Jordan had a great birthday! She got to see The Princess and The Frog with her friends… And it really was a sweet movie. She and I danced and grooved throughout the movie. Jordan clearly likes jazz music. How cool is that? I had a gut feeling that she’d groove on the movie, so I ordered her a Princess Tiana birthday cake. And it was a HUGE hit.

Jordan had a great time getting to do close to anything she wanted – she got to watch an Elmo movie about birthdays, she got to watch Nick Jr., she got to eat movie popcorn for lunch. It was a happy time in between traditionally stubborn, “pretending not to hear” four-year-old stuff.

It seems like we’ve been celebrating for weeks, but today is the big day. Jordan and I plan to spend the day together. I’m going to take her to see Princess and the Frog. Her two closest friends might join her (the girls who attended her princess tea party 10 days ago). I even got her a Princess and the Frog birthday cake. Very exciting stuff.

To be honest… I love birthdays. I loved them before I had kids. But I love them even more now that I know all the effort that comes with making babies. And to be even more honest, I love celebrating how Jordan completed our family. One boy, one girl, two dogs and two happy (and often exhausted) parents. I also love how she brought us into a world where we’ve met so many wonderful families who are connected to us just because Jordan was born with one hand. Yes, we’ve had highs and lows. But most of those highs and lows were totally worth the extra effort of life with a child who doesn’t conform with the physical expectations we envision before our baby is born.

I love birthdays and I love how Jordan changed our lives and our perspective about so many things in this world.

So… Getting a sled to move in the right direction is tricky for any almost four-year-old… But it’s even trickier when you’re working with one hand. So when I plopped Jordan onto a sled yesterday, she ended up riding in an old-school wooden sled that we just let go. No steering, just sliding. She ended up hitting a curb and flew out onto the snow. I ran down to make sure she was okay. And she was giggling and telling me how AWESOME it was to go so fast.
My girl is all about adventure. I love it.

Oh… And by the way. Here’s a funny piece of video of Jordan playing in her new playhouse on Christmas day. I love it.

While we’re spending time with family, we had a chance to meet a friend who we know through this blog! K is a sweetheart and we’re so lucky Jordan and the rest of our family got to spend time with him and his mom. The best part, the two little ones treated each other like they’d been friends for years. They ran around, giggled and had a really great time together.
They didn’t spend much time comparing their little arms… They just enjoyed being kids. It was really nice to sit with his mom and talk about the things you tend to talk about only with a parent who has a kid with limb differences. It’s stunning how each of our kids have little challenges that came with the limb difference. Jordan had strange torso and neck strength issues and her ankles are still turning inwards. K has other things he has to deal with. It’s fascinating.
Anyway… It was a special chance to meet with a friend who we’ve only seen in online video and photos. I’m thrilled and so happy that we have the chance to meet with our online friends from time to time!

I’m sure I’ll post some pictures of our holiday adventures, but I wanted to make sure I share our family’s holiday website for all of our blog fans.

We wish the very best to each and every one of you as we head into a new year. The friendships we’ve been able to build and the support we’ve been able to share on this website is to awesome. I really appreciate it.

So… enjoy our holiday “card” and enjoy this festive season!

I just took all of the video pieces I had from Saturday’s party and put it together quickly – it’s sweet – very little of it is lit well. But I’m picky since I work in TV and criticize people for their video shooting all the time. Good or bad video, you can tell what a cute experience Jordan and her friends got to have.

Jordan got to have a surprise birthday party today!! It’s ten days until her birthday and she’s never had a birthday party with her friends… So I broke the news to her and hour before she got to meet her friends at a local theater company’s princess tea party event. My princess had a chance to get a new dress and have a fun and pampered day. Here’s how I introduced the event to her:

Miss Jordan performed in her dance studio’s holiday recital and it was stinking sweet. The funniest part was how she stretched out one of the straps while she was waiting to perform, so she was VERY exposed. But that didn’t stop her from being very cute. Enjoy the video!!