Here is the song I made up today:

Free feet
Free feet
Hazel's got free feet!

June 30th. I've been counting down to this day for three months. Today means freedom. Today was the happiest day of my life. (Okay, not really, but it was pretty darn awesome!)

We made a jaunt over to this miraculous place:

Shriner's Hospital

where the doctor said Hazel's feet looked fantastic and she could start only wearing the brace at bedtime. Not even naps, people! This is a bonus that I only dreamed about!!!

The entire rest of the day I couldn't stop staring at, tickling, kissing, and otherwise making a private spectacle of Hazel's darling little baby feet. I am overjoyed.

Now she gets to learn how to do all her tricks barefoot. She had a challenge with this one:

As she held on to the couch and took steps, her feet kept getting farther and f a r t h e r away from each other until she was practically doing the splits. She basically freaked out. We've got a bit of a learning curve here, but I think she'll get the hang of it pretty fast. She did get her father's genius genes, after all.

I took her outside for a quick, celebratory photo shoot. I decided I should take ALL my pictures outside in the shade. The lighting and colors were perfect! I could end up with some serious framers if I would just go in the yard whenever I feel camera-happy. This was news to me. All of you probably already figured that out. Ha ha!
Anyway, I'm feeling delightfully joyful and wanted to share the news!