In the zone

Ian watched Curious George this morning. I don't normally let him watch TV, but he really got into it. His expressions were very cute.

Beautiful baby

We learned a few months ago that our apartment manager has a nephew who was born with a cleft lip. Small world, huh? He is now 2 years old and has had 3 surgeries at the same hospital as Ian, Scottish Rite. We have not met little Cameron yet, but I have heard good things about him. This past week on one of our daily walks, Ian and I ran into the apartment manager. I showed off Ian's new smile, to which she replied, "Wow! He looks so good, but he was beautiful before surgery." She is right.

I can remember before Ian was born worrying about how he was going to look and wondering if I would be embarrassed of his lip. Looking back all the worry was so silly. Like so many parents, I fell in love as soon as I saw his precious face. Ian has taught be so much about life at his young age and I know he will continue to do so for many years. God is good. I could not be more blessed.

Daily walk

Ian and I try to go for a walk outside everyday, especially since the weather has been so nice. We both like the outdoors. Now that Jaime is back home a walk is a must, but it's still nice to get out of the house and enjoy the spring weather. Here are some pictures from yesterday. Ian loves his carrier. He likes to kick his little legs the whole time like he's trying to get somewhere.

Sippy cup

Thank you for all the sippy cup suggestions from a while back. We decided on a Nuby trainer cup. The nipple requires a lot of suction, so I slit the top all the way across so all he has to do is bite. The first time around was a little messy, but he really seemed to enjoy the new cup.

Dog watcher

Around Easter weekend, we left our two beagles with my parents. We figured it would be a bit crazy around our place after Ian's surgery and decided it best the dogs stay somewhere else. This past weekend I brought one dog, Jaime, back home. Ian was just starting to become interested in the dogs before we dropped them off. Now that Jaime is here, he loves petting her and watching her every move. When he's in his high chair he will watch her walk around. When he's sitting on the floor, he reaches out to pet her and even talks to her. It's quite adorable to listen to him babbling to get her attention. Unfortunately he's pulled and tugged on her too much already, so she keeps her distance. As soon as I can get the two close enough, I'll post a picture.

Big boy

He is trying so hard to go somewhere. He'll be crawling before we know it! He gets a little closer everyday.

He is getting so much better at holding himself up. He catches himself before he falls...most of the time. He also has Mama and a soft pillow to catch him if he doesn't do it himself.

Long and crazy weekend

Ian and I left for Atlanta Thursday morning for his post-op appointment. Dr. Williams said everything was healing well and that we could start massaging vitamin E on the scars. We scheduled the palate repair for July 18. After the doctor appointment, we stopped by Grandma's office for a quick visit. Ian needed to see some of his many supporters who had not seen him in person since surgery. We then went to Mama Clydie and Grandpapa's for the night.

Friday morning we dropped my car off at the dealership for a routine oil change only to find out I needed a new timing belt. Just my luck. The earliest they could have it done would be Saturday evening. We looked at prices for other places and decided to wait until later to decide anything. In the meantime, we went to Mama Clydie's school to meet some of her co-workers. Most of them had only seen pictures of Ian, so you can imagine how excited they all were. My husband, who was had his car up for sale, had a man call who was interested and decided to show him the car that night on the way up to Atlanta. The man ends up offering a deal to buy the car the next day. After much deliberation, we decide to sell him the car. That night we meet up with some friends at the Braves game and try to not think about how crazy the last 12 hours has been.

Saturday morning we met with the man and sell the Jeep. This leaves us with no vehicle except the one my parents have so generously donated for the weekend. We were quite surprised at how quickly the car sold, but now this means we really have to buy one. We'd been talking about it for a while, but it seemed much scarier now that we actually needed one. In the meantime, we found out my grandfather has been put in the hospital with a very low blood pressure. Saturday evening we went to our nephew's scout award ceremony. Afterwards we attempted to look at cars, but everywhere we wanted to look was already closed.

Sunday morning I decided it best that I go to the hospital with my mom while my husband went to look for cars. Ian's Grandma watches him while DJ and I go our separate ways. After a few hours at the hospital, I get a call saying DJ found the car he wanted--with the help of his dad. Although I missed being there for the purchase of our first car, I was glad I was able to be there for my grandparents. My mom and I eventually return from the hospital. After dinner with his mom, DJ went home with his new Jeep. Ian and I stayed with my parents until the next day for my car to be fixed.

Monday is not quite as eventful, but I do finally get my car back. Ian, Jaime(our beagle), and I make our drive back home.

Luckily we had the support of our family. Our parents took turns caring for Ian while we had to get everything sorted out. Thank you for all you do for us!

Pictures from this week

The sock game

Ever since he found his feet, Ian has loved playing this game. He thinks it's funny to take off his socks and then wave them all over the place. To be quite honest, I think it's very cute. I finally caught him with the camera yesterday.

No more tape...ever!

The tape is completely off as of 10 days post-op and we could not be happier with the results! We are using Vitamin E on the scars, which look pretty minimal. We go for post-op with Dr. Williams Thursday and it is then we will schedule Ian's palate surgery.

Please keep us all in your prayers, as Ian still has a long way to go. Specifically, he has been having trouble sleeping both day and night. Where he used to be on a schedule and fell asleep easily, he is now practically screaming anytime he gets sleepy. Hopefully this will pass, but please pray for us to have the necessary patience and for Ian to feel more at ease.

Recovery Update

First, I would like to thank all of those who have helped out the past week and a half. We have appreciated the prayers and support! We definitely could not have done it without you guys!

Ian is still doing well. He has seemed to be more fussy the past few days than before. He is now done with antibiotics and Tylenol with codeine, but he will still be taking Amicar and regular Tylenol for a few days.

His sleeping schedule is more or less the same. We try to have him on bed around 8 or 8:30, which seems to still work well. He is getting up at least once a night, but that's much better than we had expected.

He has started eating better and is up to at least 3 oz. every 3 hours. We started him on some new solids yesterday: bananas. Surprisingly, he seemed to like the veggies from a few weeks ago more than the fruit. I'm sure a lot of it has to do with the adjustment to eating solids without the NAM.

All in all, we've been very pleased with the results. Some of the tape has started to come off, which is quite exciting! I'm ready for it all to be off! He is still wearing the arm braces to make sure he doesn't disrupt the healing.

One week, 2 days post-op:

One week, 3 days post-op:

No more NAM

I wanted to put up a picture of what Ian's NAM looked like in the end. The pink "buds" are the nose stints that were used to push up his nose. We're so glad to be done with this thing!

Recovery: Day four

Ian woke up a couple of times last night, which is fine by me. Each time was just in time for some pain meds. Once he had a bottle and the medicine, he went right back to sleep. He is starting to eat a little more. He had a 3.5 oz. bottle earlier this morning.

It seems we have a little Houdini on our hands. I found Ian in his crib this morning with only one arm sleeve on; the other was being waved around. He decided it would make a good toy while he waited for someone to wake up.

Ian has also discovered he can still turn over to his belly from his back with the arm restraints on. The video is quite cute; he sounds so proud of his accomplishment.

Recovery

Ian is doing great!

He is taking several different medicines, including Tylenol with codeine, Amicar, and an anti-biotic. The Amicar is for his hemophilia to help the blood clot. We have been giving the Tylenol every four hours, but we have started to cut back on how much we give. We're down to 2mL instead of 3mL.

He is sleeping about the same as he did before surgery; goes to bed around 8 and sleeps until 7 the next morning. We have woken him the first few nights home to give him pain medicine and some food. However, he was more interested in sleeping.

He's up and playing just like normal, except he has his "welcome sleeves" prohibiting him from playing exactly how he'd like. We took the advice of one of the cleft parents and put some leg warmers on the sleeves. This keeps him from scratching his face with the Velcro. No tummy-time as of yet, but that's just because we're nervous that he could bump his mouth. He has no restrictions from the doctor as far as activity.

Eating has been the most difficult. He wants eating to be as easy as it was with the NAM. Before surgery he was taking a 6-7 oz. bottle every 3-4 hours. Now he is taking, on average, 2 oz. every 2-3 hours. He doesn't seem to be as interested in food as before. I know it is very different without the NAM, but he is at least taking in some food. He doesn't act like he is in pain during feedings, but that may be part of the reason for eating so much less.

He's started smiling, or at least trying to. His lip is still very tight and will continue to be for a while. The tape, which is used to take some pressure off of the lip, will stay on until it falls off on its own.

Little Ian still has a long way to go, so please continue to keep him in your prayers. We appreciate the support we have received so far. We have definitely felt the prayers!

Post-surgery

Our first look at his new face right after the recovery room. The poor little guy was tuckered out after the hour and a half surgery.

This is the morning after surgery. We just happened to catch him in his favorite sleeping pose, complete with "welcome sleeves". He's wearing leg warmers over the braces to keep the velcro from scratching his precious face.

Here he is trying to snuggle with Dad. Ian didn't understand that he would not be able to rest his face on Dad's shoulder without hurting himself.

Getting some much needed rest. He slept so well the night after surgery.

Pre-surgery

At Grandma's, ready to go to the hospital. We stayed at Grandma's house the night before so we wouldn't have to get up too early the morning of surgery to make the 2-hour drive from our house. Of course, Ian was ready to go for the day at 5:30am. So much for getting some rest...

Grandpapa is saying good morning at the hospital. All of our family arrived at Scottish Rite the same time as us. We were so blessed for them to be there.

Ian is getting his vitals checked before surgery. He is in a surprisingly good mood. He had not had a bottle since 6:30 the night before.

Trying to catch a quick nap on Dad

Ian is waiting to go back to surgery. He was such a good baby, only crying because he had to be poked so many times. They had trouble starting an IV and it took a total of six tries to actually get one they could use. He was all smiles between the poking though, thanks to some entertaining family.

Being such a good boy.

Quick kiss from Mama.

Family trying to entertain a hungry baby.

Surgery

All went well for the little guy today. He looks very different, but is absolutely beautiful! Please continue to pray that he will be the tough guy he is. He still has a tough road of healing to travel. Thank you for your support! (Pictures to come...)