Welcome Baby Tess!

Mark and I are the proud parents of a four-month-old baby girl. Her name is Teresa (honoring her birth parents chosen name for her), Katherine (after my little sister who passed away). We spent the last two weeks in Texas with her in the NICU and finally flew home on Friday the 28th. Tess's first full day in our home was also the 35th anniversary of the car accident that took my little sister Kathy-Jo's life. Meant to be. Tess is medically fragile. She has had heart surgery. She is missing a thymus and will need a transplant done at Duke University in NC. Tess and I will be living in NC for six months or so, with Mark flying in when he can. Once transplant is complete, she should be a "regular" child and lead a normal, long life. For now, she is living in a glass bubble. Mark and I, and her specialists, are the only ones to see and hold Tess. She can catch things very easily and we are not exposing her to germs. She will only leave the house for doctors' appointments. We received the phone call on Friday Nov 14 and I flew out on November 15 to San Antonio. Mark flew in on Thursday. An hour after the phone call, and the submission of our profile, we were told that we had a daughter. And she is beautiful. And she is very well loved by everyone! Not even a month after our home study was complete, we are now a complete family. It's amazing how life works, isn't it? Here is a link to Tess's baby shower online: http://www.toysrus.com/registry/myregistry/index.jsp And here is our beautiful Tess!