"This babe is blazin' hot!" or "Sasha's Smile"

OMG! She looks stunning on her red carpet debut!

She is such a trooper! She went in to the University of Minnesota Fairview Childrens Hospital on Tuesday for her first cleft palate surgery. She was doing great, but Caitlin was a basket. Caitlin was up, she was down, she was left, she was right, she was spinning in circles. Caitlin cried when Sasha went into surgery around 1:00 p.m. We waited for word of how things went until around 4:45 p.m. It was the longest three hours, forty five minutes ever. When we were finally able to see her, she was groggy, but looked amazing. Caitlin, being a basket case, cried again, but this time tears of relief.

Upstairs in her room, Sasha did really well. They got her settled for the night and Erica, Mason and I left. But Erica ran into a young gal in the restroom whose son had just had his second surgery. She invited Caitlin to come and visit her if she wanted to talk to someone. Caitlin and I walked over and introduced ourselves to Colleen and her son Kaden. He looked great. He had his first surgery in June and you could barely see the scar. They talked for a really long time and exchanged phone numbers and myspace page information. What a great connection.

Russell and I returned on Wednesday first thing in the morning. We were expecting to take over and send Caitlin home for a nap. Lo and behold, we got there just in time for her release. She left the hospital just before noon. The photo was taken just outside the patient elevators as we were heading home.

Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this really difficult time for their little family. It really has made a difference.