Our Little Men: March 2008

Sunday, March 30, 2008

Five months

Our little man is five months old today! It's so hard to believe how big he is getting!

Saturday, March 29, 2008

Attempt at crawling

If only he would take those fingers out of his mouth...

Thursday, we went to the surgeon's office to do the pre-op. Everything went fine there. The NP explained exactly what they would be doing during the procedure. Dr. Williams, the plastic surgeon, will be correcting the lip and muscle surrounding the cleft. He will also be stitching together the gums to make a complete "U". There is a medical term for this, but I do not have the paperwork in front of me right now. If Ian's gums had a space greater than 3mm on either side of the cleft, the surgeon would leave them as is. However, since the right side is touching and the left side is at about 2mm, he will stitch them together.

Friday, we went to see Dr. Granger for the last time in a very long time. Next time we see him Ian will be 6 years old. He made the final adjustments to the NAM, adding a piece between the nose stints to create an indention at the base of the nose.

Ian with Dr. Granger.

We also went to do pre-op at the Day Surgery Center on Friday. Ian had another physical to make sure he's ready for the big day. He weighed 16.3 pounds, but this was with all clothes and a full belly, and he is 26 inches long. He's grown over an inch and a half in less than a month! Since Ian's pediatrician did hear a heart murmur at the 4-month healthy visit, the nurse decided it was best to do an echo cardiogram of his heart. He was such a good boy, laughing and playing with the echo tech the whole time! Luckily, the results were normal. However, there is a part where two arteries did not completely connect, but this is supposedly very common and nothing to worry about. The nurse said since he's still so young, there is a possibility that it may fix itself.

Now we just sit and wait until Tuesday...

Sippy cup suggestions

We're thinking about starting to give Ian a sippy cup after his lip has healed from surgery. Do any of you cleft parents have suggestions for a particular cup that worked best? Ian will still have a cleft palate, which may make it too difficult for him. However, we'd like to give him the chance and see how it goes. Thanks for your help!

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

First Easter

One week away

Our little guy one week before surgery

Monday, March 24, 2008

First UGA event

Walking to the field...

Meeting Spike. Really, it's "Uncle" Dave under there.

He loved the pom-pom from Spike.

Friday, March 21, 2008

Peas: check, Squash: check, Sweet potatoes: check

"I think I have this down. It goes in here, right?"

"Is that it?"

"Alright, I think I have it from here."

"Mmm, that was good..."

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Visit to the Easter Bunny

We went with Mama Clydie yesterday to see the Easter Bunny. Ian was so interested in what was going on that he had no interest in smiling.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Dressed up for St. Patty

Maybe the hat is still a little big...

New "tricks"

In the past few weeks Ian has started to:

Sit-up on his own for a short period of time.

Laugh in response to people.

Use his feet for everything, particularly playtime and eating.

Roll from his back to stomach.

Reach for things, including but not limited to toys and his puppies.

Rotate himself when lying on his stomach.

Sleep through the night(10-11 hours).

Scream, but not because he's upset. It's more like a new way to communicate his joy.

Support himself on his feet, with our help of course.

He's growing up so quickly, just like everyone said he would. It's sad and exciting all at the same time. Today I went through some clothes in his chest of drawers that he had outgrown a month or so ago, but I had a hard time cleaning them out at the time.