Late Posts - Catch up part 1 of 4

We are so sorry for how long it has been since our last post! As I was reading another friend's blog, I realized how far behind we have fallen (thanks alot Joe, Sarah, Maya and Elliot). Therefore, this will be a week of catch up.

David is doing very well. He continues to grow and is now tipping the scales at almost 16 pounds!

We have all been fighting a cold around here for over 2 weeks. While it is getting kind of old, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky. Some kids at daycare have been really ill. 2 were diagnosed with RSV, 1 had pneumonia, and another was being tested for whooping cough. YUCK!

Other than that, so much has changed and yet everything is surprisingly the same. David can roll from his tummy to his back (sometimes) and is really working hard on rolling from his back to his tummy. As I watched him tonight I noticed that he almost always tries rolling to his left. I wonder if this is an early indicator as to which hand will be dominant?

More posts to come this week, but for now, I will leave you with this pre-Christmas picture of David and Santa.

Post-Thanksgiving Slumber...

Sorry it has been so long that we have updated the blog. Things are going very well, we just seem to be really busy!

Surgery Update: David is doing very well, but he isn't sleeping as well as he did pre-surgery. We think it is amazing how good his lip looks! We are putting a silicon gel on the scar area twice daily to help with the healing, but other than that he is good to go! We have a nice long break from seeing the specialists at Gillette. Our next appointment is in March, when they will start the process for the palate repair surgery.

We had a great Thanksgiving and it was so good to see everyone from both of our families! Although we must admit we were exhausted when we got home! It's amazing how much work it is to travel with an infant! But we were very lucky once again that David traveled so well in the car.

David is back at daycare and he really seems to like it! He started to go on buggy rides with the other kids in his class through the skyways of St. Paul. His teachers say that he loves to look around at all the people! They also called us this week to tell us that he is a genius with sign language! Apparently he was moving his fingers along with the teacher when she was signing the alphabet!

We had a follow-up appointment with the ENT this week, and unfortunately David still hasn't passed his hearing test. His left ear appears to be OK, but they weren't getting a good reading from his right ear. They said that the high frequencies were registering, but not the low or mid-tone frequencies. We'll go back next week to retest, and there will be some additional tests that we can do if this next one isn't conclusive. We know that he definitely hears, but there is a tendency for children with clefts to have some hearing loss. We're hoping for the best and will keep you all posted!

Here is a fun video of David jumping in his Jumperoo. He just loves it, and he can even reach the floor now! Enjoy!

Surgery Day

Well, David cleared another significant hurdle today. Here are the three of us pre-surgery. This picture was taken just before we piled into the car for our next adventure.
This was a difficult day. Although, I'm not sure for whom it was the most painful. Nicole and I (and Grandma Peggy) were filled with concerns before the surgery. As the day progressed toward the big moment we met with each of the individuals who would be working with David thoughout his surgery.

One thing we learned is that everyone at Gillette's seems truly passionate about providing the best possible care for their patients. The other thing we learned is that it is terrifying to watch doctors take your child away for surgery!

Fortunately, it appears that everything went very well. Below are some post-surgery pictures. After some initial discomfort, David is doing very well and is about to fall asleep with Grandma Peggy!

We hope everyone is doing well, and David cannot wait to show all of you his new smile.

PS - the dark mark on the left side of his face is marker, nothing more!

Last Day With a Wide Smile....

It's the day before David's first surgery, and Pete and I are a bundle of nerves. I can't believe how fast this day has arrived....three months have gone so fast! We took David's tape off and retainer out for the last time this morning and have been enjoying his beautiful wide smile all afternoon! It has hit hard that he is going to look different tomorrow, and it is really difficult to remind ourselves that it is for the best. We are pretty much all packed and will be bringing our computer and we will post updates to it from the hospital. We will try to call everyone, but we're not exactly sure how the day will go.

He's scheduled for surgery at 11:45 a.m. We need to arrive at the hospital by 10:15 a.m. They estimate that the entire surgery will take about one and a half hours, including putting the ear tubes in. He should be able to eat right away from his bottle, so that will be nice. He will have dissolvable stitches, covered up by dermabond (like a clear liquid bandage that dries over the stitches) and tape. He will need to wear arm restraints when we're not holding him so that he won't put his hands up by his mouth. We will be in the hospital overnight and should be discharged mid-day on Tuesday. Grandma Peggy is here and will be staying with us until Wednesday which will be a big help!

On a lighter note, David has been having a great time at day care the last two weeks, and I know he'll miss all the fun playtime while he's out! He has been doing everything from learning sign language, tummy time, learning to grasp at toys, attempting to roll over, jumping in the jumperoo.....and painting - yes painting! On Friday he painted with both his hands and his feet - too cute! AND - he is cutting his first tooth, which has led to tons of drooling!

Here's a picture of him jumping in his jumperoo at home. We have it on the shortest level, but he still can't reach the floor. So, we added a little help from the Wii balance board!!!

Here's a fun video of David playing with Daddy and talking up a storm!

Mommy and David snuggling!

David chilling out with Auntie Lindsey and Ricky when they came to visit.

His shirt is drenched from drooling!

First Day of School!

It was David's first day of school today (and Mommy's first day back at work)!

While I have been back at work for awhile now, I must admit that I looked toward today with a certain degree of trepidation. All of the typical questions run through your mind. Will David fit in with the other kids? Will they feed him? Is he safe? Will he behave? Will they take good care of him?

As it turns out, all of the worries seem to be for no apparent reason. We visited David over lunch and he was happy and smiley. When we picked him up, he was tired but cheerful. The instructors in the classroom describe David as calm and cuddly (and so cute!). Here are some pre- school and work pictures.

When we made it home tonight, David had to tell us all about his day. Thought we would share a bit of it with you. Imagine our surprise as the instructors had only told us they worked on sign language and baby aerobics with him today! Make sure you turn up your sound (and remember to click the arrow)!

Happy Halloween!

Hi everyone, wanted to share some Halloween pictures with you!

Here is David and Austin. What a difference a year and a day make!

Happy Fall!

Once again, we have fallen behind on posting to the blog. I can't believe that this week marks the end of October. I am going back to work next week and trying to enjoy every minute of this last week at home with David (and trying to share him with Pete in the evenings!). Every time I think about going back to work and putting him in daycare, I must admit that my heart breaks, but I know that things will be just fine! At least he will be downtown with us and just a short walk to see him for a visit.

We are also less than 3 weeks away from his first surgery (lip repair and ear tubes on November 17). Pete and I are both a little nervous and have been trying to educate ourselves as much as possible in advance. We will have meetings with the pre-op nurses and ENT doctor prior to the surgeries, so that will help with our questions.

I'm aprehensive about how his face will change after the surgery - he's my little boy and I love the way he looks and his gorgeous smile just as it is. Sometimes I feel that we "need" to do the lip surgery just so that he is accepted into society and it seems so unfair - why can't people accept him the way that he is? After all, isn't everyone a little "different" in their own way? Why can't we embrace these differences rather than focusing so much attention on them? I have been comforted by the fact that the lip surgery is not just purely cosmetic - it will help him a great deal with his speech, especially with pronouncing b's, p's and m's. And, I know that his smile will continue to melt my heart forever :)

Here's David without his tape and retainer - so cute!

If anyone is interested in learning more about cleft lip and palates, as well as the surgeries, we have posted a few websites on the left toolbar. One is for Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare, where he is receiving treatment. Another is for the Cleft Palate Foundation, with links to many different resources and brochures. The last link is for Wide Smiles, a website from the perspective of parents of children with clefts.

On a lighter note, here are a bunch of photos from the past two weeks! David and I spent some time in Grand Forks with Grandma and Grandpa Dohn, while Pete had a work trip to New York. We all then spent the weekend in Eureka with Great-Grandma Martha. We had such a fun time and were also able to spend time with Rachelle, Rob and Dylan and other family in the area. Enjoy the photos!

Having fun playing at Grandma and Grandpa's House, aka Camp David!

Sitting in a "Big Boy" chair with Dylan!

Snuggling with Great-Grandma Martha!

Bigger and Bigger!

David continues to keep growing! He amazes us every day with his smiles, giggles, funny faces, strengthening his neck muscles, and even working his leg muscles by holding his weight up for a bit! And, he makes us very happy by sleeping anywhere from 7-10 hours straight through the night - we are VERY spoiled! We just can't keep up with the blog for some reason, so here's another snap shot of the past few weeks. Enjoy!

Two weekends ago, Grandpa Dave and Grandma Peggy came to visit, along with Windsor! We had a fun weekend and went to Stillwater and then tried to go to the Apple Orchard but didn't want to stand in the extremely long line that had formed on a beautiful fall day. We hung around our house on Sunday and David and Windsor had a good time together! OK, so did Grandpa and I, having David ride Windsor like a horse!



We bundled David up for a walk this past week. He's not too keen of his stroller yet but he does like to ride in his front carrier with Dad! We went down a little nature trail by our house and David kept his eyes open so wide the entire time looking at all the trees and everything else around him! Hopefully we'll have a few more mild days yet this year!



David has been enjoying Tummy Time lately and has started to really lift his head up high! He usually has a long string of drool that extends from his mouth to the quilt. We need to start putting bibs on him during the day time because he has become quite the drooler!



He also likes to sit up in his infant chair. It has a higher back on it to support his neck, but he thinks he is big enough to hold his head up on his own most of the time! Here he is enjoying time with Dad!

Here's a fun video of him playing in the chair!

We had an appointment at Gillette today and will have 2 more before his lip surgery which is scheduled for November 17. The orthodonist is very happy with his progress and expressed her optimism for a good repair of the lip during surgery. David will also have ear tubes put in at the same time in November. We just finished a 10-day dose of amoxicillin from his first ear infection. Hopefully the tubes will help to drain the fluid that is in his ears - because he has a cleft palate, he doesn't have the muscles to drain the eustation tubes properly which causes ear infections.

We also stopped by his daycare today to touch base with them about his start date, surgery time, special needs with feeding, etc. The directors and teachers in the Infant room seemed very comfortable with everything which made me very relieved. I also spent about 45 minutes in the room with David getting to know the teachers and the routines for handling the infants, and I have to say that I was very happy with everything! It made me feel better about going back to work.....but I can't believe that I have less than 3 weeks left of leave. It will be so great to have David at daycare in my building downtown - at least we'll be able to stop in whenever we can to visit him. I have a feeling I will be there a lot :)

Weeks 6-8

It has been so long since we have made a post! So much has happened! Grandpa Allan came to visit in September.
We have been working with David on play time. It is going very well.
David continues to get bigger and bigger. We had his two month well check on October 3rd. He is now 10 lbs 5 oz! We finally made the double digits! Way to go David!

We have been practicing using our core muscles. He can't sit up on his own, but it is so fun to see how much better he can control his head.
We also have him practicing flirting. It's never to early!

Finally, David has been working on talking. Hope you enjoy the video. Remember, you have to click play and you might want to turn up the volume!

All Smiles!

David has been practicing his "social smile" this week! It is so absolutely adorable! He seems to smile more for Pete in the evenings, but it is really fun when he smiles for me - it totally catches me off guard and I just think....I can't believe how big he is getting!

Here's a video of him smiling and playing. (Grandma Peggy - press the arrow on the bottom left - ha, ha!!!).

Here's another cute photo. David was snuggling with the lamb rattle that Jessie and Eric got him. Well, actually, he started out by gnawing on the lamb's ear and then fell asleep with it still in his arms. I guess we know he won't be a vegetarian :)

We are spending the weekend and home and Grandpa Allan is here to visit. David will be 6 weeks on Saturday - can you believe it? Have a great weekend everyone!

Kicking it

Nicole captured some fun footage of David playing. Hope you enjoy! Seems like he is growing so fast...

Camp David and Much More!

Well, we are back from a week at Grandma & Grandpa's house and we had a great time! David and I completely took over the house - we called it "Camp David"! It's amazing how much stuff a little baby can have! My dad thought I was crazy when he saw how much stuff I wanted to take, but luckily it all fit in their Yukon.....and we still managed to all have a place to sit! Better yet....it all fit back in our Saturn on the way home - including room for Pete's golf clubs!

David did so well on the road trip - we are very lucky that he is such a good car traveler! Pete came up on Thursday night and we were all able to visit with lots of relatives. David got to meet Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Rachelle, Uncle Rob, Cousin Dylan, Grandpa Allan and Aunt Jackie! We had such a nice time, and David really enjoyed being spoiled! We did too - my parents were such a big help with David :)

We are back at home and still trying to figure out a routine and schedule. We had a doctor appointment at Gillette today and all the doctors were very pleased with his progress! We can now see the orthodontist every 2 weeks rather than every week. And, the CNP was very happy with David's weight gain - he is almost 9 pounds! We are feeling it when we carry his car seat :)

It is so hard to believe that David is 1 month old! It is so fun to watch him grow - his long monkey arms and legs paired with a skinny torso are causing some wardrobe issues. His sleeves are all 3/4 length and his legs stretch all his one piece outfits! I never thought I would need to be so picky when purchasing an infant's wardrobe! At least all his outfits are blue now :)

Enjoy the photos!

Days 21-23

So much to talk about!

David turned 3 weeks old, and Grandma Peggy and Grandpa David came to celebrate!

As a special treat, we gave David his first big boy bath in the tub. Surprisingly, he actually seemed to like it and cried less than when we give him a sponge bath.

David is doing great. He is eating well, and while we do not yet have a "schedule", a feeling of normalcy is beginning to enter our lives. Here is David on the verge of a milk induced coma.

Since David is flourishing, Nicole took the opportunity to travel to Grand Forks this week. This is the first time I have been away from David (not including work) since he has been born. How strange to think that he is only 3 weeks old. The house always seems so much more like a home when he is here.

I miss Nicole and David very much, but I am very excited that he will be able to able to meet even more friends and family this week and next weekend! Hope everyone is doing well!

Days 17-20

It is so hard to imagine that David is almost 3 weeks old. Everything with David's doctor visits are going so well, and this week David was able to go on his first date! (Sorry Joe, but I am proud of David for hanging out with "older" girls!)
Sarah was nice enough to bring over Maya and Elliot for a play date. David is such a lucky kid.

Hopefully I can be home the next time they come over! I miss hanging out with Maya and Elli.

We have spent so much time talking about changes in our life, but I sometimes wonder what our cat thinks about everything going on around her. Phoebe has always been skittish around new people. Whenever friends with children would visit, she would disappear. So far, she seems to be adjusting well. Phoebe does venture out from time to time. While she is not yet snuggling with David, she is at least cautiously interested in him. As of this week she even dares be in the same room with him when he is crying.

I wonder how much she understands what is going on around her? Cats do tend to be selfish creatures, but knowing how her personality can change depending on who is in our house I have to believe that she has some sense of family. Hopefully with time Phoebe will adopt David as part of our family.

2 1/2 Weeks!

Can you believe it? David is two and a half weeks old! Pete and I keep commenting that we can't believe that we have been parents for this long already.....but on the other hand, it seems like we have been parents forever! David is doing so great - he's developing a little personality of his own! We're getting used to all his actions, what his cries mean, and we keep laughing at all the funny little sounds he makes!

We had a fun weekend with Shane, Melinda, Savannah and Elias who made the trip to the Cities to see the new little one. We had lots of fun visiting and passing David around for everyone to hold! David enjoyed spending time with everyone!

It's week #2 for Pete back at work and I'm still trying to get into a groove with our daytime routines! I really don't plan for anything - I just basically go off of his schedule. It's nice when Pete gets home from work because all he wants to do is snuggle with David, so I actually have some time to do things with both hands!

David's doctor appointments have been going really well. He had his 2-week well check with the pediatrician on Friday and we were so happy that he had gotten back up to his birth weight - in fact, he surpassed it at 7 lbs 8 oz. Today at Gillette, he weighed 7 lbs, 13 oz! 8 pounds, here we come! And, David left his mark at Gillette today by peeing on the lady taking his height and weight! Serves her right for making him get completely naked in a freezing cold room! She didn't seem to mind and actually made the comment that all the babies were peeing on her :)

We're hoping to visit with Gina and Carson and Sarah, Maya and Elliott this week. Then, my parents are coming up for Labor Day weekend for some good snuggle time with David!

Enjoy the new photos!