Here is when Mara's letter from Santa arrived!!!!!
Of course we've also been busy making Christmas cookies. Mara insisted on Gingerbread men. And as you can s
ee, she
got to do the sprinkles on the sugar cookies
this year!
One not so thrilling event this month was that Mara-Grace had her first dental surgery. We are followed at the Children's Hospital cleft dental department. At Mara's check-up in September, they told us that she has quite a few cavities. We have taken really good care of Mara's teeth and it isn't a result of her oral care but rather her early care and possibly a lack of vitamins etc... early on. Also, a main contributor is that early on in her life, her main form of nourishment was not formula or milk but rather a 'sweet' milk. Powdered, sugar milk. All of this contributed to the need to take care of these cavities as soon as possible. We made an appointment with a doctor who is also the director at the dental dept. at the Children's. Basically, we went in for the last surgery of the day. It was not at the hospital (the wait would have been over a year, and by that time she would have required root canals. ) but rather at the one and only specialised clinic authorized to give anaesthesia. So, we went in, and ended up waiting. Now as a mom, but also a mom with a nursing background, I made sure that she was very clean and ready for her surgery. The funny thing is, when we arrived, there was a chalk board in the waiting room. She played with that and was literally covered from head to foot in colored chalk and then got into the building blocks! Oh well, so much for clean! Mara's appointment was scheduled for 12:30 (the last surgery of the day) but we waited about an hour and a half. She hadn't had anything to eat since the evening before. Thankfully I made sure to make her one of her favorites and I also stuffed her with extra yogurts etc... at bedtime. Then in the morning she was allowed apple juice until 4 hours before, and water until 2 hours before surgery. Poor little pumpkin. I was ready for her to be a grizzly bear, but really she didn't seem hungry. She was in good sorts and we went into the operating room hand in hand. We spoke for a few minutes and they got the IV in on the first go and she was asleep within a second or two. It was alarmingly fast. I confess, it was very difficult to leave her there sound asleep looking so vulnerable and tiny in the big chair. Thankfully, I also knew that she was in good hands and they reassured us that we would be with her when she fully awoke. The surgeon explained that she would have some fillings and caps and that he would have to extract her little tooth inside her cleft. The procedure itself took about 1:45min. and then we waited another hour for her to begin to wake up. I could hear someone whistling. The building had become so quiet and the staff had gone for the day as it was a Friday and Mara was the last patient. I kept hearing this whistling and I was aching to hold Mara and finally the whistling got closer, the door was opened and there she was still asleep in the anesthetist's arms! He had been pacing with her for the last little while. He explained that she would be sleeping like this until another 20 minutes or so. She had already regained her reflexes and woken with him and it was now safe to take her home. She was sound asleep and we carried her out in the blanket to the waiting car. I sat with her in the back and she woke up about 40 minutes later. With the snow storm and traffic, we were still in the car. We were told once home, to start Mara off slowly with 2 tbsp of water and if that was tolerated after 15 minutes, to give her gatorade, wait and then if that was tolerated soup. So, we followed each step and she did really well. She was such a brave little trooper! We had tried to talk a lot about her operation and explain a little about what to expect. I am thankful it went so well. She was groggy that night, but back to herself (aside from bein
g a little extra tire
d) the next day. Here is a post op pic back at home.
On a wonderful note, we also celebrated my Gran's 85th birthday with her this month! I adore my Gran and am so thankful that we were able to share in a lifetime of memories with her and this, her special day. It was wonderful to see everyone that we don't get to see often enough. Happy Birthday Gran! xoxo
Special thanks to Angela and Ian who have started our girls on a Hallmark ornament collection from the time Tori was born! They are always a cherished part of Christmas each year. Thank you for the beautiful, kind, generous and thoughtful ornaments you so carefully choose. What keepsakes! xoxo 
So here I am one day, doing dishes or something and I turn around to see this! It is obviously a toy, but AHHHH! hehehe What more can I say????
All fooling aside (Is that possible?) I hope that our children know the true meaning of why we celebrate Christmas. We talk a lot about why we have Santa etc... and we often tell Mara-Grace the story of the first Christmas. We also have our nativity set up on our window ledge. One day I looked in to see that baby Jesus was missing from his 'bed'. Hmmmmmmm I know that Miss Mara loves to go over and rearrange everyone and she talks about the special story, but hmmmm, where could he be?
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays to one and all. May the peace of this season be a treasure to you and your families. xoxox
-Of course part of getting ready for Christmas is writing a special letter to Santa. Mara-Grace mentioned asking for a "REAL Mermaid". This was thanks to a Diego episode. Thankfully after a descriptive conversation on why Santa probably shouldn't/wouldn't bring a real. live, big mermaid, she quickly became enthralled with the idea of Santa bringing a bird. An owl to be more specific. A snowy owl to be exact. Here are a few pics of the famous letter. Btw, this past week we received a note back from Santa! And he even mentioned that he is looking forward to her fudge and milk, and that Mara-Grace is wonderful at drawing! 
Waiting for Santa to arrive....
Here comes Santa Claus!!!!!!!!
