Bye Bye & Hello

We are gearing up tonight for 4 days without Sloane's daddy. He is off for a business trip and we will be missed. The days and nights can get very long. When he is away, the motherlessness is a bit more exasperated. In my world of voices, I see it as if you do not have a husband around, you have a mother to step up in his place. Not having a hubby around or a mother can feel a bit lonely. I do try to fill my time without his company so the days go by quicker. My friends and family always try to step up to the plate, but they all have their own families. As well is the fact, that when your hubby travels frequently for work, it loses its novelty. We are used to it here in our home. I have one of those husbands who is hands on when he is home. Maybe in someone else's opinion too hands on, but not in mine :) When he is with Sloane, he is on! Most nights he has her company for an hour and half. He gives 99.9% of all baths and puts her to bed every night if he is here. He is a great daaadddddyyyyyy!! It will be interesting to see how Sloane reacts to his vanishing act this week. 


This week, Sloane has play dates with her friends. I want her to grow up building relationships with other children and learn from her friends. My brother and I have joked that Sloane and her cuzzy S will be best friends, because we will force them to be!!! Ha I have all kinds of friends and each one of them has taught me at least one thing. There are old friends, new friends, lifelong friends, go to friends, older friends, younger friends, married friends, single friends, remarried friends, friends with children, friends without children, single parent by choice friends, single parent as a result of tragedy friends, white picket fence friends, stay at home mom friends, working mom friends, widower friends, same sex couple friends, work friends, college friends, home friends, kindred spirit friends, brutally honest friends, couple friends....all kind of friends!! Friendship is something I hold very deep in my heart. My friends are the people that share in our lives. Along this journey, some of our friends have made Sloane and her cleft a top priority in their lives and that has blown us away. We have friends who write all of her doctor's appointments on their personal calendars so they could keep track of her progress. It has been incredible what people have done for our daughter. Along the way, we have also lost friends. For whatever the reason, some of our friends didn't know how to handle talking about, asking about, or even caring about Sloane's medical issue. There may have been some who didn't like how we handled the shock/unexpectedness of Sloane's cleft in regards to our friendships and the outside world. Losing relationships has been very hard at times, but we have moved on.  Our child and her needs come before anything else in life. We do think that the energy and unity of our friends has given us even more strength in thru this journey. I hope that Sloane grows her own diverse bouquet of friends for life. 

Let's review what new things my daughter did today:

1. She climbed up on her bookshelf and turned her humidifier on herself

2. She took my green tea out of the cup holder on the stroller while I wasn't looking and tried to drink it

3. Put her hands in the toilet for fun

4. Took the child proof lock off the household cleaner's cabinet

Bye Bye....infant!! Hello...toddler!! 

To the above list, I am sure some of "my friends" will be emailing all their chid proofing tips!!