Friday, June 20, 2008

Lots of good news!!! (and lots of pics)




















Well, as you can see, we had a photo shoot!! It was a surprise for Darrell for his Father's Day gift. We did them at JCPenney's, and I was really happy with how they turned out. I won't ever take them all to get pics done by myself again, however, as it was NOT fun for me!!! It was a very long, challenging process, and I had a killer migraine by the time we got home. But it was worth it in the end...great results!


The girls had their 6-month (well, almost 6-months) follow-up appt at the NICU last week. I am pleased to report that they are both right on target developmentally for their adjusted age (how old they would be if they had come on their due date, which was Feb 5). They gave us some exercises to do with them to encourage specific skills/reflexes to develop, and to help Mackenzie's muscles stretch out. They said Mackenzie's tight muscles could just be due to prematurity, and that it would be too early to know if it were being caused by neurological problems anyway. Makayla weighed 13 lbs, 13 oz, and Mackenzie weighed 8 lbs, 13 oz. Everyone was just amazed at how strong and spunky Mackenzie is, and how cute both of them are.


Mackenzie had an appt with the cleft team today. She weighed 9 lbs, 4 oz (woo hoo!!!). They will call us in 4 weeks with a date for her surgery, which they will schedule for August or September. The first surgery will be for her lip repair and removal of her ear tags, and she'll be in the hospital for 2 days. It'll be done at Kaiser in Fontana. They said they won't repair her palate until she's at LEAST 18 months old, due to her growth problems. Ugh. My concern with that is that the longer her palate is not repaired, the more speech difficulties she'll have and the more speech therapy she'll need. But we'll just take it all as it comes.

Makayla started eating solid foods a week ago, and is doing great. She's still got some tongue thrust action going on, so I have to kind of hold the spoon in her mouth so she can suck the food off and swallow, otherwise she spits a good portion of it back out, but she loves it. She opens her mouth and begs like a little birdie!! She's tried bananas, squash, pears, and oatmeal, and has enjoyed all of them. Her GI system is trying to adjust - we're having some poop issues...struggling a bit. So foreign to me - never had this issue with Anthony!! LOL The food is helping her sleep longer, too - hallelujah!!! Last night, I fed her some oatmeal late - like 9:00 - and then nursed her, then put her to sleep at 9:30, and she didn't wake up to nurse until 3:00 a.m.!!! Unheard of!!!! This is my "every 2 hours like clockwork" baby!! So I repeated that tonight in the hopes that it will happen again!!


Anthony, not to be outdone by his sisters, is FINALLY potty training!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh happy day!!!! Oh happy day!!!! Can you hear the choirs of angels singing? Oh wait, that's just me singing!!! We started in earnest 2 days ago, and he's already earned 20 pee stickers (which equals 2 pee prizes) and 2 poop stickers - the first of which earned him a Lightening McQueen cake (you know, from the movie Cars?). This was a monumental occasion, as he has been scared, for some unknown reason, to poop in the potty for MONTHS - nay, a year - and last night, finally, he did it. And this morning, a repeat performance!! So, to WalMart we went, and put in an order for a chocolate cake decorated with Lightening McQueen, to be picked up tomorrow morning! And when he gets 5 poop stickers, he gets to go to the Children's Discovery Museum with mom. Just mom. No babies. Oh happy day!!!! I better start calling around to find a babysitter!!!!


And finally, last, but not least (well, kind of, b/c certainly my kids are most important to me!!), we closed on our new house last night, so on Wednesday, we will be handed the keys to our new house!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (They don't give you the keys until it records with the county assessor's office, which apparently takes several days.) So this weekend, we'll be making a trip to Home Depot to start looking at paint colors, AND we'll be doing some major packing!! Let the fun begin!!


See? I told you - LOTS of good news!!!!

6 comments:

joannabug said...

Beautiful pictures!!

Your kids are all gorgeous.

BTW, I was born with a cleft palate. It's amazing to me how many more resources there are for parents during the last 30 years. I don't have any speech impediments, and no one knows that I had a CP unless I tell them.

Your kids have grown so much since the last time I peeked on your blog!

Joanna (lurking from twinstuff)

dcarlson said...

What great pictures! I love the updates you are all doing so well.
Milestones all around. Congrats on
everything! Growth! Potty training! New HOUSE! Wowwowowowowo!
What a beautiful and blessed family you are!
Darcy

Ms. Perky said...

I love the pictures! Good luck with the surgery. Hooray for potty training! :)

Bethena96 said...

Jenny. I have some clothes that might fit your girls. Send me an email with your address so I can send them to you. My email is vmalleykids@yahoo.
VAL

.:Heather:. said...

Love the pictures! Such a good father's day gift!

Fowler family said...

Hi Jen,

My name is Anna. I came across your blog tonight and wanted to tell you your kids are absolutely beautiful. I have 2 little boys who were both born with cleft lip and palate like your Mackenzie. You can check them out at my blog if you want (www.fowlerfam.blogspot.com). They are pretty handsome little dudes. :)

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