Rebekah's Birthday Adventure!

Rebekah is officially three now, and we had such a fun time spoiling her for her birthday!  :)  She had a very girly day and seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself!

Rebekah's day started with a birthday party with Ms. Katherine!  Yes, she literally had a cupcake for breakfast.  :)  Ms. Katherine is Rebekah's fantastic Early Interventionist, and we love her dearly!  She also brought Rebekah two books that have been read multiple times already.

After Ms. Katherine left, the boys and I headed out with Rebekah for her pampering.  First up was a trip to the nail spa to have her nails painted.  She sat so still and patiently watched as her fingernails and toenails were "pinked."  I wasn't sure if she would sit still long enough for the polish to dry, but she perched in her little chair like she had done this a million times before!

As an added birthday "bonus," the sweet girl who did Rebekah's nails hand painted a flower on each of Rebekah's big toes.  It was so cute!  Any time the boys got too close to Rebekah's chair, she said, "Stop! Move back!"  I think she was afraid they were going to get in on the action.  If she only knew how much they DIDN'T want to be a part of the nail painting!  :)

After Rebekah had beautiful nails, our next stop was Claire's to get earrings.  Originally Rebekah decided she wanted pink earrings, but when she actually looked at the earrings, so decided on a light purple flower.  When we looked at the earring in relation to Boo's ears, we decided that they were going to be too large.  So we settled for a small pair of cubic zirconia studs that are "sparkly."  Rebekah was a champ and cried for about 10 seconds and then she was over it.  Probably the tylenol and lidocaine cream on her ears had something to do with it, too!

Rebekah sat so still while the girl marked out the perfect location on each of her ears.  She even got to hold a special earring bear while she was getting her ears pierced.  As soon as they held up a mirror for her to look at her earrings, she stopped crying and was all smiles!

And here is the end result.....a very excited little girl posing for her pictures!  It has been a while since Rebekah has had professional pictures taken, and she posed like a model.  It is so much fun to have a girl! :)

I can't believe how much Rebekah's hair has grown since it was cut in December.  It is very fine and wavy/curly.  It is hard to find a style that keeps it out of her face and stays in place.  I love that it is curly, though.  It's so fun!

This is Rebekah's "monkey face."  She was being so silly during pictures, and the photographer snapped this one.  I think it's perfectly cute and so "Rebekah!"

I love Rebekah's expression in this picture and that her dimples show so well.  Rebekah has grown so much this year - physically, emotionally and meeting milestones in record time.  I just cannot express how thankful we are that Rebekah is doing so well.  We love seeing the world through Rebekah's eyes!  Thank you for all of the birthday wishes for Rebekah.  I think it was a wonderful day!

Nancy

Happy, Happy Birthday, Rebekah!!

It is almost unbelievable to think that three years ago tonight we were sitting in a hospital room in Charleston anxiously waiting for the appearance of our sweet little Rebekah.  So much has happened in the last three years, and there were certainly times when we wondered if we would get to celebrate Rebekah's third birthday with her.  But God has blessed us beyond measure and has given us so much more time with Rebekah than we could have imagined a year ago.

Even though Rebekah was a little peanut at birth, she proved over and over that she was a fighter.  She never gave up, despite all the challenges and setbacks.  Rebekah underwent her first open heart surgery at just one week old.  She recovered amazingly well from that, and three weeks later we finally got to take our sweet little girl home!

When I look back at pictures from Rebekah's first few weeks, it amazes me that she is doing so well today! I remember how hard it was to find the baby in the midst of all the tubes, wires and medical accessories that she had. Today she still has a lot of accessories - just of a different, decidedly girly, nature!

Rebekah's first year was filled with ups and downs. She was in and out of the hospital with GI issues and respiratory infections. We decided to go ahead with a g-tube surgery and nissen fundoplication. Rebekah also started physical therapy and occupational therapy to help her catch up with her development.

By the end of Rebekah's first year, she was much more stable, medically speaking.  She began crawling just before her first birthday and was walking around 20 months.  We were so excited to see those major milestones!

Even from the beginning, Rebekah has loved her bows and bracelets.  :)

At sixteen months, Rebekah had her second open heart surgery.  She had a few ups and downs during recovery, but was back home in two weeks.  This surgery repaired her Truncus Arteriosus, with a few minor adjustments for Rebekah's unique anatomy.

Rebekah sailed through her second birthday!  She grew to love the water and swimming pool and began aquatic therapy to strengthen her muscles and build endurance.

Rebekah required oxygen for most of her second year.  She was treated for pulmonary hypertension as well as low oxygen saturations.  That still didn't stop Rebekah, though!  She just pulled her tubing along behind her as she went about being a normal two-year-old.  In addition to the physical and aquatic therapy, Rebekah also began speech therapy for a variety of speech issues.

Rebekah had her third open heart surgery at two and a half.  This was a Truncus revision, as well as an attempt to provide some use of her right lung.  Rebekah's surgeon was very honest with us when he admitted that he didn't know if the surgery would produce any of the desired results, but it was the last option we had to try.  We honestly didn't know going into the surgery if Rebekah would come back home, or if she did, how much longer we would have with her.

To God's glory, the surgery was more successful than even the surgeon hoped it might be!  Rebekah's heart and lung function are better today than they have ever been in her life.  She now only needs oxygen at night and just a handful of medications to keep her heart and lungs at their best.  What a blessing we have been given!

As we celebrate Rebekah's third birthday, we are ever grateful for God's blessings to us.  Rebekah is such a ray of sunshine in our house.  Her brothers absolutely adore her and would do almost anything for her.  We are so thankful to have another year to celebrate with our little Bekah Boo!

Instead of a big party this year, we have plans for a very girly day for Rebekah. She has been asking for "my earrings" for several weeks now. We are going to attempt to have her ears pierced for her birthday. Hopefully all goes well and by the end of her birthday she will have pink sparkly earrings. :)

Nancy