While there were several announcements made on other sites already, I thought I would welcome Isabelle here on the blog and share a little pic that may not have already been publicized too much.

Isabelle was born May 21 and has kept our attention FULLY for the last 9 days, even more so than adorable little baby girls do normally.  The medical details aside (they are vast, technical and rather hard to follow) she ended up having open heart surgery at a ripe old age of 3 days.  She’s doing fantastically well, and is quite obviously fully infused with the patented “Vallentyne Disdain for Rather Large Medical Problems”(tm).  Many of her ancestors have honed this skill over the years and there’s no better way for her to flaunt this ability than in this pic here:

This little pup is literally sneering (adorably) at the array of medical equipment surrounding her.  Her arrogant(ly adorable) curled lip indicates her lack of concern for these paltry machines and stitches.

Indeed, she seems to be focused mainly on giving us all conniptions, while coolly observing our concern with a flippant attitude and nary a worry.

The only silver lining in all of this for me, as near as I can tell, is if this beautiful little girl is this much trouble at 9 days old, I am very grateful that she won’t be my responsibility when she turns 16.  It’s all about me, of course.

Joking aside, her journey has been an amazing testament to her Mom and Dad, and just how amazing modern medicine is these days.  The Toronto Sick Kids hospital is nothing short of incredible, and we are in their debt forever.  Simple as that.

Here’s to Isabelle and many more years of grey hair-inducing hijinks that DON’T involve hospital beds.