How fast time goes by......

Well, things have been crazy the past few months. We have had our first Christmas with Julia and the boys went to Montana for a week while Julia and I had girl time. Julia's surgery is fast approaching us and we are all getting a little anxious. She is battling yet another ear infection along with RSV this past week. She is getting better every day and all we hope and pray for is she is healthy for her surgery.
She has started to crawl and wants to stand all the time. She is very curious of everything going on around her and she loves her big brothers more than I can say. I will keep everyone up to date once her surgery is over.

Craniofacial team appointment

Well..where to begin? Julia had her first craniofacial team meeting today and Lee and I think it went pretty well. Dr. van Aalst, her plastic surgeon, is very pleased with how her lip is healing and so are we. He spoke with us about her upcoming palate surgery and what to expect. She will be in the hospital for atleast one night and will keep those wonderful "no-no's" on for 2 weeks!!! The recovery for the surgery is going to be a challenge for a 10 month old. No bottles and she can't have anything thicker than stage 2 baby food for a month. Oh well..... we will deal with it! Next we spoke with a social worker and she was wonderful. She gave us some wonderful information to help us get Julia off of the bottle before her palate surgery, which she must be off or the surgery will not happen. Then we saw speech and they said they would re-evaluate her after her surgery to see what type of therapy she will need. We also saw an oral maxillofacial surgeon and we will not need a bone graph until she is around 6 years of age. She saw a pediatric dentist and they just looked in her mouth.....they didn't say much. We also met with ENT and went over her recent ear infections and we all agreed that she needs tubes. They will put those in when she has her palate surgery in Feb. The doctor informed us that she may need 2 or 3 sets of tubes, we will just have to wait and see. We are all a little tired, but I think she did GREAT! We will keep you updated on her progress. Happy Holidays!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Just a few pictures of Julia and her brothers!

We have had a lot of first over the last month!  Julia is a mover!!! If she wants to get somewhere she just rolls until she gets there.  She has started to enjoy baby food... as you can see probably too much.  She weighed 20 pounds about 2 weeks ago... she is healthy.  She had her picture taken with her first pumpkin, had to wear a hat because it was cold, and has gone to her first UNC Tarheel game!!  We kinda like UNC.... that is where she has her surgeries.  Until next time....

Is she cute or what?

Julia had her one month follow up appointment with her surgeon today and I think it went pretty good.  We are to start massaging the lip 5 times a day to help with the scar.  And as you can imagine, she is not to fond of it.  Dr. van Aalst looked in her mouth again today and I could actually see the cleft in her palate.  The palate is open with a thin layer that is covering the opening in her palate.  So, we are a go for Feb 18 for her palate surgery.  It was an up down day with emotions.  I was excited to hear that her lip looks exactly what the doctor expected, but then went down hill talking about another surgery in Feb and possibly another one when she is 4 ( a lip revision) and then her bone graft when she is 6 or so.  4 surgeries before she is 7 years old! That is just a little hard to swallow today.  But then you look at her and just smile:)  She is gift to us from God and I thank Him everyday for all of my blessings... Lee, Connor, Zachary, and Julia. Until next time...  

Everyday is something new....

In the past week Miss Julia has decided to laugh out loud and roll over.  It is so exhausting learning all of these new things.  She is changing so much everyday and I still look at her in amazement that she is mine.  She smiles all of the time, but she smiles the most at her big brothers!!  I am including two pics from before and after her surgery so everyone can really see the difference since her surgery.  Take care and until next time...

New and exciting things!!!

Julia had her 4 month check up Friday and little Miss is 16lbs and 24.5 inches long.  I guess "little" is not the word to use.  The doctor said we could start some solids, so we tried green beans, which she loved.  Next we tried applesauce which was a NO WAY!!  Maybe she will be my good eater-

Until next time.....