Thankful...

So, last weekend Calder burned his left hand pretty badly on the inside door of the oven. He is recovering from 2nd degree burns with Silvadine and bandages, and has taken every step of the way in stride. THIS kid is an absolute amazement to me...what a trooper! We are hoping that his hand will not need any reconstructive surgery, and have 2 plastic surgery appointments next week. One for a post-op palate check...and now one for the hand. I'm assuming that I'd better get used to it, he is a boy, and ALL over the place, so I'm sure it won't be the only injury we have to deal with. I'll try to update next week about the appointments. Our pediatricians have told us that burns take a long time to heal, especially when they are on the hands, so we will just have to wait and see what happens.

But, I really just wanted to get on here and say that I'm thankful for having such an amazing life. I run into situations all the time that put things back into perspective when they seem slightly askew, and for that also, I'm thankful. I have a wonderful husband, that I don't always appreciate like I should. I have an incredible 4 year old daughter who is truly "my best girl ever". My NAUGHTY little 13 month old boy, who lights up the room with his smiles and cracks us up daily. Our home, our jobs, our families, health, friendship...we are blessed beyond measure.

I am just thankful...

Latest appointments

Earlier this week, we had 2 pretty important doctor appointments...one for eyes/clogged tear ducts and one for a hearing test. Both went well!

We pretty much knew the tear ducts were clogged, and although hoping for the pediatric opthalmologist to tell us it looked pretty good and he thought they'd clear up on their own, he was very realistic. There is a chance they will clear, and the goop will go away on its own, but if not, they will do the minor surgery to open them up when Calder has his palate surgery...hopefully in July. ?? The less he has to be under general anesthetic the better! So, we are supposed to be doing gentle "massage" in the corners of his eyes and on the bridge of his nose to help loosen the gunk so it doesn't get infected. He loves that...HA, pretty sure he hates it with every little bone in his body!

The hearing test was also good. Although he passed the newborn screening, at our initial consult with the ENT (ear/nose/throat doctor), they did a tympanogram (sp?) which measures the movement of the eardrum with air pressure. The more movement, the better the hearing. Calder's really didn't move at all, which meant that he had a lot of fluid behind his eardrums. They likened this to things being muffled, or like hearing things underwater...so we knew he could hear, but really didn't know how well. Typically, hearing improves drastically once tubes are placed, so I was anxious to find out more. The audiologist was thoroughly impressed with him, and told us that he did better than the average 7 month old. :) She loved how social he is, and how alert and attentive...he grinned at her and clapped throughout the test, and we all got a kick out of his antics! SO, hearing is fine, and we are so happy that it seems like it's on track.

We have our big cleft team meeting on June 3rd, so that is the next step!

Not really any other big news, he continues to crawl around like a maniac, and is now pulling himself up to standing very quickly! I'm seriously afraid that we will be dealing with a walker sometime this summer! Seems like he is growing up faster than Caydree did, I guess it's just different the 2nd time around...

Updates

I realized yesterday while we were at the plastic surgeon's office for a follow up, that I couldn't remember if I'd put up any info/stats about our 6 month check. About a month ago now, little man weighed in at 15.3 lbs, and is hanging steady at the 10th percentile. All the doctors seem happy with his initial gains and now his consistency. I am just a little concerned now that he is more active...burning more calories...and sleeping through the night...one less bottle, so I guess we will see in the next month how he does.

Also at that appointment, they gave us a referral for the pediatric opthalmologist, to check his poor little tear ducts. He has always had goopy eyes, sometimes worse than others...so we will be going in May 11th for that appointment down in San Diego. Worst case scenario is that they are clogged ducts and they don't think they will clear up or open on their own...then they have to do another surgery. We are hoping that he'll outgrow it!!!

Yesterday we went to the plastic surgery follow up. He gave us info to start massaging the lip scar with a silicone gel, so mommy needs to get online and order it. Funny, he pointed out all the imperfections in the lip repair and nose job...I guess as a PS, that's his job...but we just love the results, and don't think Calder can get much cuter! :) He also gave us some cautiously optimistic news about his palate, and it looks like they will most likely be able to do the palate repair in July! That seems really soon to me now, but it was what I was hoping for, so I wouldn't have to take any time off once school started. Say a prayer for us, and keep your fingers crossed! He was happy with the way it had already come together so much from the lip repair, and wants to see 6 more weeks of growth before giving us a date.

The only other big thing we have coming up is the hearing test on May 13. I guess this is the one I am most nervous about, as it is directly linked to speech acquisition and the possibility there could be some hearing loss due to the fluid he had before his tubes were put in. We know he can hear, so we are hoping for the best, but we will see! That's about it in the medical department, for now. Thanks for all of your continued thoughts and prayers for our little man!

6 months already?

Actually almost 7, where has the time gone? I don't ever remember it going this fast with Caydree, but maybe it did, and life it just busier so I'm probably not paying as much attention. :(

Calder is sitting, and mastered the "marine" crawl just in the past couple of days! He of course, heads straight for anything you don't want him to have, and wants everything that you are holding, no matter what it is. The first place he goes is under the coffee table, and he has figured out how to climb over the pillow barricades we put around him, so we may be in the market for a baby pen! :)

Had our 6 mo. appointment...weighed in at 15.3 pounds, so he is hanging out in the 10th percentile. Doctor is happy with that, and they are not worried about any other growth, he's at about the 50th for height and head size. The same day, Mamma took him down to San Diego for a genetics follow up. That went great as well, I sent her with a long list of things to tell them and to ask...so I'm sure they think I'm the one with the problems! LOL...

I was/am most concerned about speech delays, but he is only 6 mo, and I need to relax about it. He has a hearing test in May, and I know they will be able to tell us more then, so I'll just wait!

Other than that, he's sleeping all night 8-10 hours in his own crib, and only chose to wake up super early this morning...so we've been up for over an hour, and mommy doesn't really know how she is going to get ready for work, but we'll figure it out. Gotta go wake sister up now too, so the next 1/2 hour will be fun before I have to leave. ;)

Nothing "New"

There is not much news right now, which is nice because things are good, but it also means that we are at a standstill. Our upcoming 4 month appointment on Feb. 6th is all I have to look forward to. And with that, I'm trying not to get my hopes up for anything related to surgery...last week our pediatrician called me and was excited about Calder's weight gain, BUT really hoped that we could get him into the 25th percentile before the surgery. Sadly, my little munchkins just aren't 25th percentile kids. Caydree never was, and I'm not going to assume that we can get there with Calder either...so hopefully we can just prove that the gain is dramatic enough, and CONSISTENT. That's what I thought they were looking for to begin with?!

Being the control freak that I am, this whole experience has been very difficult for me, I feel like we are doing all the right things, but still have no control. I know it will work out when it is supposed to, but putting it off just makes me crazy about all the other things in the future: his palate surgery, hearing and speech to name my biggest concerns. But, for now we just keep waiting...

So, my goal is to get more recent pictures of the chunky-monkey up here today...and maybe put the last of the Christmas decorations away...FOR REAL! Somehow, all of the things I still have control over aren't getting done either, so I don't know what my problem is!?

The latest...

Well, it's been a crazy, hectic couple of weeks for me, getting back into the routine of school! I won't claim to be doing a good job, but there is only one week left before our winter break, so I think I can make it!

Calder is doing well...we had our 2 month check, and he dropped from the 27th percentile in weight down to below the 5th, so we are on a 22 calorie diet...adding 1/2 teaspoon of formula to every 3 ounces of milk. Hard to believe that it will really make that much of a difference, but I guess it does?! We go back to check weight again on Dec. 22, and will hopefully get our medical clearance for his upcoming lip surgery. We got our date, it will be Jan. 12. I have read, researched, and talked to others about the whole surgery experience, and I still feel like there are so many unknowns...I'm not a wreck about it yet, but give me time...

It IS the best thing for him, and he will not remember this part, but obviously harder for us as parents to have to go through. I just love him so much exactly the way he is, it will be an adjustment. The surgery is my first day back to school after our break, so I will be taking at least one week off...maybe 2, we'll see how things go. I think my biggest fear is the recovery process. We've finally hit our groove, and I feel like we've been doing so well!! This is just going to start that whole process over again. We'll see, maybe it won't be as bad as I'm thinking...I can certainly hope!!

Well, it's extremely early on a Sat. night, and since everyone else is in bed, I think I'll go too! Hope to have a good news update soon!!

genetics

So our appointment went well! We hadn't really expected to get any news that we didn't already know, but that underlying fear was still there for me...

Bottom line is that Calder's cleft lip and palate are an isolated case. There could be many reasons why, but quite honestly, none of those really matter to us. Most likely just the "right" combination of genes from both Shane and me, at just the right time. Once you have a child with a cleft your risks are slightly elevated of having another...3-4%, but since we don't plan on having anymore, that doesn't concern us either. When Calder is older and ready to start his own family, his risk will be only slightly higher than that. The geneticist told us that advances in the next 10 years will be pretty amazing, and that by the time Calder is having kids there may not even be anything to worry about. Genetics is amazing and baffling to me, I really don't understand much of it!

Only other thing the doctor told us was how shocked he was by Calder's "social smile", eye contact, and strength. He was 8 weeks old at the appointment, and the doctor said that his big grins, intense eyes, and physical ability would put him in the "advanced" category. I chuckle, he may put his big sister to shame!

Once again, I am thoroughly pleased with our doctors...it sounds cliche, but they all just really seem to care. I know it's their job, but they have all been so personable and sensitive to any issues. This is something I didn't really expect...I feel like they already love my child as much as I do!

1st Visit to the Plastic Surgeon

SO, we went to the plastic surgeon on Nov. 6th. We had met with him at the hospital, so it was pretty informal, and not as "educational" as I had hoped...but only because he had already told us most of what was to come! Dr. Sinow is a really funny guy, and Shane and I feel so blessed to once again have such great doctors taking care of our little man.

I had a ballpark of when his lip surgery would be, but we were hoping to get an actual date. That didn't exactly happen, but we've narrowed it down to Jan. I'm hoping early January so it will happen during my vacation, but I guess that is a bit selfish, and I'll take the time off when I need to!

We will have one more meeting with him before we really get a date and know complete details. They have mastered many methods of surgery for cleft lip...so the surgery itself is pretty common, and "easy"...although on a baby, with itty bitty needles, and hundreds of small little stitches in 3 layers, it is very intricate and "complicated". (If that makes any sense!?) I feel confident that we will get a great result, and that Calder will be on his way!

I've become friends with some amazing ladies on the "cleft lip and palate" babycenter board I am on, and they are always talking about their own experiences...one of which is the grieving period after lip surgery. The cleft itself...the thing that was initially so scary and such an unknown, becomes such a big part of who your child is...not in a bad way...but their beautiful "wide smile" is the only smile you have known, it is what you love about them, and you really will miss it when it is gone. You obviously want your child to have the surgery and have a "beautiful and normal" smile like everyone else. Problem is, that when you have a baby with a cleft, their smile is already beautiful and normal to you...cleft or not, they are the baby you fell in love with when you first found out you were pregnant, and then you fell in love with them again when you heard their heartbeat for the first time, and then when you saw them on the ultrasound, and felt them move, and when they were born...how could you not absolutely love them exactly as they are???!!! So these mommies I know all say that we are the luckiest mommies in the world because we get the joy of having 2 "first smiles", and I think that is a pretty amazing way to look at it.

I'll keep you all updated on appointments as they happen, and our latest news!