Bibbidy Bobbidy Boutique

Before shot...
So many choices...
but, she had no trouble making up her mind. It was almost like she already knew what she wanted. Plus, I think she REALLY loved Jasmine's cool shoes- kind of bluish-greenish and sparklyish.
When she tried it on, it was a little big, showing her central line scars (which at first glance someone might mistake them for something else). Natalie told us, "Oh Dad, it's ok, Jasmine shows a little chest and tummy!" Think back to her picture with Jasmine, she is right! Little rubber bands turned out to be a good solution, now her Jasmine outfit will fit her even longer since we were able to keep the bigger size.
Ready to get started, let the pampering begin!
Natalie wanted the long hair. At first she picked pink hair. Then she thought about it a little more and changed her mind. Jasmine does have black hair after all. She told the Fairy God Mother in Training that she decided "she just wants a LITTLE pink!"
She and the Fairy God Mother in Training, talked and talked and talked. It was pretty cool. She loved Natalie. Natalie told her all about how she flew an airplane just a few days before. After Natalie said something particularly cute and spunky, David joked that there is no question whose in charge at our house (you know she has us all wrapped around her little finger- especially her Daddy). The Fairy God Mother in Training laughed and said, "well as long as she flies you places..." This might sound a little sappy, but the first thing that popped into my head when she said that is that Natalie makes our hearts soar...always has.
When she sprayed the glitter in Natalie's hair, Natalie declared, "MORE SPARKLY!" The lady said she thought Natalie was sparkly after seeing her shoes. I told her Natalie is the sparkliest, and it is SO true.
Getting all pampered.


David was snapping pictures of Natalie as she was getting made over and he leaned over and showed me this picture (or maybe it was the next one) on the camera. He asked me, "what do you think?" I looked at it, and for a split second; with the way her hair was pulled back with the other hair, and especially with the darker image on the camera screen, she looked bald. I caught a glimpse of how she looked (older of course, but all Natalie) when she was our little baldy. I told David she looked baldy and he looked and told me I was right (increase the size to get the full effect). Oh, she was a cute baldy, she is so pretty that she pulled it off with such grace (as all these sweet little kids do).

I love this.
Such a Natalie smile, my pretty girl. Natalie was thrilled with the crown!
I love this picture.
Checking herself out in the mirrow after they turned her around.
After shot...
Posing like a princess.
She was so proud of her birthday sash, it was very important to her.
Don't you think it is even more fun to pose when you are dressed as a princess too?
Isn't she adorable with long black hair? David always teases me because when I was pregnant, I wanted the name Jasmine. I assumed I would have a lovely, dark daughter. I thought I should give her a princess name that would match, plus I LOVE the Jasmine flower. We went to San Diego when I was 5 months pregnant and I was enchanted by the look and smell of all the Jasmine flowers- they reminded me of the freasia from my wedding flowers and our honeymoon to Hawaii.

David even teases me by occasionaly calling Natalie Jasmine- which she doesn't like- and tells me how much the name doesn't fit. I always agree, but to my defense, I didn't know I would have a lovely blondie (or two for that matter). Even though I've known Natalie was 100% the right name for Natalie as soon as we came up with it, it is kind of funny to see her SO decked out as Jasmine.
On our way up to the front of the park to have Natalie's photos taken in her Jasmine outfit, the Mickey show was going on again. We of course stopped and watched it, you can NEVER see these shows too many times.
I loved this, Natalie and her Daddy. Two of the greatest loves of my life.
I debated posting the picture, but it was something that really struck me, so I will. I was standing behind David and Natalie as I reached up to try to fix her pants so she wouldn't be showing her undies to all the world (just what I am doing anyway:) I was struck by the significance of looking at all of her bone marrow biopsy scars.

We were standing in front of Cinderella's castle...Natalie is in remisssion...Natalie is doing great...it felt like such a victorious moment, but at the same time a reminder of her journey. There should be five, although I only see four in the photo-

1. Diagnosis Day
2. Day 8- The day she proved to be a 'rapid early responder' further increasing her good risk categorization.
3. Day 29- End of Induction chemo, making she sure was really in remission before moving on to more than two more years of chemo. (consolidation 6-7 months, then maintenance)
4. The bone marrow biopsy she wasn't supposed to have- when her marrow stopped making neutrophils and she was doing funky stuff. We were SO scared she was relapsing, some of the darkest and scariest moments in my life, moments we were so heartsick unable to cling to any hope that it was anything other than a relapse. So traumitized by all she had been through that our hearts felt they couldn't muster the strength for hope, it was horrible even if it was only for a few days.
5. Then the celebration, the last bone marrow biopsy she should EVER need, the day we took her central line out. No evidence of disease!

Fitting that she should choose Jasmine. For the reminder of all of that and because of the words to our favorite song..."A Whole New World."

I had so much fun watching Natalie come and pose. The only problem, she must have REALLY felt like a princess, which she interprets as demure and proper--no real smiles, only proper princess smiles. The other problem was deciding to have to wash off her princess kisses, since they were so special. But we have a lot of pictures with them, so Natalie was ok with it.
You'll have to wait and see the photographers solution to the 'princess smiling problem,' sure got me one cute picture. I'll post more of these later. I still need to buy the photos from our Disney photopass.
This is a video of Natalie pretending to faint. When we were waiting for David to go to the bathroom, she pretended to faint in my arms. When David came back with the camera, we just had to get it on tape.