Braden's surgery.....

Here is Braden right before surgery. He just broke my heart because it had been like 8 hours since he had anything to eat and he was just lying there on the table smiling at Sean and I. It would have been a lot easier if he had been screaming. I HATE handing over a perfectly happy kid, only to have him returned PISSED AS HELL!!



......like you can see right here. Sean and I did not know he would be requiring arm restraints for the next THREE MONTHS! But nevertheless, here we are.




And here he is just sleeping. He really doesn't look too bad.



The chain-like thing you see stretched across his cleft is the reason why he needs his arms restrained when someone isn't watching EVERY SECOND. Dr. Morales, the surgeon, was VERY VERY insistent about watching EVERY SECOND when those arm restraints are off. I bet he as seen some pretty nasty results of parents/whoever, not paying close attention. If he were to get his cute chubby little fingers around that and yank, there will be a VERY pissed baby and plastic surgeon. This chain-like thing is the same thing you would have placed on your braces when they are tightened. It is stretchy and it hurts quite a bit when I accidentally hit it with his bottle. This elastic chain is attached to little 'bolts'; one in each gum. I get to take him in every two weeks to have that chain tightened.




"WOW!! COLORS!! HE HE HE HE!! I don't remember that mobile being so attractive!!" And this is what a doped up two month old looks like!



"Whatever man. Do whatever you want."

As of this evening, he is eating OK. He really doesn't want ANYTHING in his mouth....at all. By and large he handled the surgery just fine. The post op nurse very calmly explained to me that he had a hard time breathing at first, but he is just fine now. I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT THAT MEANS!! How many times have I said that same type of thing to the family of the dude I just resuscitated!! Sometimes being a nurse really sucks...especially when your loved ones are involved.
Supposedly this whole thing doesn't hurt so much...how they know THAT I don't know. Try telling someone who is in the middle of a charlie horse that it doesn't hurt that bad. Sure, in hindsight it wasn't too bad, but when you are in the middle of it...it SUCKS!!! mmmk....gotta go give some hugs....bye

WARNING!!!!! PICTURE OVERLOAD!!! But dang they are cute!!

Kinda blurry, but a good one anyway.
Yah, Braden is getting the hang of it..but getting a little bored...plus he can't hear, so all that talking I am doing....just muffled noises.
"Get my good side mom!"
"SQUIRREL!!!"
And this is how he picks his nose with his tongue!!
"Hey mom...move!!! You are in my way!!"
"Hey, I want that train Troy!! Come back here!!"
"Ohhhhh...gas bubble!"
Troy-"CHEESE!" Braden-"Smiles are overrated."
I was trying to get a picture that shows how blue his eyes are. I got one! Man I love this kiddo!
I tried to get a photo of his palate. It is kinda blurry, but it works for now. The darker pink section is actually his nasal septum.
I love this picture. My good friend Lindsay took these next few photos for me. This is at the zoo; and this is really the scowl he is wearing most the time. Why the scowl you ask, probably because this is how his mom looks most the time while I am feeding him. I take it WAY too seriously. And now my boy is taking life WAY too seriously.
Here we are, wildcats 11 years and multiple kids later. Aren't we hot!
I can explain this getup. I hurriedly dumped Braden with Jen and made a mad dash through the front gate to get Troy to the bathroom. When your newly potty training son says, "Mom!! I gotta go pee!" You don't hesitate. So here I am, post bathroom emergency, with my baby carrier empty and a burp cloth across my boobs. Braden is a drooler! And standing next to me, for those who don't know, is Brynn with her daughter Kate.
I was holding Kate (Brynn's daughter) and Brighton (Lindsay's daughter) so they could take their other kids on the merry-go-round. Troy refuses to go on the merry-go-round. Which, really, is FINE with me!
Jen and I are chaperoning Troy and Kylie while we ride the train; which Troy also refuses to ride. But I told him, "look, it's illegal to own almost the entire Island of Sodor (Thomas the train stuff), Thomas t-shirts and Thomas DVD's and NOT want to ride a train...now get your little A$$ on that train right now!" After a little wrestling and some weird looks from other parents, here we are!

Troy and the back of Kylie's head.
Here is from left to right: Troy (bawling because Joseph, below him, was sitting on the lion Troy wanted to sit on; life is rough), Kylie; small lion is Joseph (Brynn's boy) and Chloe (Lindsay's second oldest daughter)
While I was holding Brynn and Lindsay's girls, Troy suddenly needed to pee. I stared helplessly as my boy peed, then promptly dropped his drawers and tried to change.
And this photo is proof that if you don't return my phone calls, I will put hilarious pictures of you on my blog page!! Jen held Braden for me pretty much the whole day. I really appreciated it. But this picture is CLASSIC, and I couldn't resist! Thanks Linds!!

And this clip on Youtube is a small glimpse into early morning hours of Braden and I....enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNYfZd8iV2k

The month of May in review......

Here you see Sean's mom, Arlette helping take care of Braden while mom is in the background obviously having some words with Troy. Grandma has helped A TON with Troy and Braden. Thank you Grandma!!!

Here Troy is on the Heber Creeper on the "A day out with Thomas". He LOVES, and I mean LOVES Thomas. Sorry for the not so great photos...I was juggling Braden at the same time.
Troy gets his Jr. Engineer Certificate...I have no idea where that certificate is now. Thankfully Troy was not all that enamored with it.
If you could see behind the glasses this is what Loni is saying, "PUT THE DAMN THING AWAY!"
Troy gets his tattoo of......
THOMAS!!! And that tattoo stayed on for over a week! I tried to wash it off and Troy's alter ego took over! SCARY!!!
And here Loni has Kit in timeout...or Kit has Loni in timeout...as parent's we sometimes wonder who really is in control.
And here is the only photo I got with Troy and Thomas....hey, it's hard juggling a 4 wk old and nearly three year old...you take what you get. This is also one of the faces you may see with Troy sitting on the potty.
And this is where Troy spent nearly two and a half hours while I fed Braden, burped Braden and watched as kids and parents walked by repeatedly to see what was 'wrong' with Braden.
Here is Braden snuggling with Dad.
Troy LOVES the tramp. This is at Sean's grandparents on Memorial Day.
And this is what I discovered this morning going in to wake up Braden. I always have a minor heart attack when I find him like this...I am worried that I will find him smothered, but he honestly likes being in a little warm cocoon and does whatever he needs to get in that environment.
When I unwrapped him this is how he was. Now I thought he had his hands up by his head, but really, he had wriggled his arms out of his sleeves and he had them tucked nicely by his sides!

As for a quick update, Troy is in the process of being potty trained...or I am in the process of being potty trained. Take your pick. Braden is only waking up once a night and goes right back to sleep...thank the heavens for that! And since I posted that on blogger, I am probably in for a long night now. I am loving maternity leave! Sean is loving being graduated...those photos are with those who took the pictures! So I will post those when I get the pics! He is still in negotiations with Northrop; hopefully we will know what is going on with that soon.....in the meantime he is applying at other companies just in case.

We have a busy June ahead of us. I was put in the Young Women's presidency this past week and so have young women's camp, Troy is getting tubes put in again tomorrow, Braden has his first surgery at the end of June, we are going up to the St. Anthony sand dunes, Paula's ranch in Bondurant and my cousin Nick comes home from his mission!! YEA!!!! Stay tuned for photo's of all those events!! I will also get some good 'up close and personal' shots of Braden for everyone.

Cute kiddo's...

I went in to wake up Braden this morning and couldn't resist taking a picture of my drooling newborn!! There are all kinds of new things I am learning about not being able to close your mouth. DROOL!! And apparently this trait of cleft lip/palate's stays past all the repairs....I still drool like crazy..both when I am awake and asleep!! :)




And here Kit is pushing Troy around. They both giggle like crazy and it is super cute. It looks like Kit is in control, but really, Troy and the stroller pretty much drag Kit around.

Braden is coming up on three weeks old!! We are still working on letting mom sleep more than three hours at night. Braden failed his third hearing test yesterday, which isn't surprising with the cleft lip/palate. He will most likely get tubes put in when he has his lip repair and then he will be able to hear again. Actually, it is quite convenient having a newborn who can't hear...he sleeps through all the tantrums..both mine and Lil'Troy's!

Sean is taking his LAST FINAL today!! YAY!!!! He will graduate this Friday and hopefully get a job offer quickly. Then I am free to stay home and go ABSOLUTELY NUTS! But I am SOOOOOOO grateful to not have to harass family about babysitting. And, my house actually stays cleaner when I am HOME ALL THE TIME!!! OK, enough complaining, I really am grateful to be home. At least at this exact moment......

update from mom....

OK, I have come out of my mother hole for a minute and decided maybe I should update this bloggy thing. I have gone back and forth about whether or not I wanted to put pictures up of Braden. When I first found out Braden had a cleft lip and probably a cleft palate, I was devastated. I think most parents have a hard time seeing their less perfect traits get handed down to their kids, the ones that stare at you every day are hardest. Sean wanted to put pictures of Braden up, I was a little hesitant, but OK with it now.
I have spent a lot of time looking at different photos of kids with this same birth defect, pre- and post surgery. I know everyone thinks I know what is going on...but I remind you...I was an infant..don't remember any of it...and that was nearly 30 years ago...a lot has changed. As I looked at other children, the predominant thought was, "So NOT cute!!" I read a lot of posts from parents of cleft lip/palate children and they all said they fell in love with their child's face and had a tough time having it repaired. I always said, "Uh, NOT ME!! I won't miss it...I will be totally happy when it gets fixed!!" Well, not that I'm not excited to have his lip fixed, but I finally understand these parents loving this face. One thing you should understand, photos DO NOT capture adequately what this kiddo looks like. I truly do think he looks cute...I see characteristics that remind me of Lil'Troy, but when I take a picture and look at it, I just shake my head because frankly he doesn't look that cute on camera. Granted not many 5 day old's look cute...that factor aside, take my word that photos are not giving you the real Braden. So here are some photos.
Things are going ok. Feeding Braden is obviously the challenge. With all the learning and trial and error, we have managed to give Braden a canker like sore on his nasal septum. So try getting a 4 day old to take a bottle with cankers in his sinus cavity. TOUGH! I get so focused on feeding him and not drowning him, half way through the 'dance' I look up at Braden and he is just STARING at me...I have to remind myself to smile, this poor kid has to stare at his mom with her brow furrowed, and counting repeatedly to 5 (I have to make sure he takes a breath after 5 swallows being that there isn't the anatomy in his mouth to stop the formula and take a breath). Anywho, the last few days have been a roller coaster of emotions due to post pregnancy, new child, and small birth defect. I am sure my burp cloth is equally saturated with my tears and his formula.
I was feeding Braden today and bent over to give him a kiss. As I was breathing in I could smell my mom; it stopped me cold and I just sat there trying to get as much 'mom' aroma as I could. Braden got a little weirded out and I couldn't smell her anymore, but I was grateful for the whiff.
Lil'Troy is handling things very well. We are dealing with the usual 2/3 year old behavior, but by and large, Troy loves being a big brother. Although this morning was an eye opener. Braden was screaming and managed to wake everyone up, including Troy. So Troy came to sit by me on the couch, super concerned about his little brother. But then he kinda curled up in a ball and tried to get behind me on the couch. I said, "Buddy, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm scared!" I said, "What are you scared of?" He said, "I'm scared of his mouth!" It broke my heart. It's true, when Braden cries, it's not cute at all, and it can look scary. I tried to explain my scar on my lip and that Braden would soon have the same scar. He kind of gets it. And fortunately, he doesn't treat Braden any different, he just stays away when he is crying.


This photo is a testimony to phlebotomists everywhere....when a patient/parent asks you to please use a certain kind of needle...they do know what they are talking about. This phlebotomist didn't miss my vein either! The next day, I didn't have a problem convincing the phlebotomist to use a different needle! SHEESH!!!



Here is Troy sharing his Thomas pillow with Braden. Troy pulled a blanket up over him and Braden and then told me to leave, they were going to nap...but would I please leave the door open.
Braden and dad.
Braden and aunt Loni...both of my siblings have snuck over pretty frequently to still a few snuggles with the little guy.

Finally Home...

We are home and we came home to an awesome surprise a very, very clean house thanks you know whos...So now we are relaxing finding the groove for lil' Braden to fit into the family...he is so cute... I will be around today and tomorrow and then Wednesday I have to get back to work and school, but Teya will be here and out of work until after the first surgery. There just is no place like HOME!!!

Gearing up for Going home..

Lil' Braden is getting a hearing test and we will be headed home. We should get home hopefully within the next hour. Yay!!! going home, Teya is ready for her own bed and I am ready for a bed! We will update when we get home.