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Picture info: ISO 100, 1/60, f/8.0, 41mm, Av, flash

It's amazing how getting one's tonsils removed can improve one's general disposition.

For a long time, my little Haley was a very dramatic little girl. She would get cranky seemingly at the drop of a hat. She would lose it for seemingly no reason. She would argue and pout as if her life depended on it.

Then she got diagnosed with swollen tonsils.

Apparently these guys were so swollen they were almost touching. They kept her from eating, which made her cranky with hunger. They woke her up at night because she couldn't swallow properly and she'd gag on her saliva.

We made an appointment for the first day of summer vacation and there were days before that where Haley would beg us to move the date up or she'd wish to go to sleep and wake up on surgery day.

About a week after surgery, Hay, Marci and Rye went to California. I stayed behind for a week, then met up with them for the 4th of July weekend.

When they picked me up from the airport, they were happy to see me, but the difference in Haley's whole feel was pretty evident already.

As the week went by, it was clearer to me that my happy, funny, eager to please little girl was back! Yeah, she still had her moments, but we chalked that up to her being 8 and not because she was so uncomfortable/hungry/grumpy.

Today was her last day of Girl Scout camp and the hat she's wearing in the picture is decorated with swaps, which are pins and tokens all the Scouts made and, well, swapped.

What else is cool is that since I've picked up this photography thing, Haley has really learned how to smile beautifully for the camera, with no evidence of self-conciousness. I love it, I love Hay, and I wanted to share her little story.

xo