Aiden's Surgery Time

The quick stats:
No eating after midnight (Lord please help us on this one)
Check-in - 7:00 a.m.
Surgery start - 9:00 a.m.
Length of surgery - about 4 hours
Overnight stay to watch hydration and pain level
Location - Loma Linda Childrens' Hospital
Surgeons - Dr. Martin, plastic surgeon; and Dr. Rowe, ENT
Feelings - CRAZY!!!!!!

"How are you feeling about THE surgery?"

Well, that seems to be the question of the day, week, month. How am I feeling? How would any mom feel when they are about to hand over their baby to have MAJOR surgery? Scared, protective, anxious, afraid, excited, worried, relieved, looking forward to having it over, MANY varying emotions. I know people mean well but sometimes it is hard to continually go through the motions and replay the list of emotions. Because of this awkward moment most people just revert back to the lines.... "Well, they do great things with cleft babies these days." and "they do this ALL the time." and "this could be much worse." Yes, they do great things and yes, they do this all the time and yes it could be MUCH worse; but this is my ONE child and I don't do this ALL the time and yes it could be much worse but this was NOT what I had envisioned for MY child." Sometimes I just want them to acknowledge the feeling(s) and not try and minimize it.

The Many Faces of Aiden

Aiden makes some of THE funniest faces!!! Usually by the time I pull the camera out he stops making the face and just stares at the camera as if to say, "What ya looking at?" Today I was able to catch many different faces before that meltdown happened. Enjoy!

The giggle smile.

The scrunched up nose (one of Nana's favorites)

The shy look, getting ready to meltdown.

The poochie lip, please stop taking my picture look.

Ok, enough already! Come pick me up.

I'm gonna tell dad your not being nice.

THAT'S IT!!!! Major meltdown time!

I could never take too many pictures of my adorable little guy. Hope you enjoyed them. :)

Alexis' Play Date

Today Alexis had her friend Carston over after preschool. They enjoy spending time together and getting to play with each other's toys. They started their play date off with having a tea party (accessories compliments of Nana).

Once they had consumed all the tea in China, they moved on to playing school. They lined up Alexis' stuffed animals and assigned them to groups. It was funny to over hear their conversation, telling the animals to stay in line, play nice with their friends, and many more sayings I am sure they hear each day from their teacher.

Then, they took turns being the Mommy and then the baby. Funny once again to hear her say things that I say all the time.
By this time we needed to walk down to the school to pick up Kaden (Carston's big brother) and Andrew. They decided that while we waited they should make leaf salad with sand dressing. YUM YUM!
They had a great afternoon and are already planning their next play date.

Pre-Op Appointment Update

Today was Aiden's pre-op appointment at Loma Linda University Childrens' Hospital for his surgery next Wed. (Oct. 1st). We had to check in at 8:30 and were finally seen around 9:30. It was pretty simple. They asked a bunch of questions about his health history, took his temp. and blood pressure and then measured him. He was a happy camper the whole time, that is until they decided to prick his finger to check if he is anemic. A little prick, squeeze for blood and then a band aid to make it all feel better.

He is good to go and we now have to just wait until Tues. afternoon to find out our surgery time. They believe it will be first thing in the morning since he is a little guy and they usually take them first so they don't have to wait. I will keep everyone updated as soon as we know a time. I thought I might be anxious today but ended up being very content because this brought us one step closer to surgery day. Not much longer and we will have the first surgery hurdle behind us. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

Who's Sleeping In My Bed?

I woke up this morning with an extra person in my bed. When I looked over it was Aiden snuggled up next to Daddy. I couldn't resist taking a picture.

Once I saw the picture it brought back memories of when I took a picture of Dale with Alexis in bed. She would have been about the same age, maybe a week or two younger. Notice how much they look like each other. So peaceful when they are sleeping.

Future Teacher?

I think Alexis might be following in her Mommy's footsteps. She LOVES to 'teach' Aiden. When she gets home from preschool she loves to sit him down and have school time. She teaches him his ABCs

and reads to him while he listens intently.

He loves his big sister very much and she of course loves feeling like she is in charge.

Look What Aiden Can Do Now!!!

Well, it is official now, Aiden is mobile and the world will never be the same. He started by getting on his hands and knees and rocking back and forth for a few days until he figured out that, even though it was fun, it didn't get him anywhere. So, on Monday he started the army crawl as we call it around here. He digs his toes into the ground, pushes off, and then uses his arms flat on the ground in front of him to pull himself forward. He can get to ANYTHING he wants now and is really enjoying this new found freedom. His favorite 'toy'? The laptop cords! YIKES!! Time to make a quick trip down to Babies R' Us for a few baby proofing items. I am sure the surgery will slow him down for a few days but not for long. Andrew and Alexis are enjoying this new phase as well and like to lure him in with a toy or blanket. I on the other hand am not truly liking this new phase because it means that he is growing up too fast. Such is life and I guess I better just learn to accept it.

Gonna Give It A Go

Well, I have wanted to start a family blog for some time now but just have never gotten around to it. Till now that is. Not sure how active of a blogger I will be but I am going to try my best to keep it updated. Please bear with me as I get used to it all. I wish there was (and maybe there is) a 'Blogging for Dummies' book. Here goes nothing, first post published.