Garrett's 4th Birthday

Home One Year

It's been a busy year! At the end of May, we celebrated Garrett being home with us for one year already- how quickly the time flies by!

He is doing great- so healthy and happy! In the spring, he got a special orthodontic device (just like a little retainer) to plug the hole left in the roof of his mouth and help with airflow and speech. It is hoped that eventually, the hole will be able to close on its own, but if not, when he has his next big surgery after braces it can be surgically closed. He has seen the speech therapist since the beginning of the year and is working on articulation of consonants, and lately is stringing more words together in sentences. It is still difficult to understand him when he is talking about something out of context- it took me about 10 minutes to get that he was trying to tell me about a banana slug in the garden one day! His comprehension of English was so fast- within 6 months, he understood basically everything any other American 3 year old would understand! My big hope for him right now is that within the next year, before starting kindergarten, his speech will be much easier for others outside the family to understand.

Alma continues to be a fantastic big sister to Garrett, for which I am so grateful.  They fit together like 2 peas in a pod.  Of course they have their sibling moments, but 99% of the time they have a great time together.  This was one of my most unexpected joys- how easy it has been to go from one child to two in the grand scheme of things (after the first few months of adjusting of course).  I expected Alma to have a difficult time sharing my attention, since she had been an only child for so long, but this has not been an issue, much to my surprise.  Even when he's being a pesty little brother, she has a good time with him!

He just celebrated his fourth birthday, and what a great time he had swimming with his little pals! So thankful to have him in our lives.

9 Days Post Surgery!

So, Garrett's surgery went well last week. He is still recuperating, but getting back to his old self little by little. He still needs plenty of rest, and suddenly having a nostril to breath through is a little tricky at night, but over all, he is doing great. I am hoping it all stays together the way it needs to in order to continue healing well over these next months.  I am amazed what his surgeon was able to do with so little lip tissue. He will be on a pureed diet for a few weeks, and keeping everything nice and clean is a challenge, but he is tolerating things much better than I would if it were me!

5 months

So, we celebrated our 5 month home date on Halloween!  The time is flying by. This upcoming Thursday, Nov. 8th, Garrett will have surgery to repair his cleft lip and palate! We are all anxious and excited to get it done.  I am hoping all will go as planned and he will have a smooth recovery with good pain management.  I just can't imagine his little face afterwards...  Last week, Alma and I both had the same dream that we were seeing him after surgery. It was so cool!
He continues to adjust fantastically to his new life, and is developing so well, I am always just amazed.  Over the last month, he has been speaking lots!  He understands pretty much everything, and is always able to get his point across with words, sounds and gestures. Once he has his palate repaired, he will start speech therapy. I expect he will be quite a talker! When I started back to work, he started staying with my mom during the day, with no issues whatsoever! We say goodbye at the goodbye window, and he always has a great day playing with the other children there. When I come home he runs to the door shouting "mama"!!!! I never imagined he would just fit right into all of our lives so easily.  Even Alma is still a wonderful big sister, after the novelty has worn off.  I still surprise myself when I talk of my "children"- I have 2 now! Thankfully, he is a wonderful eater, enjoying spanikopita, chana masala, quesadillas, and most of all- noodles/miso/tofu.  He still is unable to go to bed without me being in the room until he is asleep, and he is still a crazy roller/mover in his sleep.  There are still often times that I can't close the door to go to the bathroom or take a shower without an audience.  But his temper tantrums are now few and far between, and he is a happy, spunky typical 3 year old.  I can tell, sometimes he gets tired of kids asking about his mouth and taking a closer look to see "what's that little meatball?".  So, he's at just the right age to get his mouth repaired- and move on! Think good thoughts for the 8th!!! I will keep you posted when we return.

5 months home

Garrett dancing 1

2 months since gotcha day

And how time flies! Can't believe we have already been together for 2 months! Garrett amazes me every single day with his ability to go with the flow and enjoy so many new experiences! We celebrated his 3rd birthday at the end of June, went camping last week, had our first trip to the ER while I was packing to go camping (dislocated his elbow while playing- which luckily just popped right back into place on its own after having xrays), got bit by some bug while camping which made his face swell up (yikes), and went swimming today! We are just enjoying the summer, which is speeding by much too quickly (with way more foggy days than I would like).  Alma is still such a great big sister- I am so grateful that she is enjoying him and the extra responsibility she has now as a big sister.  I have taken Garrett to Stanford and UCSF for consults and will take him this week for a final consult at UCDavis before I decide where he should have his cleft surgery.  Then, we will get started with that.  I do wonder though- how will I keep such an energetic little guy calm and low key for the weeks following surgery?  He certainly keeps me on my toes!