Signing songs

Lorelei and inspiration are my biggest assets in learning sign language for Lillian. Yes, my toddler is the leader of the education for our family. She loves watching Signing Time with a passion, and is often showing me a sign she's picked up that I don't know.

Today's inspiration comes from Lorelei singing around the apartment and the fact that I've struggled to remember the sign for "daughter". We've made up a little song, which I think I'll call "My Daughter". To sign, you need to know four signs ("daughter", "I love you", "my", and "mother").

My Daughter

Daughter, daughter
I love you, my daughter
Daughter, daughter
I love you

Ridiculously simple, I know. We repeated it several times and occasionally replaced daughter with mother. So far, so good... and I finally learned the sign for daughter.

CHD awareness and a new blog

It's CHD Awareness week, the week before Valentine's Day. A year ago, I didn't know that. I didn't have any idea how profound of an impact this number one birth defect has. I didn't know the miracles that happen or the miracles that so desperately need to happen. I didn't know about the network of strong parents who love their little warriors and would give anything to give the best to their child.

A year ago, I did't have Lily. I didn't know what it meant to be the mother of a child with a congenital heart defect. I didn't know the impact that a CHD would have on my life, my family, or either of my daughters. And a lot of other people didn't either.

And so I'm starting a new blog. I'll share the journey that we are on as we fight against the various difficulties that Lily has. I'll share what that means to our family, especially her older sister Lorelei. I'll share what we do for Lorelei to keep her as whole as possible while she sits on the sidelines in this fight. And maybe, just maybe, I'll help educate someone along the way.