Angels Among Us...

Angels come in many forms.

Some angels come as Grannys.

We are so grateful that Hope will know her Granny.  Her only living Grandparent.  

It means a lot to me to have her close by - and to be so close to her.  My Mom is one of my greatest friends.  She was kind enough to come by this afternoon for a few hours and not only brought me lunch... but helped me out around the house!

And the she held her littlest angel - her 21st grandchild - and played with Brian while I took a quick rest.

Angels also come as neighbors!  Our neighbor, Sonia, offered to drive Brian to and from preschool all week.  Her son, Daniel, is in Brian's class - so both boys are psyched to drive in together!  But when school was closed today - due to a snow day - she took Brian to her house for a play date, fed him lunch and then brought him home!  I owe her - big time.  It gave me a break as I had to get Hope to the pediatrician for a weight check.  Not my best idea - attempting this alone.  My incision is still really painful.  But - it worked out and Hope and I got GREAT news.  She went from 5lbs, 10oz this past Saturday... to 5lbs, 14oz this morning!!  Any fear I had of not having enough milk for her sure went away with that news!  I was so, so happy.  I was also happy that Hope was able to meet our other pediatrician, Dr. Kienzle.  The two hit it off famously - especially when he said she was the most beautiful baby he has ever seen.  EVER.  (Okay, maybe he was prompted with a "repeat after me..." - who's askin'?!?)

And we had another angel delivery - two actually - our neighbor, Lauren, coordinated dinners for us every Monday, Wednesday and Friday until the end of the month.  She stopped by last night with a delicious dinner and a crocheted blanket she had made for Hope, which really touched us.  And tonight our neighbor, Anne, brought a delicious dinner that Brian just gobbled up!  I've said this a million times... but we really have the nicest neighbors.

And sometimes... angels come as angels.

And today, our very special... incredibly unique angel arrived in the mail.  After searching for the perfect angel for our Christmas tree up and down the internet and all over town - nothing was quite right.  I wanted something really special that would represent our angels in Heaven.  Then I found Ailie Holland.  She has a shop on Etsy and she creates one of a kind, handmade angels by needle felting wool, silk, mylar fibers and LOVE, as she explains.  I wrote to her explaining the angel I envisioned.  I wanted a subtle ocean theme with green and blue... and somehow wanted to incorporate butterflies for our two angels in Heaven - Gavin and Darcy.  I noticed in some of her angels that she had photos of on her Etsy page (which you can find HERE!) that they had flowers in their long, flowing hair. I asked her if she could maybe try to put starfish in our angel's hair.  All of those requests together sound like they'd be impossible to pull off without looking "over the top" - right?  Well...somehow, with a lot of LOVE, Ailie nailed it.  I opened the box eagerly when it arrived and our angel - our very first - took my breath away.

She made the skirt with blue swirls to represent ocean waves - and added shells across the bottom of the skirt.  I love that she has the angel holding - or releasing - butterflies.  And I love that the butterflies are different.

The starfish in her beautiful long hair look beautiful against her large, silky wings. 

But one of the best parts was the detail we never discussed.  She decided on her own to add a little ladybug... not knowing that ladybugs are very important to Ed.  I think someone, somewhere, had a tiny little hand in that... almost like a loving little message for Daddy.

This was, by far, our best purchase this year.  I'm so grateful I found Ailie.  We will always remember the sad and joyful year that we welcomed our Christmas tree angel.