Cleaning out the closet

     This morning I cleaned out the girl's closets. Thankfully the girls are quite cooperative and helpful when it comes to cleaning and organizing. I pulled out the clothes they've outgrown, pulled out clothes that they can fit into now, swapped summer clothes for warmer clothes, etc. I was taken back by all the things I found; Lidie is now wearing Amaya's old clothes (that are more recent than old), I looked through my old maternity clothes, through the girls baby clothes and then found some of Amaya's old shoes, her cast and knee brace. Amaya couldn't resist trying on the knee brace and cast; neither fit well. She said she remembered having to wear her knee brace when she was younger.
     She hasn't worn the brace since January 2011 after Dr. Nelson did her superknee surgery. Seeing the knee brace and cast together is pretty neat. Its a reminder of the time before the surgery when Amaya would trip, fall and skin her knee often. Then in just two hours Dr. Nelson was able to correct her knee (by using her fascia lata muscle to create ligaments in her knee). That still amazes me. She wore the cast for six weeks then never needed either one again.
    That was Amaya's first surgery, and the emotions still come up just by seeing these. There's sadness remembering the times when she would fall, shock and stress from the surgery, overwhelming joy after her knee was corrected. All these things bring up so many emotions. Mostly now its amazement, joy and gratitude.

Here's her cast and knee brace. She uses her old knee brace to hold the two pieces of her cast together.

    And then I found all these shoes that Amaya has outgrown. There were three pairs that had lifts on them from the past year and a half. The one on the far right is the first pair we bought after she started her lengthening and it's the first pair of shoes we bought without a lift on them! That's pretty amazing! The joy and energy that fills me with is huge. I couldn't bear to throw the shoes away, so I tucked them up on the closet shelf next to the cast and knee brace.