Countdown to surgery

Last week we went to the plastic surgeon with Eddie to go over the details of the surgery.

She tells us to keep him home from daycare for 10 days before the surgery to avoid him

catching a cold or worse. If he gets sick, we will have to reschedule the surgery.

We don't send him to daycare because we are bored with him - we have to go to work!

Taking 10 days off, after 2 weeks in China during the summer, just isn't an option for

either of us.

And what about Gwen? Is she supposed to miss 10 days of school just in case some

kid in her second grade class is sick, or has a sick sibling? I guess we better avoid

friends, family, and retail stores too. We'll be the family in the plastic bubble!

We need not have worried about it. The day after the meeting, Eddie was

coughing, sneezing, and dripping green goo from his one nostril.

So we bring him to our peditrician to confirm that he is not able to have surgery.

She confirms and calls the surgeon to reschedule. The surgeon says Eddie can still

have the surgery since it's ONLY A COLD!

Glad we found that out BEFORE one of us lost 10 days of work!

Gwen and Eddie and a blanket

Eddie and Gwen are starting to like each other - well, Eddie always was fascinated by

Gwen, but now she has warmed up to him. It must be hard to have to share mom and

dad's attention when you have been the center of it for six years.

Surgery date is set

The date has been set for Eddie's surgery - Nov. 2nd - the day after Election Day!
It turns out that he never had a hernia, so that's one less procedure that day.

He is now 24 1/2 lbs. and has completely given up the bottle and is learning
to eat chicken nuggets, french fries, and rolls. I want to keep him on baby
food since every meal has a lot of vegetables mixed in.

His sister Gwen is now 7 years old and it is hard to get her to eat more than
a little brocolli, corn or carrots. I may have to put her BACK on baby food
for veggies!

Me and the kids watching TV on a summer night - well, Eddie doesn't really watch TV.

We are still meeting with doctors so Eddie's surgery will probably be early October.
They want him to put on some weight before the surgery since he will be on the mend
for a while and will have to take all food in liquid form.

Photos

Onto baby food!

Eddie is eating baby food now and he is HUNGRY! He has gone
from having two 8 oz. bottles of milk formula and rice cereal to
three to four 8 oz. bottles and three jars of assorted baby food,
and applesauce and yogurt.

His height and head circumfence is on target, but his weight is
low for his age. Considering that we have to put the food into
the sides of his mouth instead of straight onto the tongue, it's
not surprising that he is under weight.

Like they say on Clifford's Puppy Days - "love makes little
things grow" and we determined to keep building up his
muscles and his appetite until he is all caught up.

He is getting more affectionate every day. Now he pulls
my fingers into his mouth to bite them (sometimes pretty
hard!) so he is overcoming his oral adversion. He still is
not comfortable chewing and swallowing solid food - even
tiny bits of fruit in the yogurt - unless we can get it right
to the back of the mouth.

Early Intervention for Eddie

The only type of intervention that a parent wants to hear about - early intervention
for speech and fine motor skills!

Our son Eddie was evaluated this morning and since he has cleft lip AND cleft palate,
he automatically qualifies for early intervention sessions by the county.

He is now in daycare full-time because Daddy has to work on new DC Superhero
MEGOS for Mattel and Eddie is not able to help....yet! He also shows no interest
in action figures or superheroes - he is a car guy. If it has wheels, he loves it.

My dad asked me once "when did you start thinking of your adopted child as your
own?" I told him "The same time you started thinking of me as your child - the
moment they put that baby in your arms and tell you he/she is your responsibility.
That's when they go from a cute kid to being your child, and you swear a silent oath
that this child will be safe and happy."

My father-in-law married a woman with six children after the husband - his best
friend died young. He raised those children as his own. I met my wife - his biological
daughter at age 17 and spent a lot of time at her house. Until someone told me the
history there - I would have sworn they were all biological of his.

Heck, he was a lot more attentive to these grown children - the youngest was 17 -
than most parents I've met. He would run out in the dead of a winter night to
get one of them cigarettes! Well, maybe that was overdoing it.

He showed me that genetic material does not create a bond - love does. He decided
to love those children with all his heart and even his daughter's weird boyfriend.
That taught me more about parenting than anyone save my own parents.