that maybe Santa would give her a present! (the most important thing of all to a two-year old)

So here is December 2008!

She did great! We had to wait for our number to be called, and she was so excited about seeing Santa....and the sugar cookies and large Christmas tree helped, too! She was charming all of our acquaintances, surgical and ICU nurses, and doctors, too!

Here we are in front of the Christmas tree in the atrium, squirmy as always:

And afterwards, she was so excited about her "erella" toy! (or in adult-speak, Cinderella)

She, of course, had to show the nurses her toy:

And finally, she got to say hi and give a hug to her surgeon, Dr. Erez:

It's pretty amazing to think that this man has literally touched my daughter's heart....twice! He recognized us immediately, asking how her voice was doing. One of the probable side effects of the heart surgery she needed was damage to a nerve that affects the voice. He told us that there's a good chance there was damage to the nerve, but we would never know the difference because we didn't know what her voice really sounded like before the surgery. (It's not like you can "hear" anything.) When he found out Daniel was a singer and how important that is to him....well, let's just say he always has remembered that now!

He, along with the nurses and all other doctors at Cook Childrens (and God, of course!), saved Emma's life, and we can never be grateful enough. It's fun to have these collection of pictures over the years...both of her with Santa, and with Dr. Erez.

The next morning, Daniel was in the kitchen when he heard a sound in the living room. Emma had woken up, bypassed him in the kitchen, went into the living room, turned on the lights to the Christmas tree, and was playing with her "derella" toy. She was hooked!