Surgery Date

Melody will have surgery on October 2nd to close her palate and place tubes in her ears. The surgeon said there is a fairly high chance that this will be the first of several palate surgeries for Melody. Her cleft is so large that she is prone to develop fistulas (holes) after the initial repair. He thought the same thing about Julie though, and so far no fistula. Melody's cleft is different than Julie's however. Since Melody does not have a cleft lip, her cleft palate is perfectly centered, leaving very little tissue on either side for the surgeon to utilize. Julie's cleft palate was off-center, providing slightly more tissue on one side of the roof of her mouth.

Oct 2nd is also just a few days before Larry and I are supposed to run the Chicago Marathon on Oct 7th. I guess we'll see what happens. I know for sure that Melody won't be recovered by then, but maybe she'll be well enough to stay with Grandma, who is planning to come to help and visit. Maybe Melody will recover more easily than Julie and we'll all be surprised! I guess we'll find out in a month or so.

Today is a beautiful day outside: sunny with a high of 73. It is so comfortable to be outside and it reminds me of how much I love autumn. I don't want to rush into winter, but I am so excited for it to be fall!

Maybe Not

I think I'm giving up on my blog makeover for now. There's just too much else going on at the moment. Maybe someday I'll have the time to figure it out.

Melody has her first appointment with the plastic surgeon tomorrow. (Incidentally, this means Larry will have to pick Julie up from preschool on his motorcycle! No, he isn't going to drive her home on it...they will hang out at the school until Melody and I can get there with the car.) We should find out more about the doctor's plans to repair Melody's palate, including a surgery time frame. Both girls see the ENT in Sept. They will both need surgery to place tubes in their ears. Melody's palate surgery and ear tube surgery will take place at the same time. Julie will just go in for tube replacement. Her current tubes have fallen out. She will also need a CT scan of her head and neck to make sure that last year's tumor (cholesteatoma) has not grown back. If it has, she will need surgery to remove it again. There's a lot of medical stuff coming up for us this fall.

Melody also had all her Early Intervention evaluations. The most exciting news is that she tests age-appropriate to slightly advanced in her fine motor skills! Her weakest areas are speech and gross motor, so we'll be starting therapy for both of those next month. We are happy to have Julie's former speech therapist coming to work with Melody. She was great and we get along well.

Julie went to preschool again today, but this time Larry did not walk her into class. Instead, we said goodbye at the curb and let the aide walk her in. It nearly broke my heart to drive away as she was crying, but she must have settled down because I never got a phone call. She seemed fine the rest of the day, which reassures me as well. We weren't able to leave her in Sunday School at church this past weekend, but I guess it's really quite a different scenario. I can see now how her preschool is really set up to address the challenges of special needs children. At this point, she needs the extra support to function.

And now for a few pictures...







Julie helping Daddy give Melody a bottle:


Giving Melody a sweet kiss:


Shopping at Costco after church, wearing nearly matching dresses. Unlike most of the girls' matching clothes, these dresses came to us from two different sources at two separate times. They look like they belong together though!


Julie's new favorite place to sleep: on the floor with her pillow directly over the floor vent.


New look: headband! I'm not sure why her hair looks so high in this picture; it didn't seem that way at the time.

Under Construction

As you can see, my blog is undergoing some changes. I really have no idea what I'm doing, but I am tired of my old look. I basically know what I want, but I'm not sure how to accomplish it. If you know of any good "blog makeover tutorials" out there, I'd much appreciate the info!

Scrapbooking

I've been interested in digital scrapbooking for quite a while, but I never have time to play with it. Tonight I sat down and attempted to make a page. What do you think? (Click to enlarge.)

Friday

Let me begin by saying "thank you" for the wonderfully encouraging comments that many of you left for me regarding Julie and preschool. I didn't actually realize they were there until late last night. For some reason, Blogger didn't email them to me as usual. My settings are still the same, so I have no idea why. I hope the problem is fixed now, whatever it was!

Julie did very well on her first two days of preschool. The second day she cried for about 5 minutes. She cried again when I picked her up, but not for long. It seems like the transitions are the hardest. Today would have been her third day at school, but the district is closed as a result of bad storms that came through last night. Power is out and trees are down (we still have power, thankfully!). I am looking forward to a relaxed day at home with my girls. Maybe Julie will be less hyper than she has been the last two days. Perhaps it's all the stimulation or maybe it's the change in routine, but she has been bouncing off the walls after school each day. She wouldn't nap yesterday, which was fine until about 5:30 in the evening when everything went haywire. All in all, I think we've made the right decision to try school, even if it is breaking my heart to let go. It seems like Julie is already understanding and expressing more, which is amazing. The same thing happened as a result of our trip to China. I guess a certain amount of "stress" pushes a person to grow and develop, kind of like my muscles respond when I run. In a way, preschool is Julie's "training" for the marathon that is the rest of her life. She has come so far already and I trust she will surprise us all with her progress this year.

In other news, Julie went #2 in her potty yesterday! I was so proud that I took a picture and emailed it to Larry at work. I'll spare you the photo, but trust me, it's worthy of a mother's pride.

Here are some other (non-potty) pictures from our day.

Julie has learned to love the quintessential trademark of summer, FlavorIce. I love how she goes cross-eyed trying to suck up all the juice.




This was Melody's reaction when I gave her a taste!


Julie is inexorably drawn to riding Melody like a horsey. Melody is pretty tolerant, at least for a minute or so!


Julie and her special friend from next door had a fun time laughing and playing.

Nerves!

Julie is at preschool, Melody is napping and I am a bundle of nerves. I just keep staring at my cell phone, wondering if it is going to ring. Julie did really well at drop-off this morning and didn't even shed a tear (unlike me!). Larry got out of the car and "helped" the aide walk her into the building. We'll probably do that for a few days until she seems ready to go with the aide directly from the car. They said "good bye" and Julie seemed fine! I hope she is still having a good time. I trust God to protect her and help her, but it is still hard to let go.

Here she is, all ready to go!



We had a smaller backpack for her, but the school wanted one with a "large" zippered opening that could fit a standard folder. Hence, we ended up with a regular kid backpack that practically comes down to her knees!


One other thing...Julie's teacher's name is Miss Diana, which Julie pronounces "Dinana." Too cute!

Meet The Teacher

This morning we went to Julie's preschool for "Meet The Teacher" day. We have really been struggling with whether to send Julie to preschool at all, and we were hoping today would help us make the decision. I think we both left the school reassured. The main factor for us is Julie's attachment problems weighed against her developmental delays. It has been hard to know what she needs more: the security of being at home with her family or the help she would get at the school. In it's favor, the school is truly excellent. I have spoken to many parents who have sent children there and not one has a single bad thing to say. In fact, every one has been thrilled to pieces with Jefferson Preschool. That is really an amazing thing if you think about it. It's still very difficult for me to think of letting go of Julie for 10 hours a week, but at this point we're going to give it a try. She will be in a class of 7 children, all special ed. There will be 4 adults in the room 2 of the days, and 5 adults in the room on the other 2 days. That's a pretty impressive ratio. Julie will receive speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy throughout the week. Her class goes to the library on Wednesdays and has a cooking lesson on Thursdays. Her teacher and therapists will be in daily contact via email. If it isn't working after a week or two, we will reassess. I keep reminding myself that this isn't a permanent decision. Still, this is not the vision I had of raising my children. I guess that vision is going to change a lot as fantasy meets reality. I still hope to homeschool someday though. I guess we'll see.

On the potty front, Julie peed in her potty THREE times today! At school, she easily located the potty chair in her classroom and dragged it out for all to see. Back at home, she had one accident on the floor, but I think she was tripped up by the fact that she had underwear on. When she's naked, she seems to be much more aware of when she needs to go. As soon as she has any kind of clothing on, I think she unconsciously reverts to diaper behavior. She did realize the difference once the pee was running down her legs though. She then exclaimed "potty!" and started looking around for it. She went to it and sat down, which I thought was great, even if it was after the fact. So much is going on for her right now, between switching beds, learning the potty and starting school. Wow!

Melody is all messed up today because of the strange morning schedule. I guess that is another thing we'll need to figure out all over again. I'd better go help her get back to sleep if possible....

Potty News

I think we reached a potty milestone today. As you know, Julie has been going through the motions for quite some time, but without seeming to understand the crucial step of actually "going." A friend recommended a book on the subject, which I got out of the library and quickly read. Friday afternoon I started a concentrated attempt at implementing the strategies it suggested. By the end of the day, I'd cleaned a lot of pee off the floor and it seemed like we were no closer to the goal. Looking back, I realize that's not entirely true. Julie did manage to learn the M&M reward system I'd set up...the girl likes her chocolate! Then we went to Michigan for the weekend, so no potty stuff for us. I wasn't necessarily going to work on it today, but this afternoon presented its own opportunity after Julie drank quite a bit of juice and water. I figured "why not try?" Knowing Julie and the way she learns, I was convinced that if she could "get it" just one time, she would connect the dots for good. I watched her closely and, amazingly, discerned that she was about to go. I helped her onto her potty and she started to pee! Larry was home at the time and we were both ecstatic! Julie was pretty excited too. She giggled and watched the pee pee with delight. She's been asking the pee pee to come out for days, but it hasn't complied until today. She even put her hands in it, which I hear is very normal. She also thought it was big fun to use toilet paper, flush the toilet, and wash her hands. Then she got 3 M&M's as a reward. What an exciting time!

But it gets better...

We kept her pants off as she continued to play in the living room. Can you guess where this is going? In the midst of playing, Julie actually stopped, ran to the potty, sat down and peed again! We were in disbelief but so excited! SHE GETS IT!!!!! SHE UNDERSTANDS!!! This is what has been missing up until now. Until today, I didn't even know if she knew when she had to pee or if she truly had the bladder control to use the potty. Now I know and the answer is YES! And just to confirm it, she peed in the potty yet AGAIN tonight, all on her own. We weren't even in the room with her! She called out "pee pee" and we thought she was just trying to get more M&M's. When we went to look in the potty, however, it did indeed have pee in it! I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, but for now I am on potty-cloud-nine. I am so proud of Julie, I could burst. My little girl is growing up! (Can you believe she turned 38 months old yesterday?)

I Love This Little Face

And here are my two sweeties having a "sharing moment." Melody is actually the culprit in this shot. She leaned over and handed the marker to Julie, but then she wouldn't let go! That's my little Twerpitz! (Thanks Grandma for the fitting term of endearment!)

Our Baby Is Growing!

Melody went to the doctor for her first physical last week. We had been there two weeks before to take care of her ear infections, but this was the first "real" visit. In the two weeks between visits, she gained more than a pound! When we first came home she weighed 15 pounds, 9 ounces. Two weeks later she weighed 16 pounds, 14 ounces! She is actually "on" the growth chart, albeit on the bottom. Julie only weighs about 26.5 pounds, so only 10 pounds difference!

As a result of the doctor visit, I had the lovely task of sampling Melody's poo from a fresh diaper and mixing it into these little vials. We dropped that off at the lab last week. I was also hoping to fill her bloodwork order at that time, but they wouldn't do it because I had Julie with me too. So, this morning Julie went to work with Daddy while I took Melody to get blood drawn. They needed 3 large vials and 2 medium vials to do all the tests the doctor ordered, poor baby! Amazingly, she didn't cry at all until the very end. She squirmed because she didn't like being held down (on my lap), but she was really so good! I told the tech that she did better than her Daddy would do in the same situation (which is true...he gets lightheaded and such). Melody even smiled a little at the tech during the draw! The little bit of crying came when the tech had to switch to the other arm to fill the last vial. I don't blame her! I am truly amazed at this little girl. I so clearly remember taking Julie to get her blood drawn after she first came home. It was in the same room we were in today. Julie began screaming bloody murder when they tied the rubber thing around her arm and she didn't stop. In fact, we had to take a break in the middle to get her to stop hyperventilating. We were all sweating profusely by the time it was all over. None of that today! Maybe Melody will become less tolerant over time, who knows. For now though, I am going to enjoy it!

Potty Bear

Julie's interest in all things potty continues full force. The only thing she hasn't figured out is how to actually "go" in the potty. Other than that, she can do the rest of the process pretty much on her own. She loves her "biggirlunderwear" and her potty chair. Yesterday I guess she thought she'd share her love of the potty with her teddy bear. In the few minutes it took me to put Melody down for her nap, here is what Julie decided to do. I was tempted to be upset, but it was just too funny, so I chose to laugh instead. If you listen carefully, you'll hear her say "wipe bottom" toward the end of the clip (her speech isn't that clear, but the "wipe" part is recognizable).



Here's a still shot of the incident. Grandma, will this be your new desktop wallpaper?!?!



For those of you wondering about sleep issues, we're still working on it. I figured you were all tired of hearing the gory details all the time (although I almost posted at 1AM the other day). We're all sick again, so that doesn't help. Plus, Julie is supposed to start preschool on the 22nd, so we anticipate more disruptions across the board. We'd certainly appreciate your prayers!

Weekend Pics

Big girl can finally wear a ponytail!


Little girl is as cute as ever.


Scrunchy face!


Almost a profile:


Up close and personal!


Riding the BIG rocking doggy at our friends' house.


Sisters riding together.


It's even more fun riding on top of each other!

Melody Laughs!

I think I've mentioned that we haven't heard much laughter out of Melody yet. Well, Larry managed to elicit some very cute giggles today! I can't quite describe what a wonderful sound it is to me. Here she is...

Evil Eye Buddies

My friend April posted a striking "evil eye" picture of her cutie on her blog. Click here to check it out! Maybe we should get our little ones together and let them fight it out for the "world's cutest evil eye" title! Melody's version is two posts below this one, in case you just have to look again. They are both so precious!

She's Trying to Kill Me

Julie, that is. Let's see...

8PM: bedtime. tantrum. climbing out of crib. more tantrum.
9PM: decides tantrum is not working. starts playing.
10PM: all quiet. we go to bed.
12AM: crying. culprit discovered diaperless, lying on floor surrounded by copious number of wipes that she so expertly removed from their pop-top container. big wet spot of pee on the carpet. joins us in bed.
12:30AM: Larry hits the couch. one of us has to be up to run 10 miles at 7AM.
1AM, 2AM, 3AM: culprit squirms, wiggles, climbs on me. anything but sleep.
3:15AM: Melody starts to stir. I rock culprit in her room. we rock all the way through her sleep CD but sleep doesn't come.
3:45AM: culprit goes into her crib. I lie on the floor. we hold hands.
4AM: culprit starts jabbering out loud. did I say it was playtime? I leave. tantrum.
4:15AM: I join Larry in living room. he decides to go to culprit before all the neighbors awake.
4:20AM: current time. we're all too overtired to fall asleep. Melody will be up in less than 2 hours. fun times.

I can only hope that this is Julie's nighttime version of her two days of terrible behavior after Larry went back to work. I realize that there is a lot to adjust to, but we're trying really hard to keep her schedule the same as it always was. We're also giving her lots of extra attention and love during the day. It's times like these that I wish she were more able to communicate, both receptively and expressively. I try not to focus on her special needs, but sometimes it's hard.

4:24AM: time to rest a little, I hope. good "night"

World's Cutest Evil Eye

See for yourself...

Not One But The Other

Melody is sleeping happily as I type. Julie, however, is having a full-throttle, gasket-blowing tantrum about bedtime that has been going on for an hour now. We've rocked, cuddled and sung, but the only thing she wants is to be out of bed and hanging out with me. To top it off, she has finally discovered how to climb out of her crib, which she can do even while screaming her head off. We started having bedtime issues shortly after coming home from China, but they were minor. Instead of her normal routine by Daddy, she wanted me to rock her before going into her crib. No problem. It seems to have escalated, however, to the point where the mere mention of "time to go upstairs" brings on amazingly violent protests. I'm trying to think of it from her perspective in order to understand where this is coming from. While in China, she slept in our bed each night, which she clearly enjoyed. Since coming home, individual time with me has been a lot less than previously, so I can understand why she wouldn't want it to end at night. But...she still has to go to bed! Maybe it is time to switch to a big girl bed? I've heard that sometimes helps. We might as well, since she can get out of her crib anyway. Not only that, but she can also take off her duct-taped diaper. This morning we found it on the floor and we found Julie sleeping happily in a pee-soaked blanket, sheet and mattress pad. Lord, give us patience because we really need it! Parenting is most certainly not for the faint of heart.

On a lighter note...here is Melody snuggled up with Larry in the recliner. I love how she is tucked in so sweetly.


A friend from my Bible study brought over a huge amount of clothing and supplies for both girls. I was blown away by the generosity of those who contributed to her "campaign" to find things for us. I am even more blown away by my dear friend's efforts. Thank you so much, Heather! The picture below shows just some of the clothes that she brought over in five stuffed garbage bags. She also brought us a wooden high chair, a tandem double stroller and an awesome wire bead toy. She also located an exersaucer for $7 from someone who just had a garage sale, but we didn't need it. Can you believe she asked around at the public pool until she located one? Heather, if you're reading, I want to reiterate that you have the gift of giving, or is it service, or maybe both! In any case, you are a blessing to us and many others!


One of the items in the bags of clothes was this costume. Julie had to put it on, of course. So what if it is labeled 12 months (which I think is obviously wrong, but my opinion on the inaccuracies of children's clothing sizes is material for another post)!


Here are the girls playing with the wire bead toy. They love it!