Crunchy Mama Candles

Ten years. Ten years since I kissed her sweet little face that I loved so dearly. Ten years since I did one of the hardest things I’ve ever done - laying my four-month-old baby in the arms of a stranger and watching them walk away. Ten years since seeing my sweet little girl for a second first time… and falling in love with her new smile while my heart quietly mourned her original one at the same time. Before that day, I had already kissed that tiny face thousands of times. I

The last few months have been… a lot. After Ava’s surgery, life didn’t slow down the way I imagined it might. There have been follow-up appointments, healing, and still a few unknowns surrounding her bone graft that we’re waiting to see play out. And while all of that was unfolding, life around us kept moving. Between our family and some close relatives, we found ourselves in the ER three different times in the span of three weeks. Homeschool keeps moving forward, the candle

We’re Home It’s strange how simple those words are, considering how much weight they carry. Ten years ago, this moment felt impossibly far away. I remember staring at the timeline, barely keeping my head above water, knowing I didn’t have the bandwidth to think about the next month, let alone the next decade. Back then, survival mode was the only mode. The Early Years of Our Cleft Journey The first few years were rough. Not gonna lie. Learning how to use the Haberman bottle,