Lisa Bonnema

Mom. Writer. Speaker.

Archives for September 2011

Surgery Success!

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Well, we finally made it to surgery #4, and it was a success. Brooklyn is now recovering and should be heading home first thing tomomorrow morning. She is still pretty hoarse and drowsy from the anestesia, but Little Miss Nosey is too busy checking everything out and hasn’t been interested in napping. She just finally decided to get some much-needed rest. I’m hoping she sleeps well tonight.

So far, she is being a good sport about her legs, and we are hoping that continues for the next 7 weeks. She will be in splints (half casts) for about 2 weeks and then full leg casts for another 5 weeks. After that, the casts come off, and we get to work on standing!

As always, thank you so much for your prayers these last few weeks. They are powerful, and they are being answered.

Much love to all of you!

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On the Move: Take THAT Spina Bifida!

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Guess who decided to move just a few days before we put heavy casts on her legs!?!! And she did it when Mommy wasn’t home, the little booger. I can barely watch this without crying my eyes out.

I wish I could describe the overwhelming sense of gratitude my heart feels, but words could never do it justice. I am so very, very proud of our rock star, and I am so very, very thankful for a God who answers my prayers.

I’ll let the video say the rest.

“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.”
Romans 12:12

Small Style: Making It Work

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Back in the day, I used to do a weekly blog post called Fashion Friday. It was fun way to make sure I was taking photos of Emma regularly. Then Kendall came along, and I had a hard time keeping it up.  Really, I was just happy if we made it out of our pajamas every day.

By the time Brooklyn entered our world, I did master the whole getting dressed every day thing, but fashion wasn’t much of a priority. I depended on bins of hand-me-downs and clothing gifts from friends and family. Needless to say, we are all about second-hand around here.

As much as I’d like to shop for my girls – I drool over Zulily and The Mini Social on a daily basis — I just can’t justify spending money if we already have bins full of perfectly fine threads. Emma is about the only one that gets anything truly new, and most of it is from her birthday and birthday money. Funds are tight and, really, how much do we need?

With all of that said, I do say that I’ve gotten sloppy. I’ve relied a little too much on predetermined “outfits” and just rewash the same old things over and over. A quick look at my Facebook pix will show you I’ve fallen into the same trend with my own wardrobe.

How did I get so boring? I love clothes. I know there are more important things in the world, but getting dressed should be fun and should make you feel good. I mean, I have THREE GIRLS!!! I should be having a blast. Just because I don’t have a huge wardrobe budget doesn’t mean we can’t get a little creative.

Sooooo… I’ve been inspired to get out of my fashion pity-party and make the most of what we have.

Here’s the plan: every Thursday I’m going to try and  link up with Small Style at  Mama Loves Papa. But I won’t be bragging about labels here. My goal is to try to update some great oldies. I’m not saying that I will be offering you any inspiration. Really, I’m using this as a way to get me inspired…and an excuse to take more photos of my girls.

So here is the first installment. We’ll title it, Bo-Ho Brooklyn.
Clothing stats at the bottom. Have a great weekend everyone!

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Pants:  Kee-Ka Organics, Kendall hand-me-down
Shirt: Sonoma, Ava (niece) hand-me-down
Hat: Old Navy, Ava (niece) hand-me-down
Amber teething necklace: gift from Aunt Jenni

Quick Update

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So, yeah, no surgery again this week due to Tuesday’s fever and what appears to be an ear infection that never quite went away. That’s three canceled surgery dates in one month. Annoying, yes, but really, I’m okay with it.

Granted, I was beyond frustrated Tuesday morning when I felt Brooklyn’s hot head, but as the day went on, I realized it was absolutely ridiculous to be upset about not taking her in for surgery. I mean, who wants to take their kid in for surgery?

Last night, as I nursed and rocked Brooklyn to sleep, I thought about the fact that I could have been doing the very same thing in a hospital rocking chair. I could have been kissing my hubby goodbye as he headed home to our girls.  Our girls could have had someone other than me tucking them in for the night and sending them off to school in the morning.

But instead, I was nursing a snuggly, sweet-smelling baby as my other two babies slept soundly next door, and my hubby waited on the couch with a cozy blanket. And I got to start my morning with all four of them piled into my bed. Really, there was no where else I wanted to be — and for that, I was grateful.

Yes, I want to get this surgery done and over with. But it isn’t an emergency (thank God!), and I don’t want to send my baby off to the OR if I have even an inkling that she is not at her best. I will wait until the time is right, whether that takes another week or another month (although hopefully not another month… 🙂

As always, thank you for your prayers. We promise to keep you posted. Until then, there is a man and cozy blanket calling my name. Have a great weekend, everyone!