The hostess of the party has a keen attention to detail, and loves creating. Not only was the entire house transformed into a Mexican cabana...each wall decorated with something from the theme, but she also made a 4' paper mache cactus. All this while raising a 3 month old teething baby! 
One of the highights of the night was this little girl. When I last saw her two years ago, she was still a ball of fire but had some medical issues going on. She was born in July 2002 at just 24 weeks! When she was born, she weighed only 1 lb. 4 oz. and fit completely in the palm of her father's hand.
She lived at the hospital for the first 14 months of her life, and when she came home, she was still on oxygen and a feeding tube. When I last saw her, they were trying to wean her off the feeding tube, but when you've never swallowed in your entire life, everything is new. It's not instinct anymore, but a challenge. The taste, the texture. She much preferred to have her quiet time laying on the couch having her food the old fashioned way...through the tube in her stomach. It was all she knew. 
So last night, I was overjoyed to see how far she'd progressed. This little miracle's only lasting effect 4 years later is compromised hearing. She wears a Cochlear implant but with that, can hear well enough to converse like every other 4 year old I've known...but with a quick wit and an incredible sense of humour. "Are you learning ballet, C?", we asked her as she twirled around the room. She turned with a gleam in her eye, 'Salsa, baby!'
She is truly a miracle and a testament to modern medicine!
