Friday, December 28, 2012

Blessings upon Abundant Blessings


My heart is in a good space right now. Just a good, sweet place. As we celebrated the birth of our savior Jesus Christ earlier this week, I looked at my children, drunk in their sweet faces full of excitement, and just was...was grateful...was happy...was just filled with a profound sense of how very, very blessed we are. Even with a knee injury for me, a double ear infection for Bodie and constant pain for Dusk due to his collapsed hip, even so, I was so struck by how blessed we are. What an answer to prayer - a peace which can only be given by our Savior. I am so grateful for this time of reflection, since I know it will strengthen us for the year ahead, which will include both Bodie's and Dusk's surgeries and many other surprises I am sure. So, for today, I am peacefully happy...


Christmas this year was so wonderful. We got a wonderful Christmas present the week before Christmas, in a fantastic cardiology appointment for Bodie! All looked well, we were sent home with one med change and told to come back in 3 months for our next routine appointment, where we will discuss the Fontan. That one med change (to up his Enalapril, for my heart mama followers) has made a huge difference for him - he has been pinker, satting better and seeming to have more endurance. It was a wonderful surprise and will hopefully keep him more comfortable until the summer.
Bodie with our beloved cardiologist, celebrating a great appointment. :-)

After that, our Christmas festivities really kicked off, with Sierra's kindergarten class Christmas party, which we were all able to attend. BEYOND adorable to see these kids get so excited about Santa visiting and their pizza party. :-)
Santa came through our neighborhood and the kids were overjoyed to get to see him (we'll just ignore the fact that Santa clearly does not share their excitement! haha!)
Not sure whether the kids were more excited to see Santa - or sit in the firetruck!

Then, Popo Alan and Gram Jan came to town and boy did we have a ball with them! They got to come with us to the Christmas Eve service at the church associated with Sierra's school, which was super fun.

Gram Jan and Popo Alan with the kiddos.

I'm just trying to figure out WHERE my babies went?!?
You'll notice Daddy isn't in these pics - sadly, this is because our water heater blew up on the 23rd and Daddy had to stay home to wait for the guy to replace it, so he missed the Christmas Eve service :-( Luckily, Daddy did get to join us for dinner afterwards, and our first ever "Bennett Family Express" trip to see Christmas lights. The kids thought it was such a treat to get their own tickets, wear jammies and drink hot cocoa out of sippy cups in the car. Fun, fun, fun times!

Christmas morning, the kiddos were over the moon to wake up to find out Santa had stopped by - and left behind, among other goodies, a Lite Brite for Sierra...
and a Tonka Truck set for Bodie (thank you Gigi and Popo for that one)...
Me with my babies Christmas morning (man I love these kiddos)...
Opening stockings...
Bodie opened up a pair of squeaky shoes...and was so excited that he immediately stripped off his footed jammies so that he could put them on! So funny...this kid never ceases to crack me up!
Sierra with one of her favorite gifts - a princess tea party set from Aunt Missy, Uncle Paul and her cousins! (thank you so much for getting her a PLASTIC set!)
Gram Jan and Popo Alan got both of the kids name plates for their bikes, which they LOVED.

The entire time they were here, the kiddos got SO MUCH fun, snuggle time with their grandparents. We felt so lucky that they clicked so well this trip (in previous trips, it has often taken Bodie some time to warm up)...
(the kids spent a lot of time "supervising" Popo and daddy in keeping the train set running)
(Fellow heart moms, can you believe how rosy those lips are?!? Thank you, Enalapril!!!)

For Christmas, Popo Alan bought the kids a Gingerbread house. He, apparently, had the idea that it would be something I could do with them next week sometime. I, on the other hand, have vivid memories of the experience doing it last year with the kids, so I made darn sure we did it before he left, so that he could be in charge of it! As I suspected, it turned into daddy and Popo working hard...
while the kids were making a mess somewhere else in the house (haha!)...
But, at the end of the day, I have to say that daddy did an incredible job on it and the kids were psyched to decorate it, or, ok, just eat the decorations. :-)
The last thing we did before Popo and Gram Jan left was a trip to the park...
(again, heart moms look at those lips!!! And it was freezing outside - this kid is usually sooooo purple in the cold!)
If you're still reading (sorry - I know it was long, but we had so many great pics I had a hard time choosing!), MERRY CHRISTMAS from the Bennetts! See you in 2013!
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