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!