Calli's Second Birthday!

I just realized I never posted about Calli's birthday on this blog! Here is the original post from her and Cooper's combined birthday party.

 

Cooper has been so excited "for August 31st." She has been saying the date of her birthday for a couple of months now and it's so cute the way she says it. I have it on video somewhere. We figured Calli would be happy with whatever Cooper picked for the birthday party, so a couple of months ago I asked Cooper what she would like. She has been obsessed with school buses for awhile now, so she immediately said she wanted a school bus party! So funny. So, I looked around online and, turns out, there have been lots of people that have had school bus parties - except all the ones I saw were for boys. Oh well. Our little Cooper loves school buses. So that's what we did!

We love that it's in summer, and that we get to have a swimming party outside. We just can't ever plan on that in February for Kendall's birthdays. So we planned on a splash party, in the front yard, on their actual birthday, August 31st.

This was my favorite part. Randy and I have been working on it for several weeks now, trying to get most of it ready before Calli's surgery a couple of weeks ago. We made it out of foam insulation board, and it was perfect for kids to take pictures behind!

 Cooper originally was saying that everyone should wear yellow to her school bus party, so Granny bought the girls bright yellow swimsuits. They were adorable!

We had lots of family drive all the way down for the party! Pops and Kiki, Great Granny and Aunt Auggie came down and stayed in a beach house all weekend, Granny and Papas came, and Gigi and Peeps brought Aunt Val and Dohe, Gracie, Evy and Oliver. Randy's two aunts also came, Kathy and Brenda, along with Brenda's husband Wayne, and his cousins Kaity, Keelie, Emily, Kyle and their three, Maelie, Lorelai and Laine. We had lots of family here and it was so fun!

Lots of sweet friends came, too, to help us celebrate! We are so thankful for the awesome community God has placed us in and we love all our friends so much! 

I loved the school bus cakes the girls had! Cooper was so very excited about these. We even had cupcakes with stop signs on them, which is her other very special thing!

 We sang Happy Birthday to the girls separately. Cooper was pretty shy, but Calli just sat and looked around at everyone, taking it all in. Sweet girl - we loved celebrating her first birthday with us!!

 

 

Cooper was pretty excited about opening presents this year. Calli even got into it a little bit!

 Our sweet friends, Amber and Garrett let us borrow their awesome water slide for the party! It was perfect for the age of the kids we had and they just loved it.  

When the party was over, Calli asked Granny for a little more cake. Of course!

 

 We love celebrating these girls and having parties! Happy school bus party, Cooper and Calli!!

Palate Surgery

Calli's surgery to close her palate was last Thursday, August 15th. Exactly three months post lip surgery and 4 months after we brought her home.

Our doctor told us to expect this recovery to be much harder. To expect a 3-4 night hospital stay, and that she would be "puny" for about two weeks post surgery. We have been so impressed with how well Calli has done with everything so far, that I think we didn't really believe him. Turns out he was right. We have had a rough week.

Thursday morning we had to be at the hospital at 6:00. Granny came down to LJ on Wednesday, so she was home with the big girls so Randy and I could take Calli. We had a couple of hours in pre-op before they took her back for surgery at 8.

Surgery took about 3 hours, just like Dr. T told us it would. Gigi and Peeps came down and sat with us during surgery, which helped pass the time. I have started sewing Calli's stocking, so that helped keep my hands busy, too! Our ENT put tubes in her ears first, and drained a lot of fluid. It is very common for children with clefts to need tubes because fluid builds up. She'll probably have several sets of tubes over the course of her childhood. It was great to just be able to do it while she was already under for palate surgery. Dr. Roy came out and told us that he was able to place the tubes, that it went fine, but that he drained a ton of fluid and she has "unusually small ear canals." At 11:30, Dr. T came out and said everything went well! Then we had to wait to be told we could go back and see her in recovery - that was the hardest part for me! Knowing she was waking up but hadn't been taken to recovery yet - we just wanted to be with her. I think it was only about 15 minutes until they took us back, but that was the longest wait of the morning.
Here she is with Randy in recovery. She was sleeping much more this time than the previous two procedures. The sweet nurse took her quilt and baby back with her for surgery and when we came in to recovery, we saw that baby even had a bandage. So cute! They put the no-nos on her arms again, just to keep her from sticking her hands in her mouth. We took them off at some point in recovery and never had to put them on her again - thankfully.

Feeding her some juice with a syringe. Sweet baby was so thirsty and I lost count of how many syringes of juice we gave her - more than a dozen.

Her drool was very bloody, so we kept blankets or towels on us most of the first day. After about two hours in recovery, they moved us up to our room and Gigi and Peeps met us up there. She just wanted to sleep/lay on me, and I was so happy to just let her!

 Thursday was just a long day of letting her sleep on and off, and trying to keep her comfortable. She had morphine every hour or so most of that day, and she was on some other kind of pain killer as well. She drank some the first day, but I don't think she ate much. This is how we slept that night - her on my chest and Randy on the couch next to us. We were up every hour or so, but she was at least able to rest some.

Friday morning started around 5:30, so by 8 or so we were ready to get out of the room. There was a very fun play room on our floor, so we carried her down there and played for awhile. Anything to keep her distracted!

She grabbed her cup shortly after surgery and would not let it go the rest of the time we were in the hospital. In fact, she is still sleeping with it at night. So now we have baby, cup, quilt, and a little puppy the girls brought her when they came with Granny. It's a full bed.

The ipad helped keep her distracted, as well. Her face swelled a lot, and it changed a lot throughout the first couple of days. She would lay on one side and then sit up and her face would be swollen a different way. We were glad when the swelling started to go down.

 We had several visitors that helped pass the time so well! Gigi and Peeps stayed all day Thursday, Kathy and Mary came to see us Thursday evening, Lindsey came Friday morning, Mary and Nathan came and brought us dinner Friday night, and Michelle and Kaitlin came and brought us Sprinkles cupcakes Friday night. But the most exciting visitors for Calli were her big sisters. Granny brought them on Friday and she got excited for the first time our whole visit when those sweet girls walked in! They brought her some balloons, flowers, and a baby puppy, but she was mostly just excited to see them. Kendall and Coop were so sweet, hugging on her and talking so gently to her. Lindsey had brought some markers and coloring sheets, so the girls loved coloring those together. We all went and ate lunch in the cafeteria, and then when we came back, Calli fell asleep on Granny. She was enjoying having her Granny hold her, which gave me a little break - up until then I had been holding her the whole time.

 Friday night went much better than Thursday night, and by Saturday morning at 7, the doctor had come in to tell us we could go home! It took awhile to get our prescriptions ready, so we left around 11 and were home by noon! Granny and Papas had cleaned the whole house, went to the grocery store for us, and picked up lunch and dinner. They took the girls to swim while we napped with Calli, and we were so thankful for all their help!

Mary and Kathy even organized meals for us for this week after surgery! I didn't think we would need it, but her recovery has been so hard and she has just wanted to be held all the time that it has been so great to not worry about food. Kathy and Jerry Peters came over Sunday afternoon with a LARGE ice chest full of Bluebell, popsicles, and chocolate syrup! So fun! We've had meals from the Hundls, Erskines, Picks, Mitts, Hendersons, Whiteheads, Coopers, and Watsons. I can't even say how thankful we have been!!

So our week has been spent at home, in our pajamas, just being lazy and taking care of Calli. She has been waking up three to four times a night and has been on pain meds every three hours. Today (Friday) has been the best day yet and we're hopeful she is getting better! Kendall and Cooper have been such big helpers - mostly by being easy so I could focus on Calli. They've gotten a little extra tv time this week, more time on the computer, and had a lot of time just playing together. They've been great. Calli and I have been rocking, walking, trying to eat some, and just sitting together. I've been so thankful for the way she has let me love on her and comfort her - I think I'll post about that later.

She's eaten a few bites of mashed potatoes, some yogurt, green beans, lots of ice cream, and even some cereal! She's so tough and brave - and maybe starving - that even though it hurts after just a couple of bites, she keeps trying new things! We're amazed at her.

Some days she's just needed to ride in the carrier and stay close. And I'm ok with that! BTW - she has her puppy and her cup somewhere in there. It never leaves her these days! 0

 This week has been hard, but we are so impressed with Calli and amazed at her bravery. It must be so strange to have a roof of her mouth when she's never had anything up there before, to breathe a different way, and to have the amount of pain that she has had. But she has been so awesome, has let us love on her, and has just been great! We're so thankful! Thank you for your prayers for her!

Oh - yesterday was our post-op appointment with Dr. T and he said everything looks like it should! He said to expect her behavior to be like this for about another week. She is collecting food in the roof of her mouth, which looks bad to us, but he said that is to be expected and isn't a problem as long as she is drinking. He said she is very impressive and very beautiful. We knew that! We'll go back and see him in 6 weeks! 

Hospital Thoughts

Our hospital stay was very special to me, in ways that I did not expect. I journaled about it when we came home and everyone but Calli and I were at church on Sunday. I want to record it here, so that it is in Calli's book someday and so that she knows how sweet this time was for me.

 

"The whole hospital stay was a little surreal to me. The only other times I've stayed in a hospital were when Kendall and Cooper were born, so that's what I think of when I think of being in a hospital. Those were some of the sweetest days of my life and are honestly something I miss when I think about being done having children. I just loved those days when it was all about taking care of my babies, learning more about them, and just focusing on them. I have grieved that I missed that sweet time with Calli. Well, the past two days in the hospital totally felt like God was giving me that time back. It started after surgery when we were taken up to our room. They let me carry Calli, but I had to ride in a wheelchair. That totally made me feel like I had a newborn. Then, when we were settled, she just wanted me to hold her. I just soaked that up. Not only did I feel like God was giving me and her that "newborn" time back, I also felt like he was redeeming that SO HARD time in China. She was so scared then, she was grieving so much, and I SO badly wanted her to let me comfort her. She didn't then, but now she was. She was hurting and she wanted ME! I thanked God over and over as I held her and just soaked up the fact that she was allowing me to comfort her. Randy left at one point to go grab some food for us and it was just me and Calli, snugging in the bed in our room. I wept tears of joy at the sweet time we were having and at the many works God has done in her little life - in the past four months AND in her whole two years. I am overwhelmed by the blessing of being her mama and at the way she lets me love her."

 

And now, this week, even though it has been hard, has also been such a joy. I think that when I would normally be frustrated by her neediness, or tired because of lack of sleep, I have just been thankful that she is wanting me to comfort her. I'm not sure if that's why God allowed our time in China to go the way it did - I'm sure there were many other reasons, especially the sweet time she had with her Daddy - but that two weeks being so hard has made me ONLY thankful for the difference in her behavior now, just four months later. I am ONLY thankful to get to hold her all day. I am ONLY thankful to rock her in the middle of the night. God has bonded us together in a way that ONLY he can in such a short amount of time, and I am so thankful.

4 Month Update!

Calli Faith was placed in our arms four months ago today! It seems crazy to us to think that it was only four months ago - so much has happened since then and she has changed so much. Several people have asked us why we aren't blogging as much, but we are - just not on this blog. Our family blog is where we do most of our blogging, so you can see more updates there, at www.theymakeuslaugh.blogspot.com. We'll continue to update this one periodically with news just about Calli and how she's doing, but it won't be as often as the other one.

Calli really is changing so much, and even in the past week or two has started doing so many new things! She is officially 23 months old now and we are on the countdown to her second birthday on August 31. She and Cooper will be having a school bus party (Cooper's request) and we are so excited about that! Remember, she and Cooper share a birthday, so Calli will turn 2 and Cooper will turn 3 on the 31st. :)

She is communicating so well and understands absolutely everything we say. Even when we don't use gestures or do anything special to try to get her to understand, she hears and picks up on everything we tell her. She's pretty amazing! And she is telling us a lot, too. She has started shaking her head yes or no, and she has more words and signs. She can do the signs for more, all done, please, thank you, you're welcome, wait, and help. And she can say mama, baba, Kengal, Coop-Coop, Moll, help, all done, thank you, night-night, uh-oh, and just this week she copied me when I said "I love you!" We just loving watching her learn and try new things and we are so proud of her.

She is a busy, busy girl. She loves to play with her big sisters and they just love her so much. Cooper and her fuss at each other sometimes, but just typical 2 and 3 year old stuff. She love, love, loves the bath, and still love, love, loves to eat. Her attachment to food has gotten better though in the past month - she doesn't have to be eating all the time and will even leave food on her plate sometimes. She is awesome at riding in the car and sleeps from 8-6:45 every night, with a 2 hour nap every day. For bed, we turn on her music, rock her a little, lay her down awake with her baby and her quilt and she just puts herself right to sleep!

One week from today is her cleft palate surgery. Her lip was closed on May 15th, but her palate has still been open all this time. That means there is basically just a big opening into her nasal cavity, so we definitely still see food come out her nose a lot! It also means she has no roof of her mouth, and still can't suck or make some of those sounds that require your tongue to press against the top of your mouth (esp "d"). Her lip surgery was just day surgery, so we were in and out, but our doctor told us with this to expect a 3-4 day stay in the hospital. Boo. She has just done so well this far, that we really expect her to bounce back pretty quickly and maybe we will get out in less time than that. You can pray with us for her recovery from this surgery. She's got a birthday to get ready for!

We also have an important appointment with a different specialist on Monday, to get the results from her latest round of blood work and the MRI she had a couple weeks ago. We are ready to hear next steps in that area.

Finally, an update on bonding and attachment with us and with Calli. This has gone so, so well. I read back in my journal yesterday from the weeks right around when we first had her, and I just wept in amazement at where God has brought us. We are a different family than we were then. She loves us so much and we believe she really does understand that we are Mom and Dad and we are the most important people to her. And as far as how we feel about her - I'm at a loss for words. She is our daughter. Like Kendall and Cooper are our daughters. She is our Calli Faith. We love her to pieces and are so thankful God gave her to us. I still pray for her birth mother and father every day, that they would know the Lord and know his peace. And I look at Calli in amazement, thankful for the parents that wanted so much for her and risked so much for her so she could be part of our family. It's hard to wrap my mind around, and all I can do is praise God for his hand in her life. Thank you for loving her, too, and for your part in helping her become part of our family. We have the best family and friends and are so thankful!

We'll update the blog next week after her surgery. Thank you for your prayers for her!