When business cards get personal

Indulge me for a moment while I send you on a copy and pasting journey:

DC Friend: "I had this idea of making some business cards for Maaike. Maybe a couple of different ones. A sweet one that tells a little about Maaike and her story that you can hand to courious strangers. And one that says "F- OFF!" when you've had enough."

Me: "Fantastic! We'd love them!"

DC Friend: "Hey Sweetie! I'm working on Maaike's business cards, and want to include some information about things she likes. Can you tell me a couple of simple things? Maybe she likes music or warm water - or whatever it is. One of the things I'm thinking of including is that she loves being with her big brother and big sister!! Will totally let you see / approve the cards before they get printed so you get final word on everything!" 


Me: " Let's see... Maaike is such a champ. She totally rolls with whatever we throw at her. She loves doing whatever her big brother or sister is doing. She loves to swing. Her favorite song is "The Wheels on the Bus" that she plays non stop on the I-pad. She loves playing in the bath, but not getting her hair washed. She is really witty and gets a kick out of teasing us. If anyone is coming in the front door she runs and hides, usually under a blanket in middle of the living room so that she will quickly be found. Her favorite food is chocolate milk and since her last surgery, the tongue reduction, she is learning how to kiss with her lips." 


Can't wait to see what she is coming up with! She is an amazing friend.


Then tonight I read this: In the Hot Seat at This Little Miggy Stayed Home


And I commented this: "Can totally relate. I want people to feel free to ask questions about our daughter, but sometimes I just want to talk about trashy TV too. We just moved again so the questions are all stirring up again. Last week we were invited to a birthday party as a family, but the birthday boy admitted to our older daughter that he didn't want Maaike to come because he was scared of her. We of course brought her anyway, but its a work in progress. I know one mom in your SNS posted about business cards for SN kids. Ironically a few days earlier and friend of mine in DC offered to make some for me. I'm hoping the cards will be a great way to allow families to discuss differences and how differences are beautiful. So that when we find ourselves in the next playground situation I can pull out a business card, hand it to the kid and say "Go have your mom read and explain this to you. It'll answer your questions and tell you how special our little one is."

A tale of two tongues: the tongue reduction

The week leading up to Maaike's tongue reduction was over shadowed with nerves.  Every time I looked at her protruding sweetness I felt sad.  The surgery was a necessary evil in my eyes.  I want her to have everything our other kids have.  I don't want her to have to go through more dental surgeries and a possible jaw surgery, so of course we are going to do it, but I am sad to lose a piece of the girl we love so much.  I think my husband said it best. "Part of me selfishly wants her back the way she was, which was perfect to me." 


For the first time Maaike went back to surgery on time, even a bit early, but as always everything took longer than expected and our hour and a half wait turned into a nail biting 2 hours and 15 minutes.  Now I realize that in the scheme of things a tongue reduction is small potatoes to what some babies are going through, but on this day it felt very big to us.  When I finally got called back to see her the adrenalin powered me through the first ten minutes to get her calmed down and laying back in bed... and then I felt the blood drain from my face and I alerted the nurse as I lowered my self in a chair and I temporarily lost my hearing.  Thank goodness for apple juice.Here are her before and afters:

We stayed in the hospital for 6 days while she readjusted, fought fevers, and vomiting, and we all took a giant sigh of relief to be on the other side.