The details of how/when Konnor came to live at the orphanage are his to share, but I can tell you this one thing with absolute certainty....Konnor's birth family loved him. I do not have a single doubt in my mind of this. They risked a great deal to leave him in a place that would assure he was found immediately. That is an act of Love! Many children are not so lucky (all over the world) as to be left in a place that would give them them the greatest opportunity for survival. I cannot even begin to imagine how they felt that day as they looked into this child's eyes knowing they would never see him again. Hoping that a family would come for him and that he would have the life that they could not provide. My heart aches for this family on a daily basis. I think of them when he looks at me with those beautiful brown eyes or when he laughs so hard for so long that it turns into hiccups. I do not know their names or faces, but we will forever be tied to each other through the love we share for this one amazing little boy. So today I will say extra prayers for this family. Prayers that they are at peace with the decision they made, and that somehow, someway they will know that their precious little boy is healthy and very, very loved.
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
A Heavy Heart...
As I write this post it is already April 18th in China. The sun is coming up and millions of people are beginning their days. But on this, the eve of my Son's 2nd birthday, their is one family halfway across the world who will mourn this day. A family who spent 9 months sheltering an unborn child. They anticipated what it would be like to be a Mother, Father and Grandparent. A family who felt happiness with each step of the pregnancy and tried to imagine what this unborn child would look like, sound like and grow up to be like. I imagine that they gathered clothes and other baby essentials in preparation for this little ones arrival. Then it happened.....April 18, 2011 they gave birth to a beautiful little boy. A little boy with big brown eyes and chubby cheeks. Instead of the joy they had anticipated his birth brought heartache as they realized they would not be able to provide the medical care this little one would need.
The details of how/when Konnor came to live at the orphanage are his to share, but I can tell you this one thing with absolute certainty....Konnor's birth family loved him. I do not have a single doubt in my mind of this. They risked a great deal to leave him in a place that would assure he was found immediately. That is an act of Love! Many children are not so lucky (all over the world) as to be left in a place that would give them them the greatest opportunity for survival. I cannot even begin to imagine how they felt that day as they looked into this child's eyes knowing they would never see him again. Hoping that a family would come for him and that he would have the life that they could not provide. My heart aches for this family on a daily basis. I think of them when he looks at me with those beautiful brown eyes or when he laughs so hard for so long that it turns into hiccups. I do not know their names or faces, but we will forever be tied to each other through the love we share for this one amazing little boy. So today I will say extra prayers for this family. Prayers that they are at peace with the decision they made, and that somehow, someway they will know that their precious little boy is healthy and very, very loved.
![]()
The details of how/when Konnor came to live at the orphanage are his to share, but I can tell you this one thing with absolute certainty....Konnor's birth family loved him. I do not have a single doubt in my mind of this. They risked a great deal to leave him in a place that would assure he was found immediately. That is an act of Love! Many children are not so lucky (all over the world) as to be left in a place that would give them them the greatest opportunity for survival. I cannot even begin to imagine how they felt that day as they looked into this child's eyes knowing they would never see him again. Hoping that a family would come for him and that he would have the life that they could not provide. My heart aches for this family on a daily basis. I think of them when he looks at me with those beautiful brown eyes or when he laughs so hard for so long that it turns into hiccups. I do not know their names or faces, but we will forever be tied to each other through the love we share for this one amazing little boy. So today I will say extra prayers for this family. Prayers that they are at peace with the decision they made, and that somehow, someway they will know that their precious little boy is healthy and very, very loved.
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
An almost 2 yr old : )
Sheeesh! I can't believe it, but next week we will officially have a 2 year old in the house. It is crazy to think that Konnor has already been with us for 11 months. We waited so long for this amazing little boy and now time is just flying by. I keep telling him to stop growing so fast so Mama has a chance to get used to the idea of him as a big boy. He is working on another (hopefully his last one for awhile) molar : ( and I think maybe a canine as well. On an AWESOME note....we had our 1 month postop f/u from getting his 2nd set of tubes yesterday and ....drumroll please.....his ears are completely clear, WhooHoo!!!! Praying they stay that way for awhile b/c he really needs a break from all the antibiotics.
The last few weeks Konnor has really gotten into animals. There is an animal sounds song on youtube that we watch every day. We decorated the downstairs bathroom in jungle theme (thanks to his Grandma's Easter present) and he constantly goes up and points to the different animals to be identified. He can identify elephant, zebra, giraffe, cat, dog, cow, sheep, duck, monkey, frog, lion, bear and I am sure a few more that I just can't think of right now. We still don't have any words, but his comprehension is thru the roof the last few weeks. He is following simple commands very well and is turning out to be a very good helper when unloading the dishwasher or unpacking grocery bags.
Here is a preview of his 2 yr pictures we had done,......be prepared for cuteness overload : )
![]()
The last few weeks Konnor has really gotten into animals. There is an animal sounds song on youtube that we watch every day. We decorated the downstairs bathroom in jungle theme (thanks to his Grandma's Easter present) and he constantly goes up and points to the different animals to be identified. He can identify elephant, zebra, giraffe, cat, dog, cow, sheep, duck, monkey, frog, lion, bear and I am sure a few more that I just can't think of right now. We still don't have any words, but his comprehension is thru the roof the last few weeks. He is following simple commands very well and is turning out to be a very good helper when unloading the dishwasher or unpacking grocery bags.
Here is a preview of his 2 yr pictures we had done,......be prepared for cuteness overload : )
 |
| This picture is my favorite b/c it is just totally his personality! |
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Random Updates
Ok, so now that I have the Christmas update finally posted I can fill everyone in on all the randomness that has occurred in the 2 months. On December 24 Konnor started daycare. I know people thought it was crazy to start him on Christmas eve, but it actually worked out really well. I had to work a half day that day and Mark was off so I dropped Konnor off around 720. This was a good day to start, b/c there was only one other child in his room which means he received alot of attention and just got to play hard for a couple hours. Mark picked him up after about 3 hours and truthfully everything has been going well since then. I cried like a hormonal teenage girl that first morning dropping him off, but now that I see how much fun he has I have gotten better. He no longer cries when I leave, but still gives me a really pathetic sad face. Mark said he is always happy to be going home so that made me feel better. I do really like the teacher's in his room. They have really gone above and beyond to learn about him and they don't mind that I am a little over protective still.
January 14 he had his first daycare injury. Apparently he tripped and fell face first on a toy. Of course I don't want my son to be injured in any way, but seriously!!!!! You can't hurt a different part of your body besides the one it took them 5 1/2 hours of surgery to put together!!!! I swear between his face planting on day 4 after his lip repair and face planting again at daycare he is just trying to undo all that wonderful work. (yes I know he is allllll boy and I am just going to have to come to terms with bumps, bruises and scars, but I am still adjusting so just let me fuss : ) It looks like his bottom teeth just came up and took the whole top layer of skin off his scar. Booooo!!!! Nothing can really be done about it so we just put some Neosporin and Aquaphor on the area and restarted scar massage once it healed. Here is the comment from the daycare teacher, "He is really a little dare devil. Everytime I turn around he is climbing on the table or chair and I am racing across the room to try to catch him. Then he will just jump into your arms and assume you are going to catch him." Welcome to my world young lady! Konnor is definitely going to give me gray hair at a much earlier age than I would like. He truly has no fear. He climbs on EVERYTHING and he is always in such a hurry to get where he is going that he spends half the day tripping over his own feet. On a good note, he is really good at catching himself when he falls : )
About 7-8 weeks ago Konnor got his first molar (let me tell you how NOT fun that was). In the weeks since he has also gotten 1 more molar, two lower incisors and an upper incisor. At one point he had 4 teeth coming in at one time. This is actually great news, b/c sometimes cleft children are missing their upper incisors and canines. So right now we have 9 teeth and I think maybe a lower molar is starting to come thru as well. Unfortunately, it takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks for teeth to fully come in for him. We are working on getting him into a dentist soon. Children with cleft palate are sometimes missing teeth (as discussed above) or their teeth can grow in unusual places, so we just want to stay on top of his oral health.
Konnor started speech therapy at the beginning of December. We are finding that our Son is somewhat stubborn. He started out making alot of progress with just general vocalizations, but then he started getting stubborn and refused to use his signs. We only taught him some basic signs (eat, milk, all done, please, up and more), but we found that he was just starting to point and use the "more" sign for everything. We have added in the sign for "help" this week and that has gone over really well. He is at an age where he wants to communicate, but is getting easily frustrated when he can't make us understand what he wants. Unfortunately when he gets frustrated he starts throwing things or trying to hit Baxter. "Help" has gone a long way to alleviating some of his frustration. Konnor loves visiting with Miss Brittany (our speech therapist). I talked to her to see how she thought he was doing and she said that he is really doing pretty good. She said that boys tend to talk later than girls and it is pretty common for them to not start talking alot until age 2. She said that if Konnor hadn't had a cleft she probably would not have started seeing him until age 2, but due to his cleft she wanted to start teaching him how to use those muscles early. He has started making more vocalizations. He says "Mama," "Yay,""Uhh" for up, "Ba" and he makes the "Mmmm" sound alot. We are working on teaching him to pair a vowel with the "M" sound. He babbles ALOT, but they are not really specific sounds at this point. We will just keep plugging away. The good news is that in the last few weeks his comprehension of what we are saying has gone thru the roof.
We have also started trying to foster some independence in Konnor so that he is not permanently attached to Mama's hip all the time. Don't get me wrong I LOVE snuggling with my little man, but I think that since he is not talking we sometimes still treat him a little to much like a baby instead of the almost 2 yr old that he is. He is getting very good at "helping" Mama with chores. He will throw things away for me (although he gets a little over eager with this and sometimes we lose a toy to the trash can : ), he will hand me some of the dishes in the dishwasher to put away and he is getting very good at helping to pick up his own toys. He also likes to mimic alot and has his own miniature set of vacuum, swifter, broom and mop that he will follow behind me with and mimic whatever I am doing with the appropriate miniature version. Part of me wants him to stay a baby MUCH longer, but I am also so proud to see how far he has come in such a short time.
Ok so for the final update let's do some stats.....Konnor is now up 9 lbs and 4 inches since coming home!!!!! Bad news is that the entire month of January he had an ear infection that he just couldn't kick. It is clear now, but one of his ear tubes was pushed out by drainage and the other is barely hanging on. Sooooo, on Tuesday we are getting new ear tubes placed. I hate that he has yet another procedure scheduled, but our little man truly cannot go without ear tubes.
February 9th we celebrated our first Chinese New Year as a family. We attended a dinner and they had all sorts of demonstrations and activities. Konnor was not so excited about it (as you will see in the picture), but hopefully over the next few years he will start to enjoy it more.
Ok so sorry if your eyes are crossed from reading my mile long post : ) We had to get a new computer and it has taken me forever to learn how to use the blasted thing (me+technology=not good). Thank you for your patience and for continuing to check in with us. I promise to get more in tune with this contraption and get posts up more often.
Ashley
![]()
January 14 he had his first daycare injury. Apparently he tripped and fell face first on a toy. Of course I don't want my son to be injured in any way, but seriously!!!!! You can't hurt a different part of your body besides the one it took them 5 1/2 hours of surgery to put together!!!! I swear between his face planting on day 4 after his lip repair and face planting again at daycare he is just trying to undo all that wonderful work. (yes I know he is allllll boy and I am just going to have to come to terms with bumps, bruises and scars, but I am still adjusting so just let me fuss : ) It looks like his bottom teeth just came up and took the whole top layer of skin off his scar. Booooo!!!! Nothing can really be done about it so we just put some Neosporin and Aquaphor on the area and restarted scar massage once it healed. Here is the comment from the daycare teacher, "He is really a little dare devil. Everytime I turn around he is climbing on the table or chair and I am racing across the room to try to catch him. Then he will just jump into your arms and assume you are going to catch him." Welcome to my world young lady! Konnor is definitely going to give me gray hair at a much earlier age than I would like. He truly has no fear. He climbs on EVERYTHING and he is always in such a hurry to get where he is going that he spends half the day tripping over his own feet. On a good note, he is really good at catching himself when he falls : )
About 7-8 weeks ago Konnor got his first molar (let me tell you how NOT fun that was). In the weeks since he has also gotten 1 more molar, two lower incisors and an upper incisor. At one point he had 4 teeth coming in at one time. This is actually great news, b/c sometimes cleft children are missing their upper incisors and canines. So right now we have 9 teeth and I think maybe a lower molar is starting to come thru as well. Unfortunately, it takes anywhere from 2-4 weeks for teeth to fully come in for him. We are working on getting him into a dentist soon. Children with cleft palate are sometimes missing teeth (as discussed above) or their teeth can grow in unusual places, so we just want to stay on top of his oral health.
Konnor started speech therapy at the beginning of December. We are finding that our Son is somewhat stubborn. He started out making alot of progress with just general vocalizations, but then he started getting stubborn and refused to use his signs. We only taught him some basic signs (eat, milk, all done, please, up and more), but we found that he was just starting to point and use the "more" sign for everything. We have added in the sign for "help" this week and that has gone over really well. He is at an age where he wants to communicate, but is getting easily frustrated when he can't make us understand what he wants. Unfortunately when he gets frustrated he starts throwing things or trying to hit Baxter. "Help" has gone a long way to alleviating some of his frustration. Konnor loves visiting with Miss Brittany (our speech therapist). I talked to her to see how she thought he was doing and she said that he is really doing pretty good. She said that boys tend to talk later than girls and it is pretty common for them to not start talking alot until age 2. She said that if Konnor hadn't had a cleft she probably would not have started seeing him until age 2, but due to his cleft she wanted to start teaching him how to use those muscles early. He has started making more vocalizations. He says "Mama," "Yay,""Uhh" for up, "Ba" and he makes the "Mmmm" sound alot. We are working on teaching him to pair a vowel with the "M" sound. He babbles ALOT, but they are not really specific sounds at this point. We will just keep plugging away. The good news is that in the last few weeks his comprehension of what we are saying has gone thru the roof.
We have also started trying to foster some independence in Konnor so that he is not permanently attached to Mama's hip all the time. Don't get me wrong I LOVE snuggling with my little man, but I think that since he is not talking we sometimes still treat him a little to much like a baby instead of the almost 2 yr old that he is. He is getting very good at "helping" Mama with chores. He will throw things away for me (although he gets a little over eager with this and sometimes we lose a toy to the trash can : ), he will hand me some of the dishes in the dishwasher to put away and he is getting very good at helping to pick up his own toys. He also likes to mimic alot and has his own miniature set of vacuum, swifter, broom and mop that he will follow behind me with and mimic whatever I am doing with the appropriate miniature version. Part of me wants him to stay a baby MUCH longer, but I am also so proud to see how far he has come in such a short time.
Ok so for the final update let's do some stats.....Konnor is now up 9 lbs and 4 inches since coming home!!!!! Bad news is that the entire month of January he had an ear infection that he just couldn't kick. It is clear now, but one of his ear tubes was pushed out by drainage and the other is barely hanging on. Sooooo, on Tuesday we are getting new ear tubes placed. I hate that he has yet another procedure scheduled, but our little man truly cannot go without ear tubes.
February 9th we celebrated our first Chinese New Year as a family. We attended a dinner and they had all sorts of demonstrations and activities. Konnor was not so excited about it (as you will see in the picture), but hopefully over the next few years he will start to enjoy it more.
Ok so sorry if your eyes are crossed from reading my mile long post : ) We had to get a new computer and it has taken me forever to learn how to use the blasted thing (me+technology=not good). Thank you for your patience and for continuing to check in with us. I promise to get more in tune with this contraption and get posts up more often.
Ashley
 |
| Nana, Papa, Mama, Konnor, Grandma and Grandpa all celebrating the new Year of the Snake |
 |
| Don't you want to just laugh right along with him? |
 |
| Seriously this is the only snow we have gotten so by golly he was getting in his snowsuit and playing in it!! |
Saturday, March 9, 2013
Merry Christmas!!
Written December 25, 2012 (it just took me this long to upload photos--sorry : )
I just spent the day watching my Son open presents and play like a maniac. He snuggled with Papa on the couch and showed off big time for his Grandparents. A year ago we were still in shock that we would soon be parents. Two, three or even four years ago a day like this was still a dream we held close to our hearts, but didn't really know if it would come true. Well today it came true. I sit here reflecting on how very blessed I am. I have a husband who loves me like crazy despite all my bad habits and caffeine addiction. I have a beautiful Son whose face lights up whenever he sees me. Wonderful friends and family who have been so incredibly supportive. A comfortable home--albeit a little messy at times. A rewarding job that provides security for my family and allows me to continue learning new things everyday. I look around me and it is so easy to see the blessings in my life.
![]()
I just spent the day watching my Son open presents and play like a maniac. He snuggled with Papa on the couch and showed off big time for his Grandparents. A year ago we were still in shock that we would soon be parents. Two, three or even four years ago a day like this was still a dream we held close to our hearts, but didn't really know if it would come true. Well today it came true. I sit here reflecting on how very blessed I am. I have a husband who loves me like crazy despite all my bad habits and caffeine addiction. I have a beautiful Son whose face lights up whenever he sees me. Wonderful friends and family who have been so incredibly supportive. A comfortable home--albeit a little messy at times. A rewarding job that provides security for my family and allows me to continue learning new things everyday. I look around me and it is so easy to see the blessings in my life.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
1 year ago today.....
One year ago today we received a call at 10 am that our agency would be looking for our son or daughter that night. At 8:05 pm that same night we saw pictures of Konnor for the first time. There is a Darius Rucker song that has been hitting a chord with me for the last year, b/c the words of the song "This" just hit so close to home. Here is just a little of the song
I don't really know how I got here
But I'm so glad that I did
And It's crazy to think that one little thing could have changed all of this
Maybe it didn't turn out like I planned
Maybe that's why I'm such, such a lucky man (woman : )
For every stop light I didn't make
For every chance that I did or I didn't take
For all the nights I went to far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things that I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this...
All the fights and the tears and the heartache
I thought I'd never get thru
Or the moment I almost gave up
All led me here to you
I didn't understand it way back when
But sitting here right now, it all makes perfect sense
For every stop light I didn't make
For every chance that I did or I didn't take
For all the nights I went to far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things that I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this...
P.S. We posted our adoption story on our agency's blog if you would like to read it
www.blog.madisonadoption.com
I don't really know how I got here
But I'm so glad that I did
And It's crazy to think that one little thing could have changed all of this
Maybe it didn't turn out like I planned
Maybe that's why I'm such, such a lucky man (woman : )
For every stop light I didn't make
For every chance that I did or I didn't take
For all the nights I went to far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things that I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this...
All the fights and the tears and the heartache
I thought I'd never get thru
Or the moment I almost gave up
All led me here to you
I didn't understand it way back when
But sitting here right now, it all makes perfect sense
For every stop light I didn't make
For every chance that I did or I didn't take
For all the nights I went to far
All the girls that broke my heart
All the doors that I had to close
All the things that I knew but I didn't know
Thank God for all I missed
Cause it led me here to this...
 |
| One of Konnor's referral pictures We have been so very blessed on this journey of building our family. Thank You for joining us . Mark, Ashley and Konnor |
P.S. We posted our adoption story on our agency's blog if you would like to read it
www.blog.madisonadoption.com
Sunday, December 9, 2012
5 weeks post op
Tuesday we went for a 5 week post op follow up with our plastic surgeon. He was very happy with how Konnor's lip repair turned out. He said it looks great and that we have done a really good job keeping it clean and moisturized. Drum roll please......the Dr. said that as far as he is concerned Konnor's nose is a nose just like any other child's at this point. Yippppeeee!!!! He said we are free to wipe or suction as needed which is great considering cold/flu season is upon us and he starts daycare in a few weeks. Here is the shameless plug.....we see Dr. K. Patel with the St. Louis Children's Cleft Palate and Craniofacial Institute and we absolutely love not only our surgeon, but the entire staff in that office. They have been so wonderful during this whole process and we are so very, very thankful to them for all of their hard work. Ok, end shameless plug : ) Now we are just doing scar massage a couple times a day using a variation of sunscreen, coconut oil and Mederma. We also use Aquaphor as needed just to moisturize the area.
So on to the bad news : ( When Konnor had his palate repair and setback surgery he popped a few sutures in the very center of his palate. There are 3 layers to the palate and fortunately he only broke thru the first two layers. Because he never broke thru that last layer he never had food coming out of his nose and there was still a really good chance that the area would heal on it's own. Unfortunately, we think that when he fell after his lip repair that he broke open that last layer of his palate : ( We now have fluids/food coming out of his nose on a fairly regular basis and Dr. said at this point it is not going to heal itself and Konnor will require another palate repair next summer to fix this area. Booooooooo!!!!! The Dr. said that this only happens to about 5% of children that have the palate repair, but our little man just happens to be in that 5%. The palate repairs are much more painful than the lip repairs and take longer to heal so we are definitely not looking forward to this next surgery with a then 2 1/2 year old. This one should go better than the last repair though b/c with the first repair he also had the setback surgery and ear tubes placed. The plan is to keep his pain controlled and this should be the last surgery for a long while. We are thinking we probably won't schedule the surgery until August at least so that he can enjoy some of the summer.
On to better news.....Konnor got to meet Santa for the first time last Sunday. He was fairly indifferent and when he sat on his lap just gave him this weird "Who the heck are you?" look. Can't wait to see the pictures (I managed to get the before and after shot, but missed the actual sitting on Santa's lap part).
Konnor is now consistently say MaMa and truly babbling a lot. He was always so quiet that it is wonderful to hear the jibber jabber coming from him. We started speech therapy on Friday and he really liked Miss Brittany. I mean, who wouldn't like an hour of playing right? Seriously though she said that his communication is anywhere from a 9-15 month level. The good news is that the areas that he is farther ahead in are a really big deal and the fact that he is doing a lot of imitation now is great. She said that just while we were there he was already mimicking her and she felt like he would catch up really quickly. She gave us a few homework things to work on and we are going to see her once a week thru February. We will reevaluate at that time, but she said she thinks by then he will be pretty much caught up.
Konnor is now sitting in a booster at the kitchen table. No more highchair!!! He looks like such a big boy. It would have been nice though if someone would have clued this first time Mama into the fact that you really don't want to put the booster on a chair that has a cloth seat. It may never be clean again. We also have a new big boy sippy cup called the Avent 360. For all those cleft parents out there this is the worlds best sippy cup!!! He was previously using the Reflo cups, but they break easily and he couldn't hold them himself (they are soooo not leak proof). Since he has had his lip repair he is now able to use the Avent 360 b/c the fluid is released by pressure from the lip or nose. We have been using them for a couple days and they seem to be as leak proof as any other sippy. He LOVES his new sippy. He is so proud of himself holding it and just keeps picking it up for a drink just b/c he can : ) I don't think he would have been able to use the Avent before his lip repair so I am still grateful for the Reflo cups, but I am so glad he is able to do this himself now. He starts daycare in a few weeks and I was very worried he wouldn't get enough fluids during the day. So now at least one of my five million three hundred fifty thousand concerns for his well being are calmed. He just looks so big sitting in the big boy chair at the table with his big boy cup. He is growing so fast!
Hope everyone is enjoying the Pre-Holiday season
Ashley
P.S. Sorry no pictures this time. Mark is out of town with our regular computer that has all of our photos on it. I promise lots of pictures next time.
So on to the bad news : ( When Konnor had his palate repair and setback surgery he popped a few sutures in the very center of his palate. There are 3 layers to the palate and fortunately he only broke thru the first two layers. Because he never broke thru that last layer he never had food coming out of his nose and there was still a really good chance that the area would heal on it's own. Unfortunately, we think that when he fell after his lip repair that he broke open that last layer of his palate : ( We now have fluids/food coming out of his nose on a fairly regular basis and Dr. said at this point it is not going to heal itself and Konnor will require another palate repair next summer to fix this area. Booooooooo!!!!! The Dr. said that this only happens to about 5% of children that have the palate repair, but our little man just happens to be in that 5%. The palate repairs are much more painful than the lip repairs and take longer to heal so we are definitely not looking forward to this next surgery with a then 2 1/2 year old. This one should go better than the last repair though b/c with the first repair he also had the setback surgery and ear tubes placed. The plan is to keep his pain controlled and this should be the last surgery for a long while. We are thinking we probably won't schedule the surgery until August at least so that he can enjoy some of the summer.
On to better news.....Konnor got to meet Santa for the first time last Sunday. He was fairly indifferent and when he sat on his lap just gave him this weird "Who the heck are you?" look. Can't wait to see the pictures (I managed to get the before and after shot, but missed the actual sitting on Santa's lap part).
Konnor is now consistently say MaMa and truly babbling a lot. He was always so quiet that it is wonderful to hear the jibber jabber coming from him. We started speech therapy on Friday and he really liked Miss Brittany. I mean, who wouldn't like an hour of playing right? Seriously though she said that his communication is anywhere from a 9-15 month level. The good news is that the areas that he is farther ahead in are a really big deal and the fact that he is doing a lot of imitation now is great. She said that just while we were there he was already mimicking her and she felt like he would catch up really quickly. She gave us a few homework things to work on and we are going to see her once a week thru February. We will reevaluate at that time, but she said she thinks by then he will be pretty much caught up.
Konnor is now sitting in a booster at the kitchen table. No more highchair!!! He looks like such a big boy. It would have been nice though if someone would have clued this first time Mama into the fact that you really don't want to put the booster on a chair that has a cloth seat. It may never be clean again. We also have a new big boy sippy cup called the Avent 360. For all those cleft parents out there this is the worlds best sippy cup!!! He was previously using the Reflo cups, but they break easily and he couldn't hold them himself (they are soooo not leak proof). Since he has had his lip repair he is now able to use the Avent 360 b/c the fluid is released by pressure from the lip or nose. We have been using them for a couple days and they seem to be as leak proof as any other sippy. He LOVES his new sippy. He is so proud of himself holding it and just keeps picking it up for a drink just b/c he can : ) I don't think he would have been able to use the Avent before his lip repair so I am still grateful for the Reflo cups, but I am so glad he is able to do this himself now. He starts daycare in a few weeks and I was very worried he wouldn't get enough fluids during the day. So now at least one of my five million three hundred fifty thousand concerns for his well being are calmed. He just looks so big sitting in the big boy chair at the table with his big boy cup. He is growing so fast!
Hope everyone is enjoying the Pre-Holiday season
Ashley
P.S. Sorry no pictures this time. Mark is out of town with our regular computer that has all of our photos on it. I promise lots of pictures next time.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
First Word!!!!!
So we don't start speech therapy until December 7, but when we originally met with the cleft team in June they said that M's and N's would come first with B's and P's being the hardest for him to master. So with that in mind we have been working very hard on M's and N's in our house. The easiest are Mama and Monkey b/c he sees them everyday (he has monkey's on the walls in his room). He has been trying so hard the last week to get some words out, but could never really get them. A couple times it sounded like he was trying to say Mama, but never in relationship to me as it seemed to just be more of a babbling Mama. Well today I was holding him and standing next to Mark talking and he very clearly came out with Ma.....long pause....Ma and then leaned in for a kiss on the cheek. Oh be still my heart that was the most beautiful thing I have ever heard. Yes I got all teary and hugged and smooched him until he wiggled out of my arms to go play! We just love this little guy soooo much.
Ashley otherwise known as Ma......Ma
Ashley otherwise known as Ma......Ma
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)