Before I began the dramatic flair postings, there were dramatic flair adventures taking place. This page will take you back to where it all began... from in the womb... and then share some peeks into our lives along the way to where the postings began. She is not the favorite of the family. All of our children are absolutely amazing and I fully intend to blog about each of them in ways that fit them. But this blog is for her, and though she isn't the favorite, not a person in our family would disagree that being last... and coming along as a surprise after deep pain of losing her brother, sure makes all of us gratefully aware that she is a gift. We celebrate her as our "Miracle after the Storm". And we are all here to shout... this miracle after the storm is a wild one that makes daily life anything but boring! Please celebrate her with us and then celebrate all that you have in your lives for it truly is a gift!
I will never forget the sonogram that made her come to life right before my eyes! We were still fresh in our grief and had no reason to believe we would be pregnant. We took the necessary precautions plus some. We had four children, had been down a tough road, letting one go on to Heaven, and were fully planning to spend the rest of our lives remembering him and celebrating the ones we still had. Little did we know, God had something else in store... a mighty miracle was put into motion and suddenly we were given the joy of our lives... a baby was on the way!
My pregnancy was eventful from start to finish. That little girl was busy before she was even out to breathe air. (Knowing what I know about her now, I am sure she was having conversations and entertaining my kidneys and liver, but at the time it felt like she was trying to climb trees in there!) We waited to find out what the gender was, desiring it to be a surprise that we looked forward to, just as we had with all of our others. But I have to tell you, the way she bumped and kicked and played in my womb just like my boys do out of the womb (and of course that big round head shaped just like my husband's in the sonogram picture), played tricks on me and I just knew that she was going to be called Samuel Bryce. Bryce was the middle name of our precious son, gone home to Heaven. It was our way to connect them. We had the back up plan for a girl, but bless her heart, she was secretly called Samuel until the moment after she was birthed by c-section and the doc said, "how many boys and how many girls do you have?" I said, "Three boys and one girl." He said, "Well then this little baby will help even the score! It's a GIRL!" Water was pouring from my eyes like a broken levy after a hurricane and I said so lovingly... "What? A Girl! How wonderful! Hold her up... I have to see how THAT head (meaning my husband's) can work on a GIRL!" She stole my heart at first sight, the big noggin somehow was perfect on her, and we have been on Dramatic Flair express ever since!
She was a wonderful baby. Made my friends mad actually, because she was the fifth and I think most of them thought surely ONE of the babies would be collicy or keep me up all night or something. But just like the others were for me as infants, she was as good as gold. Keep her fed and she had not a care in the world. (Yes, that is a trait passed on from her Mother!). But something was different.... I am telling you... that girl was born talking.
I have no idea what she was saying back then, but from day one, she had things to say. I can remember when she couldn't even hold her eyes straight and I would ooooh and awwww over those sweet crossed eyes, she would be cooing up a storm. She would coo at my face, she would coo at her bottle, she would coo at the dog sniffing her out. Wasn't long until she realized she had a captive audience in her hands and her feet and boy, did she ever get with it then! She was off to the races and I have no doubt, until she crosses the finish line at the end or her life, the world will never be quiet!
By the time she was 8-9 months old, one of my greatest entertainments was to watch her try to talk with words. She would stare so intently into my mouth as if studying just how to form her lips. All my other kids had learned sign language and used that before they actually talked (okay not the older two that were adopted... they obviously knew some words when they were birthed into our lives at 3 1/2 and 4... though I will say some of their words were not necessarily things we wanted them to say! Ha! But yes, they did use words by the time I started being their mommy.). Dramatic Flair wanted no part in that signing business. She wanted words... sounds... MOUTH! So she studied hard, learned fast, and it wasn't long until I noticed this continuous grin on my parents' face.
One day I said to my mom, "I know y'all love her, but whats the deal here?" She said, "Oh honey, she is the ONE your dad and I PRAYED you would have." She got this horribly mischievous grin and said, "SHE IS JUST LIKE YOU!" I could almost hear the "Muah Ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" come out of that grin smeared across her face!
Now that we are further along in our journey with Dramatic, I totally get why my Dad always kept the song, "She Talks Too Much" handy in the car if we were traveling more than 30 minutes. It was always popped in after they had taken all they could stand of my constant chattering and it was my cue to sit back and give their ears a rest for a while. Usually, they considered it near record, if I could make it 10 minutes before I was plopped forward, arms hanging over the front seat, looking from one to the other chattering away again. (Honestly, I think they secretly resent the seat belt laws because Dramatic Flair can't lean between the seats like I did all those years! Oh who am I kidding, I STILL do it when I am in their car!)
So Dramatic did all she could to learn to talk and before the age of one we were astounding people with her "intelligence". I never bothered to tell them it had nothing to do with intelligence, but rather a genetic dysfunction of the mouth inherited by her mother! I figure... what they don't know can't hurt them.... unless of course they made the mistake of sitting behind us in a booth at a restaurant... or got caught in line behind us at a slow moving grocery store check out line, or were trapped by her on an airplane for a minimum of an hour! I guess then I might should have had a warning label... "SIT HERE AT YOUR OWN RISK OF SORE EARS!" But hey, I don't like to bring attention to the differences in my kids. I like to celebrate them for who they are... her mouth should not be exploited from the hands of her mother!
To be continued....
