Finally

Well, the Christmas mess is slowly getting cleaned up, put up and organized. We have begun carrying the Christmas towels and mugs from the kitchen and into the living room waiting until New Years Day when all things Christmas will be stored for another year. I still keep my fairly large snowman collection out until mid-February (even though we never see snow).

The boys had a blast on Christmas morning (Broderick more so than Camden). Adalynn loved the noise all the paper made and watching Broderick and Camden. Santa brings each child 3 toys just as Jesus got three gifts from the Wiseman. Mommy and Daddy also do the three thing rule. It makes it so easy not to go overboard and it is just enough for them. Santa brought each of them a TV tray personalized with their name. Broderick's also had Spiderman stickers, Camden's-Diego, and Adalynn's was covered with Disney Princess stickers (of course). Santa also left Broderick Spiderman Skate shoes and BeDaMan robots. Camden got some BeDaMan Robots and a Diego Rescue Helicopter. Adalynn got a Crinkly Doll and a Picnic Basket with stuffed food. From Mommy and Daddy they all got a box with some clothes in it. Broderick was very disappointed that his was all too big and had to be returned just to find out they were out of the shirt he wanted in his size. He quickly got over it when we went to the Disney store and he got a Power Rangers Hockey Jersey. Broderick and Camden also got some books from us. Broderick got a Leapster Game and Camden got the Baby Jesus that he requested! Adalynn was oh-so-happy with her sippy cups and feeding set-just in time for her to really get into this eating thing. Though, she has mastered the art of sneezing carrots out her nose (very easy when your palate is still open). The kiddos also had tons of presents from Grandma Fines, Great Grandma and Grandpa, and Mamaw and Papaw!! It took forever to open everything and we had a huge mess, but all in all Christmas was a blast.

Adalynn's tooth is getting bigger and bigger everyday. It still is so weird that it is coming in on the top and behind her gum line. It is really on the hard palate (the ridge right behind your gums). We are still waiting to hear from the dentist to get an appointment in Atlanta scheduled. We did buy a toothbrush and baby toothpaste and have began the brushing game...see if we can find her tooth, brush it, not bump her palate or let her steal the brush, all before she sucks the yummy fruit flavored toothpaste off her brush. FUN FUN FUN!!!!

I have really enjoyed the past week off, but can't believe it is almost time to go back to school. We go back EXTREMELY early this year (January 2) UGH!! We have gotten a lot done though. The playroom has been cleaned (with 2 large boxes leaving for a future garage sale to make room for the new goodies). We also rearranged Broderick and Camden's room and organized the small library of books we own. We separated non-fiction from fiction, and then alphabetized the fiction books by author. It was definitely a huge task. Now we are going to head to Lowe's and get some baskets and paint sticks and use a library system...put in a paint stick when you take out a book-return the book and remove the stick. We'll see how long this lasts?!?!?

I have also been busy on the sewing machine. I made Adalynn a dress (and matching hair bow) and I made Camden and rag quilt. It was a lot of fun and really didn't take me as long as I ever imagined. I did learn that I need to be a bit more organized when putting the actual quilt together so I don't have too many of the same pieces touching. I guess I was just too excited about finishing it. Camden likes it nonetheless and has slept with every night since I finished it. It even has a C on it for him!

Thanks for checking in on us! We are going to enjoy our last couple days of break before life returns to normal (though I think we all have enjoyed this quiet, relaxing time a little too much) normal, may seem too hard after this break.

Heeee Heeee

Borrowed this idea from Julie's blog

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I'm a Bad Mommy

I know, I know, why in the world am I on here on Christmas Day you ask???? Most of you are right...I'm pumping!!! 6 1/2 mos down, who knows how far to go. I have about 2 -3 mos stored up and I am down to only 4 pumps a day. YAY!!!! We have also been able to send 3 coolers of milk to the Mother's Milk Bank at Wake Med (yes there is such a thing). Click here for more information on "milk banking"

Well, the "I'm a bad mommy" title has nothing to do with that (that would be an "I'm a good mommy" post). But, I'm a bad mommy because I was clueless that Adalynn was getting her first tooth. It is about 50% in. UGH!!!! We attributed her continued fussiness to still being in pain from the palate repair. I guess it is good that we were still giving her Tylenol 1-2 times a day. I knew I felt something in her mouth the other day, but when I felt her gums...nothing, nada, no tooth or even bump of a tooth. So I attributed it to either being stitches or just a figment of my imagination. Well, there is no figment about it. She has her first tooth!!!! It is on the top towards the right hand side (I'll get a picture on here later). The weird thing is that it is not even in her gum-line, but very much behind it. Which explains why I felt it when she was chewing on my fingers, but then when I tried to find it (by feeling her gums) there was nothing.
I know that her mouth will probably be a mess because of the cleft, but I guess I was naive in thinking that it would only be on the cleft side. UGH...this is definitely not the cleft affected side. We are going to call the dentist at the Cranio-facial Clinic to see what he says. I'm sure it will eventually need pulled because of where it is located. We'll keep you posted.

Christmas Day was great. Camden is slowly feeling better each day, but still runs a fever if we don't keep Motrin and Tylenol in him. Broderick was very excited about the whole ordeal and ended up opening most of Adalynn's presents, the majority of Camden's presents (Camden was done after present #3) and he even opened some of mine and John's. We enjoyed a restful, relaxing day and both boys thought it was hilarious when we set down for dinner and we all still had our P.J.'s on. I did fix both a ham and turkey (Broderick's request) as well as green beans, homemade noodles, and sweet potatoes. When everything was finished cooking, I remembered the rolls...I guess we'll just have them another night. All in all, Christmas was good. Santa is great. And I think we sang Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus at least 3 times.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO EVERYONE!!!!

A Letter to Santa, Promised Photo...and I've been tagged

The most important things first....Broderick's letter to Santa and the promised photo (see no tears!?!??!?). Broderick was so excited about his work. He only asked for a couple of words to be spelled and had to be reminded to add something about himself. He asked Santa to bring something for everyone else EXCEPT himself. It was finally added at the end as an afterthought. Here it is:

It reads:

"Sorry Santa we already left the reindeer sum food. I love you. Lev mommy sum of a baby Jsesus. Lev daddy sum of I pod. Lev Camden sum of the Diego mobile sitr (center). On the next Christmas lev him the rest. Lev baby sum baby mlke. Lev me sum GI Joes and Wore (Word) girl toys."

Isn't this awesome for a kindergartner???? We are soooo proud of him.

And now I've been tagged by my on-line cleft buddy Zoe's Mom, Julie. So here is goes...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Gift bags when I'm in a hurry, but I love wrapping paper. John gets very frustrated with me when I want to make it all 'fancy' as he puts it. I love ribbons and bows and all that stuff!!!!

2. Real tree or artificial?This year it is artificial, last year it was real, year before that artificial again. One of these days we will have a house big enough that we will put both up. Right now we have 3 artificial ones up. A small one in the kitchen and the boys' room and the main one in the living room.

3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the day after Thanksgiving. This year we were a little late since we traveled home to Indiana.

4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime after the New Year.

5. Do you like eggnog? I automatically think YUCK! But honestly, I have never even tried it!

6. Favorite gift received as a child? It just has to be my Barbie Dream house...I was probably 8-9 years old. It was a joint gift for my sister and I. I can't remember if it was from "Santa" or from mom and dad. I do remember that it wasn't put together and that it took forever.

7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes!!! I actually have several. My favorite one being the Veggie Tales one I got last year. I really want the Little People one, but it is $40...maybe it will go on sale after Christmas.

8. Hardest person to buy for? Usually it's John, but not because I don't know what to get him. Simply because EVERYTHING he wants is way out of our price range right now.

9. Easiest person to buy for? Always the kiddos. It is sooo easy to go overboard!! Adalynn was a little more difficult, but simply because she has so much stuff leftover from when the boys were babies.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? Hmmmm???? I honestly can't say.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards? For the first time in 3 years, we actually got them out before Christmas!!!!

12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Has to be Polar Express!!!!

13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? We shop all year long and keep a box of stuff that we dig into for birthdays, Christmas, and other special occasions.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? I plead the fifth....:)

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? I love peppermint ice cream!!!

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? Clear non-blinking lights on the tree. Racing colored ones on the house.

17. What is your favorite Christmas song? Breath of Heaven

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Spending Christmas at home for only the third time in our 11 years of marriage. We were excited that we didn't have to leave Santa a note telling him to leave our prizes and we would get them when we returned for visiting family.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer? Yes, but only by singing...you know Dasher and Dancer......and the most famous reindeer of all...

20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Always pajamas from grandma on Christmas Eve and the rest of the loot Christmas morning. Santa leaves 3 gifts each at our house in honor of the 3 wise men each bringing a gift to baby Jesus

22. What I love most about Christmas? The excitement on my kids faces. Tonight, especially (the news was tracking Santa and had our town on the list with the exact time he would be here). It was AWESOME.

Now I get to tag someone else. I tag Darcy and Kinome. They are other online cleft buddies. Have fun and I look forward to reading your answers!

If It's Not One Thing...It's Ten Others!?!??!

UGH!!!! Camden woke up in the middle of the night vomiting and had a very high fever. We called the nurse on call and she advised us to call 911-we decided to just drive him to the ER ourselves. John and Camden bundled up and were on their way to the hospital at 2:00 in the morning. He has just recently finished his antibiotics for his strep and has been a little fussy the past couple of days, so we were worried that it was coming back. His strep came back negative as did his chest X-Ray. They gave him some IV antibiotics (which he didn't even flinch about) and took some blood to check his counts. Everything so far has come back normal. They are now running more tests to check other things. Our biggest fear is that he has Osteomyelitis again. It was about 2 years ago that he got it and was hospitalized for a week and at home with IV antibiotics in his PIC line for 4 weeks after that. He doesn't have any "owies" that he has pointed out to us, so we are crossing our fingers that it is just an ugly virus. Hopefully he will begin feeling much better in anticipation for Santa's visit.

On Sunday morning (before he was feeling bad) we went to church. The kiddos looked so sweet in their Christmas attire, we just had to do pictures in front of the tree. Here are a few of our favorites.

Other pictures are from Camden's holiday party at school and the boys preparing reindeer cookies for each of their parties. There is also a picture explaining why Adalynn's legs are naked in the photos. YUCK!!!! Hopefully we'll be able to make our planned cookies today and everyone stays healthy. Please say a little prayer for Camden and his pending blood work!

By the way, Adalynn is doing great. She still has a mouth full of stitches that I think irritates her at times, but she doesn't seem to be in as much pain as she was.

We wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!!!! We wish we could see all of you.

Better Each Day

Adalynn is doing better each day. Eating a lot more like normal and sleeping a little better. She has been spoiled since her surgery and is not wanting to go back into her crib. Maybe one of these days.

We did have a scare on Monday night...I was giving her Tylenol and she choked, gagged and ended up with a nose full of Tylenol. Normally when she would spit up and her nose filled up with spit-up, I think she relied on her palate to breath. Now, her palate is closed (well mostly closed) and she had no clue what to do.

We had blue lips, hands, and feet and her eyes were starting to really look funny. She never lost consciousness, but she had no clue what to do without her palate. The Tylenol eventually ran out of her nose and by the time the ambulance got there she was laughing and smiling at the EMT's.

They listened to her and said they felt fine with not transporting her. She did fine the rest of the evening. Now, I am scared to death every time I give her meds and will probably be that way the rest of my life.

Her ENT follow-up on Tuesday went well and she passed the hearing test with flying colors. Her eardrums have returned to their normal position after being recessed for the past several months.

Her follow-up with the plastic surgeon didn't go as well. Her palate is healing great, but there is a small spot in the back that has opened back up. He feels comfortable leaving it for now. If it affects her speech down the road then he will put the one stitch in needed to close it the rest of the way.

The boys and too excited about Christmas and getting very anxious to open all the gifts under the tree. Adalynn just likes the sound that the wrapping paper makes and I'm sure will have plenty of help opening her prizes come Christmas morning. It seems very weird to have so many gifts under our tree but with grandmas and grandpa adding to our small collection, this year looks extraordinarily impressive.

We took the kiddos to sit on Santa's lap. It was a huge success. NOBODY cried....not even Adalynn. She was very fascinated with Santa's beard though. I guess he looked too much like "Papa Hair Face" for her not to want to play with it. I will post the picture as soon as I have more time to scan it in. In the meantime, here is a photo of Adalynn enjoying the crinkling of the wrapping paper (which is probably a sound she wouldn't have heard before they put the tubes in. Speaking of tubes, one of Broderick's fell out at lunch yesterday. UGH!!! They were just placed 5 months ago!!!!

Check back soon for a Santa photo.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Palate Repair...Adalynn's GREAT-Everyone else has gone downhill?!?!?

Adalynn's been recovering very well. She is still in a lot of pain, but overall the whole process has been much easier than John and I ever expected. Despite her recovery going well, everything else went crazy. Camden felt pretty yucky with strep throat and John's dad had a gall bladder attack while down here and was admitted to the hospital. Camden also experienced his first "shiner" courtesy of his brother.

Things are slowly returning to normal. My mom left on Wednesday evening (after the boys opened their remote control matching Hummers), John's dad was released from the hospital and they have returned to Indiana, the antibiotics have helped Camden and he feels much better (besides a nasty looking black eye). Adalynn has been smiling more each day and is slowly getting back to normal. She still won't sleep lying flat, but will now let us put her down as long as she is propped up. The corner of the couch works wonders!

Thanks for checking in on us! We appreciate all the prayers! The power of prayer is amazing!!!!! THANKS :)

Here are some photos

....remember you can click on any photo to enlarge it!

AND THE BEST FOR LAST.....

2 1/2 months old (before lip repair)

6 months old (before palate repair)

We're Home

I can't believe it and I am still very nervous, but WE'RE HOME!!!! Adalynn has done amazingly well. She is eating well and we have even gotten smiles (now that she is off the morphine). We left Scottish Rite around 4:00 this afternoon. She is a little fussy and seems to hurt, especially when the pain meds wear off, but considering they ripped the top of her mouth off, stretched it, and sewed it back on-she is doing great. The plastic surgeon did say that her cleft was a lot larger than what he thought. He said it wasn't the largest that he's seen, but it was large. We will follow-up with him in about 2 weeks (probably right before or after Christmas).

Please continue to pray that she stays on track for a speedy recovery. It has been strangely easy so far and we hope it continues. When I have a bit more time on here, I will post pictures (though you can't see much)!

Surgery is scheduled

Just a quick note to let everyone know that surgery is scheduled at 8 am Monday morning and we have to arrive at the hospital by 6. We will keep everyone posted. Wish us luck.

Surgery Countdown....#2

Adalynn's surgery is scheduled for December 10th! Aaaaaacckkkkkkk I can't believe it is already here. She is finally doing so well after the lip surgery and it seems too soon to be doing another surgery already-but we are. They will close her palate and put tubes in. We still don't know a time and we learned (after the first surgery at 12:45) that age really doesn't factor into surgery time. The hospital should call us sometime on Friday and let us know. Please say a little prayer for her, us, as well as both surgeons that will be operating.

Here are some photos from the Watkinsville Christmas Parade. It was a beautiful day and Adalynn really didn't even need her hat. The boys were EXTREMELY good, especially compared to all of the kids around us. They were pushing, shoving, and at one point someone even took candy out of Camden's lap. Broderick was the sweetest when he said "it's okay, mommy, we have lots of candy at home". Camden was mad at Santa though, because he threw a piece of candy that hit him in the head. Bad Santa...Bad Santa.

Thanks again for checking on us. Be sure to continue to pray for Ryan and Missy as they bravely and courageously fight the fight! There have been some recent bumps in their journey and all prayers would greatly help. I've copied the following information from his blog page. It would be great if we all could add to his Christmas Tree.

There are two great ways to help raise money for NB research over the Christmas holidays. Lunch for Life has started the Christmas Tree campaign already and Ryan got the first two ornaments on his tree this morning. There is a link on the left side of Ryan's site-(NOTE: I PUT HIS LINK ON HERE...JUST CLICK ON LUNCH FOR LIFE). If you use the code 26819, Ryan gets an extra ornament. All the money raised by Lunch for Life goes to find a cure for Neuroblastoma. Also, when you are doing your holiday shopping, register with i-give. There are tons of stores that will make donations when you make a purchase. You can choose your charity when you register. Aflac and the Rally Foundation are both charities you can select.