Thursday, March 26, 2015

Post Op Palate Surgery 3 Week Appointment

I'm going to go ahead and warn you... There are lots of pictures ahead and they all include eating!



The post op appointment went well.   We had a late appointment (which we hope to do again), so we were able to have lunch before going to the hospital.   FL was thrilled to be eating soft bread with cheese and meat ALL BY HERSELF!    We figured she'd be released from most of her food restrictions (we ended up imposing more than our surgeon did) so we let her do this a little early to celebrate!
The appointment actually went quickly this time.  I didn't have time to take pictures because we kept moving the whole time.  Audiology did not want to run a hearing test (one of the tubes looked "off") so we will do that in 6 months.  The ENT thought that everything looked ok.  One of her tubes was slightly turned, but he wasn't concerned.  FL's cleft surgeon thought everything looked good and told us we should expect to see her begin to experiment with making different sounds soon.  She should also begin enunciating better. 


Post op thoughts/notes:
This was our first day without any pain medication.   We probably gave her ibuprofen too long, but we wanted to be sure she was comfortable.

Giving her any kind of control over her eating made her happy during that last week before post op.  I cut up bananas small and let her feed them to herself (fingers only) as well as eggs and sweet potatoes.  She was so excited!

We are cleared to let her eat with a plastic spoon by herself.  Fruits, soft bread, veggies, soft meat, etc. are good to go as well.  The doctor told her to wait on the crackers.  She was dissapointed, but has totally accepted his answer.  When she asks for them, we ask her what the docotor said.  She holds up her hand and says WAIT in her own little way. : )


Long and short pieces of suture that are dissolving are hanging down in her mouth.  We've cut a few, but one way back in her throat was bothering her.  I really didn't feel comfortable sticking scissors back there!!!

For the first time, FL has boogers in her nose! : )

Her mouth still stinks a little...  Kind of like a poot.  

She is singing and making silly noises more. : )

She is not making a lot of new sounds yet, nor is her pronunciation significantly better, but we are not concerned and have our first speech therapy appointment in April. 

She still has a hole a little smaller than the size of a dime in her gumline and part of the roof of her mouth that connects to it.  This is totally normal.  It will be corrected when she has her bone graft in a few years.

Food comes out of the side of her nose that the hole is on.   You should have seen the mess she sneezed out today!

As of right now, we are not cleaning out her nose other than teaching her to blow it and wiping the nostril area.

The area where the donor tissue was taken from is almost completely filled in - it is so amazing how the body heals itself!  It is so amazing that she has a palate!

She is super happy. : )


After a nap on the way home, we swung by Toys R Us, picked up an indoor children's trampoline (great for sensory, balance, energy outlet, etc) and had dinner and ice cream together as a family.  This was the first time FL was able to feed herself with a spoon and eat noodles since surgery.  She was thrilled!  It was a big moment for her and for us!


Her sister was happy for her, too!


Yay!  She loves it!
Here's the play by play:


I can't explain how excited she was to have her feeding independence back and to be able to take big bites without it squishing through her nose!  Just think, four months ago she was eating nothing but one bowl of rice cereal and five bottles of formula a day and now she is eating EVERYTHING and eating it well (with an adoring mama taking pictures of her nonstop!)!


You know we had to have the free ice cream (and no, this was not hers!)!


FL had chocolate ice cream - chocolate is hands-down her favorite!


Not to be left out, c had ice cream, too!  They both don't love the cold aspect of ice cream, so I make them Ice Cream Soup.  I just stir it really well and let it melt a little.  If we are at home I'll put it in the microwave for a few seconds.  This, they love! : )


I had such a wonderful day with my little family!  I love you all!

 I am so blessed.  That thought is not lost to me.

 Somebody pinch me! : ) 

Life seems so sweet right now!

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Happy Match Day, Flora Lin!

On March 19, 2014, Sam and I recieved the best news two waiting parents could recieve....

Our daughter had been found!  We were going to be the parents blessed by this little girl!


It was the first bright, beautiful spring day we had that year.  And just like the daffodils come up and bloom at a time when you think spring might never come, the news of Florence Joy came.
Joy.


The news of her came in like sunshine, and she is blossoming in the sunshine of a family.


Once I knew about her I went out and bought this sweet little blue and yellow outfit just for her.  Yellow is a special color that makes me think of her.  I hadn't planned for her to wear it on her match day.  It simply, perfectly happened.

Just like the day I first saw her face.

Simply, perfectly beautiful.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Green Week

 Our Theme for the week goes perfectly with the weather down here and the growing grass, trees and weeds!  It is all turning green!  I didn't think that I would have much fun with a simple theme like green, but we had a great week and really enjoyed being outside so much!

Activity 1 -  Find Green and Make an arrangement

My girls don't know all of their colors yet.  Some they get right off of the bat, but green is not one of those (they can almost always pick out orange, black, light pink and white).  The first thing we did was to "find" green outside.  We searched all around the yard looking for green things we could bring inside and admire all week.  The girls did a good job finiding things with help and the final arrangements looked nice on either ends of my mantle piece. : )


Activity 2 - Grow Green!

I have been dreaming about growing things with our girls for a long time!  I love gardens, both flower and vegetable.  I found some leftover seeds from a year or two ago along with some potting soil and figured we'd give it a try! 


The girls helped me pack the wagon with everything we'd need, along with great enthusiasm on FL's part! 


Then they worked together to pull it to the right spot - no easy task when you're 3 and almost 3!


We put rocks and soil in our pots and aerated it a little bit...


C and FL liked poking their fingers in the dirt to make a spot for the seed, putting the seed in, placing more soil on top and giving it a very thorough watering!!!


We can't wait to see what comes up!


At the end, they helped put everything away - teamwork!

Activity 3 - Wear Green!

Our Papa took us out to lunch on St. Patrick's Day!  Dressing up in green and finding green on other people helped my girls get some practice at identifying this color.


Here's FL and I - see?  I really do exist!


Sam and C had to take a selfie, too!


Activity 4 - Cut Green - Shamrocks!

C and FL need lots of practice at cutting.  It is a challenge for both of them and really requires them to think and use those fine motor skills.  I am still doing some hand over hand with this, but they are improving!  I'm proud!


Scout likes to watch us do all of the crazy things we do!  She's enjoying the girls more and more, and they are enjoying her more, too.


See?  Scout is even trying to take over the teaching!!!


I let the girls help me squeeze the glue dots onto the paper.  This was something they could not do at all in the past.  Next time we do this, I'm sure they'll need little to no help! : )


Normally, I am about to pull my hair out after doing these (we've done this kind of activity a lot-cut, dap glue, stick on), but it went so well this time!  Good job, C and FL!

Activity 5 - Green Thumbs!

C and FL used their thumb prints to make leaves for a tree.  That was really too tame for them, so they ended up using thumb and fingers on one hand and eventually both hands.  We make dots fast, and slow, loud and quiet.  I finally got smart and just took their dresses off instead of trying to put a smock over them.  So easy!!!
After the paint dried we added a brown rectangle cut out of construction paper for a trunk.  THey glued it on where ever they wanted - it was funny!


Activity 6 - Mixed Greens!

We took blue paint and yellow paint and went to town mixing it together to make green!


The purpose was not to make anything recognizable, but to get the sensory experience of the paint, to reinforce the color names and just have fun!


Which they did!  FL relaxed with the mess after a while and C enjoys a good mess all of the time!


The Results of 4,5 and 6:


We hang our finished work on a wood frame with chicken wire attached that my Dad made for me.  It has come in SO handy!  It was one of those strange spaces you find in a 1980's ranch style home. The cutout used to have spindles in it.  Now, thanks to my Dad, it is a great space for artwork, Christmas cards and pictures. The girls like to show Sam what they did during the day and we talk about it throughout the week.
At the top are our thumbprint trees, next is the shamrocks, the blurry pieces are the color mixing and our caterpillars from the week before are crawling up!
Another fun week -  Green is Great!

You Know You're Being Raised As A Farm Girl When...

Your Papa carries you around by your overall straps (one of my all time favorite pictures!)...


At two and three years old


you are expert chicken feeders


and know the proper use and pronunciation of the word "broadcasting"


in reference to throwing out chicken scratch!


You are awesome at riding a tricycle down a bumpy, rocky, uneven driveway that's a quarter mile long... 


Your Mama takes you out to feed the horses


and lets you taste the horses' salt and mineral blocks


and you love it!


Playing with a feed bucket full of water and rocks while wearing bug antennae and sparkle pants is totally normal for you...


You know how to move carefully and skillfully around something that's over 1,000 pounds when you are barely 29 pounds! 


You can run and run and run and run...


and run to your heart's content before you ever reach any boundaries.


To you, most days the sunshine, open spaces and opportunities to learn and play seem limitless.


Your Mama lets you feed horses and play in the mud in lacy pink and white dresses without a care or a warning to keep clean.


When it is almost impossible for you to distinguish between work and play.


When life is good and just oh, so sweet.