Okay, so I’ve been really bad about updating the site – now that it’s FEBRUARY! First of all, I want to let anyone who visits regularly know that we haven’t dropped off the face of the planet, I’ve just been busy getting some other blogs started (unrelated to clefts). I also have a terrible spam problem with this blog and so if you’ve posted comments and I haven’t responded or approved them, that’s why. I just deleted over 16,000 comments, most of them were junk. I’m sorry if I deleted yours! I’m going to come in at least once a week to check the comments from now on, but if you really need to reach me, please email me at jackie@jacquelinedooley.com!
Now for some updates on Emily.
First of all, she’s wonderful. She loves kindergarten and has many friends. She’s still happy and goofy and, as it turns out, she has a huge stubborn streak (her older sister has experienced it more than once lately).
She’s growing very tall lately too. I imagine many of my blogging buddies are seeing the same tremendous growth spurt and I PROMISE to visit all of your blogs over the next couple of weeks and leave comments. I really miss talking with other parents about our kids’ unique issues. Like, is anyone else fielding lots of “why was I born with a cleft?” types of questions from their child? Emily has been asking this a lot. I just don’t have a good answer for her.
We have a very exciting event coming up next week. Emily is going to be photographed by a professional photographer for a fundraising event for NYU! The event is being organized by the Smiley Faces Foundation
In all honesty, I don’t know much about the event except there will be many photographs of children with clefts being displayed at a big gala in the city in April. Emily turns six in April so I think that’s very appropriate! The Smiley Faces Foundation is a new foundation formed by Adam Bell and its mission is to raise money (and awareness) for NYU’s Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. Of course, we would do anything we can do to help with this cause!
Okay, I’ll end with a few recent pictures of Emily and her big sister from the last month or so.
Okay, so not one of Em’s better pictures (her lips are red and chapped), but a great shot of how she looks now in terms of her repair. This is from just a week or so ago.
Emily and Ana out in the snow after our “big” snowstorm on Wednesday.
A picture from the same day. Why is her hair wet, you ask?
That’s right. Score one for Ana. How did Ana react, you ask?
Yep. (Emily was fine)
She even got her sister back!
We are still trying to figure out where we are going to take Adalynn now that we have moved to PA and going back to GA isn’t really feasible. I just saw your post about NYU and was wondering if you have been happy there….obviously you have if you are supporting them, but after looking it up, just found out that it is only 2 hours from where I am right now which makes it VERY feasible. We also have CHOP (in Philadelphia) as an option, but didn’t really get a good feeling about them when just calling to make an appointment.
Any feedback or opinions would be much appreciated! And by the way-glad you are back!!!
Shannon,
We’re very happy with NYU and I would whole heartedly recommend them to anyone looking for a team. We’ve always felt that Emily is in very good hands there. I think you should definitely give them a call and even take a trip to NY for a consultation. I can pass on the name of the team coordinator, just send me an email at jackie@jacquelinedooley.com.
Jackie
Your girls looks so much alike! They are both very beautiful.
If you are having a spam issue, you could activate or install Akismet. I was getting hit with 100′s of spam comments a day on my personal finance blog and once I finally activated Akismet it started going through the spam for me.
Hi Jackie, glad you are back. My husband is planning to apply for a scholarship in Philadelphia or Indiana. I really do hope that we can meet there. The snow really makes me curious, it must be freezing there:) And yes, Em is really tall now. I couldnt believe that she is the same girl I saw two years ago when I was so desperate. She grows too fast:( And about Em’s question, my friend’s answer might be helpful. First, ask her too see people around her. How they were created uniquely; some are tall( like her) and short, some have the big eyes( like hers) and small eyes and so forth. Then ask her to compare herself with you and then explain that God created us uniquely, He gave a special and unique mark to everyone, her cleft is her unique mark. Last, hug her and tell her that you love her and thank God because He gave her in your life. What’s important here is how you talk about it( the atmosphere of conversation). If you are tense and nervous, she would think that there’s something wrong with her. If you look sad, she would pity herself and eventually trapped in self-pity vicious cycle. Just relax, just like when you read bedtime stories.Then, tell her that you are okay if she wants to talk about this issue again and again. Dont give her the impression that ” we only talked this once and that’s it, This” taboo” thing should not be talked over again.” I hope it works Jackie, I know how you feel. I’m scared too, but I wanted to try it once Joel is 4 years old.God bless you and fam.