Willow: Ups and Downs. Mommy: Ups and Downs!

All in all, it hasn't been that awful (now that Willow's first surgery is behind us). It's relative: it was bad, it was painful, I felt helpless, but it isn't bad on the scale of life's really hard things. I had lots of friends who have gone through similar surgeries with their children to cheer us on. My cousin is a professor of pediatric nursing (intensive care), and she was able to provide a lot of tangible advise. And a good friend has worked at a pharmacy for about 20 years (and can advise me on drug do's and don'ts).
Ten days to go until surgery number two. The second surgery is when they will (1) remove the orthocleft appliance that is screwed into the roof--and wired through the gums--of Willow's mouth, (2) repair the clefts in her lip, and (3) clean her ears (impacted with wax ... weird). Here are a bunch of pictures to illustrate our life these past 10+ days, post surgery. I'll try to add some captions, too.

A few images from day 2, post surgery. Gave her a bath to brighten her body and spirit. She seemed great (and some friends explained it this way: the kids feel so much better that they get up and act normal ... until they realize that they really hurt and are way out of sorts). Willow is still in happy delusion ...

Dancing with Chloe.

Anterior segment of wire that actually goes right through her gum, from side-to-side.

Cutie pie (wearing pants from her red-couch photo in China).

Have you ever seen anything as cute as toddler feet? You can see what a coquette she is (just by looking at the foot-pose). I painted her toes .... I don't think she's really old enough to appreciate it, in a girly way (though she seemed to like it!)

She loves to get into Gus' "den-den" (maybe it feels cavelike and secure to her, too).

Here they are together (Gus is tolerating her); after I snapped the picture, she was distracted and removed. Gus and Chloe like her, and we want to keep it that way (she now thinks it is fun to chase and generally annoy them). That said, they still rush up to give her a kiss when we come home from an outing.