Little Ballerina

Georgia had her second ever ballet recital last weekend, it was sweet and beautiful but most importantly, she had a great time.  Her pre-ballet group did story ballet to Peter and the Wolf, the purple sparkly costumes made the tiny little people on stage look so sophisticated.

She was very lucky to have a bunch of supporters in the audience, both sets of grandparents, the whole Pittman family and our old neighbors.  Thanks to everyone for coming, it made the event all the more special.

The rehersal - ballerinas scaring off the wolf with flowers that made her sneeze!

Abby & Georgia

The sweetest ballerina

She's looking so grown up!

The show!

Celebrating a great performance with Blake, Lauren & Leo

Georgia and her best buddy, Sadie

Farewell West Seattle

I heard a joke recently, If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans.   I'd heard it before but it was a reminder that despite my best efforts, things don't always go as planned.  At the first of the year we met with our realtor, coming up with a list of all the things we should do to get our house ready to sell.  Brian and I worked for months getting things just right, we listed the house and five days later we accepted an offer.
In my plan, we would be buying a house during the closing process and moving into it, getting settled in a new community and getting Georgia signed up for Kindergarten.  My plan didn't come together. Although we looked high and low we haven't been able to find the house we want so the search continues.  We are still trying to keep the faith that it will all come together.  In the meantime we are grateful for family so we have a place to stay and enjoy the summer.
Before we moved, Georgia asked that I keep all of the listing photos from our house so she could look at them whenever she wanted.
Even though I was ready to move on I was sad to leave our house, it's where I brought my children home, it's where all of the firsts happened with them but my strongest memory of this house will always be the bubble that it became when Georgia was sick.  I was our safe place.  I will most of all miss our amazing neighbors who were an incredible support to our family always, they were my village.  We will always remain friends but I will certianly miss having them close by.
I'm looking forward to finding our new home and making new memories, if someone could tell God I'm ready, I'd really appreciate it.

Preschool Graduate

I'm feeling happy and so proud of Georgia, today she graduated from Preschool!  I remember her walking into her first day last year she didn't know anyone but was so excited she didn't even turn around to say goodbye to me.. she was ready.  This year has been so wonderful, her teacher, the class, everything.  Georgia loves school, I mean really, really loves school, on the weekends she asks when she gets to go back to school.

This week we've been talking about how this is her last week of preschool, ever!  The smile that happens each time this is discussed is priceless.  She has one question, when do I get to start Kindergarten?  She's a little bummed that she has to wait all summer before she can go but I've promised her we'll have fun.

Here are a few pictures of the graduate.

Can you tell she's excited?

 

 Best Buddies

Silly Faces

Michelle

Michelle Enebo was a total stranger who'd heard about Georgia when we were in the hospital a few weeks after transplant.  She got my email address from a friend whom she'd done family photos for and emailed me, offering to take pictures of Georgia.
Our first meeting was at Day +100, a big milestone in the transplant world.  She captured Georgia's lively spirit and sheer happiness.  I still look at those photos and just see her gleaming eyes and bright smile, not her balled head.
Over the years Michelle has reached out to offer more pictures, we've done one year post transplant and newborn photos for Leo.  Michelle's generosity is seen all around my house, she reminds me that amidst the chaos, Georgia was a happy baby, I am so grateful for these reminders.
Since meeting Georgia, Michelle became involved with Soulumination, giving her gifts to families during such difficult times.  Recently, I saw a comment she posted on Facebook, she'd had a Soulumination shoot that day and the family remarked that having pictures taken was the best and most normal thing they'd done in the hospital.  She was feeling grateful for giving them that and pictures of their child.  I commented on her post, letting her know that her photos are reminders of a happy Georgia during such a traumatic time.  A few minutes later Michelle sent me an email, she said it had been too long, that the kids are growing up so fast and that she'd love to take pictures... if I was interested.  I think my response was something like, Am I interested... YES!!!
We went to her studio about a week later and she did it again, she captured the sweetness and silliness of my kids in a way that you can literally feel.  Thank you again, Michelle!