Happy, Happy, Happy!!!!!

Oh I just love Matthew's doctor at Children's Hospital!!! (Dr. Murthy) He's been in constant contact with us via EMAIL! (It's like someone told me, what doctor do you know who will EMAIL you about your son and keep talking with you!!!!) He's been AWESOME!!!! EVERYTHING IS A GO!!!!!!!! Surgery is a GO!!!!!!! We meet at Children's Hospital on July 18th, 11am. (gotta make sure we are at the metro by 8:30am though........or we will never get a parking space!) We have a "double booking" appointment for Dr. Murthy to go over everything with us. (so far, what we know, Dr. Murthy wants to do some lip revision/nose revision, fistula repair, possible tubes? Not sure about this.....And Urology wants to do, a circumsion, herniated groin fix (putting the intestines back in place), undescended testical fix. Gosh, isn't that enough. Yes, he will be hurting up and down! Motrin will be his FRIEND! Momma will be his nursemate at home, providing everything goes well at the hospital and he can come home with no problems. *fingers crossed*) We will also start pre-op stuff with Matthew.

NOW........we just need to keep Matthew sick free, medicine free, well, you know the routine........from now until we walk into Children's Hospital the day of his surgery. I'll be staying with Matthew during his stay at the hospital. Daddy will be with Rebecca/working.

Right now, we are working with another lady to get an OR appointment. It may not be ASAP........they said the summer months are BOOKED SOLID. So I'm thinking we are looking more like from September to November? Which is fine by me. Things are falling into place now and I tell ya, YOU ARE YOUR CHILD'S OWN ADVOCATE! Someone once told me that and now I fully believe it! That and praying for my son to be helped! I think God had more to do with all of this than me! ;o)

So, as soon as we they can get the OR booked, we will have a date! YEAH! YEAH! :O)

Matthew will no longer have to endure foods/liquids coming out of his nose anymore! HALLELUJAH! As I told the doc, now that he is in daycare, the kids notice him doing regular "cleft kid" type of stuff. Thank you Lord for this taking place now! AWESOME!

Kristen

YEAH! We have movement on Matthew's pending SURGERY!

We finally got an email from one of the Craniofacial doctors and it's the one who has been thee nicest to us from the beginning. (Dr. Murthy) He wants to meet with us and Matthew for a re-evaluation because of the Uroglogical issues that Matthew is having. Surgery could be right around the corner! THANK YOU LORD!!!!!!!!

Please pray that we can get EVERYTHING fixed, including the major thing (besides the herniated groin), the FISTULA! (hole in the roof of his mouth) Right now, he is almost finished with his augmentin for the infection. This makes his 3rd infection since we brought him home in March! *sigh*

I'm hoping we can get Matthew's hearing re-evaluated also........or we may have to wait until October or November. He speaks without saying the beginning of words. Like his favorite person in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD........SPIDERMAN. (comes out idamonmon) Please, oh Please Lord, I'm hoping for some speech help soon. One thing at a time, I know..........I just want our boy to not fall behind. Right now, he IS behind in speaking well.

Keep your eyes, fingers, toes, anything else, CROSSED for us! I make the call today to see Dr. Murthy at Children's. PLEASE allow this surgery to move forward to fix EVERYTHING! AMEN!

Mom

Poor Matthew.......

On Thursday, June 21st, I ended up having to take my boy to the pediatrician because he had been coughing for awhile (almost a week) and the stuff running out of his nose, well, let's just say a beautiful, colorful rainbow of white, yellow,green and RED! Sure enough, we wait for our pediatrician to see Matthew and she looks at his nose and hears his chest and says to me, "Momma? Matthew has a huge severe Sinus Infection." Huh? A 3 year old with a sinus infection? (didn't think they could really get one so young, but I guess wrong) AND, to boot, most of the fluid associated with a sinus infection was draining into his "cleft" ear. (Left ear.) It wasn't infected, yet, but she said there was alot there and she was sure that he could feel the pressure from it. Awwwww...........goodnesss.

Needless to say, the best part of the trip to the pediatrician's office was the spiderman sticker/sugar free lollipop for Matthew, but for mom? It was how Matthew gave our pediatrician a HUGE HUG as soon as she walked into the room we were in. I thought that was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She was so impressed with him. hehehhe.....*s*

So, our little man has his prescription of Augmentin (wow, it's expensive!) and doesn't like the taste (what else is new). He's doing well. OH more of an update????? THE POTTY TRAINING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Go Matthew, Go Matthew, in the potty, using the potty........ LOL)

Saturday, he only had to have 2 pullups on! YES! He went potty the rest of the time on his own!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!! He's grasping the concept!

The kids (and parents) had a MARVELOUS time at Uncle Tom and Auntie Sue's house! The kids got to swim and dump water on each other in a pool they got for them. We did the SHOPPING thing.......it was just a GREAT weekend. Let's just say that Mom and Dad are "thinking" ALOT about the area where we were over the weekend. (looking at homes and such....) You never know................. *huge snicker w/grin*

OH, for you Becca fans? She's just fine. Into everything, getting in trouble, getting her brother in trouble, getting herself in trouble, being spoiled, getting "talked to" by teachers and her own parents.......life's hard at 3! Ha!

Mom

STOP THE PRESS! STOP THE PRESS! YES!

Yes, our Matthew has gone through one night totally and bone DRY! He's trying! He really is! YES! YES! *momma and daddy doing the snoopy dance* He's in his BIG BOY pull ups and knows what potty means and what to do in there. I'm sure there will be some set backs, but he's done it once, he can do it again!!!!! Go Matthew! Go Matthew! Go Matthew!

Wow........he might surpass his big sister at this rate! He has been pointing "down there" when he goes potty, so he is understanding the concept. He doesn't like to be wet either. Kinda funny! What a HUGE difference from China to now! HUGE!

Look out Becca Boo, looks like Matt will pass you up on being totally out of diapers! UH OH! :o) (Mommy and Daddy will be SOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy!) LOL

Ok, let the regular programming continue.........

You ever have one of THOSE days? (snickering)

Matthew gets up first, he's groggy but knows Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go will be on soon so he gets up on the couch and waits patiently. THEN, just out of the blue, like the light bulb just turned on, Matthew points "down there" and Mommy says, "You have to go potty Matthew?" and he says YES. OH BOY......Mommy grabs Matthew, heads off to the potty and puts him on there. With boys? Momma learned quickly that when they say they have to go, it means NOW and point the "lilly" in the right direction!!!! (LOL) DO YOU KNOW HE WENT?!?!?! YES HE DID! No accident, no just by chance, HE ACTUALLY WENT, just like when we first got home from China! Can you say, YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He was so proud of himself! He had to go and tell a sleeping Daddy! So, obliging mommy said, ok! ROFL

Picture this, Daddy sound asleep, Mommy puts Matthew on the bed and he runs over to Daddy and falls all over him! YEAH! What a way to wake up!!!! :o) (so proud)

Then, Rebecca wakes up. So here she comes. And the sibling rivalry commences! *laughing because you have to know what I'm talking about in order to know how sarcastic I'm being* What a day, what a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and now everyone wants breakfast! Momma's turn! *like usual, (rofl)*

Princess Becca and her glorious BREATHS!

Oh boy, there is just never a dull moment around our house, you realize this, right? Well, Rebecca is showing more and more, signs of having asthma. She had an all out "asthma attack" on Saturday. Now mind you, we know this is no laughing matter. Hearing your little girl gasping for breath is not easy to listen to. The thing is, we are new to this and honestly, we thought she might be coming down with something. WRONG..........let me explain.

Friday morning, Rebecca is chasing Matthew, Matthew is chasing Rebecca, dad takes them to daycare, NOTHING WRONG you say? You'd be right! Friday evening, dad picks them up and Rebecca comes home with a cough that is dry and raspy. Weird sounding. We being her parents thought she was coming down with something, like what has been happening for the last 2 years. Apparently, wrong.

Saturday morning, we gave her a treatment of albuterol (via the nebulizer) and 2 hours later, another one. She started breathing better. Her cough had diminished. We ended up going over a friends house for a little party/get together. Well, we ended up having to leave earlier than we wanted to because Rebecca ended up having an attack after reaching for a toy under a bed. What triggered it or why? We have no clue!!! NONE whatsoever. (if you have any ideas, please email us!!!) So we ended up hightailing it home to give her another treatment.

FAST FORWARD to Monday night........since Saturday night, she's had this cough still, but much improved, mind you. We told her pediatrician what had been going on over the weekend and they wanted to see her RIGHT AWAY! Good thing......he airway was "coarse" and so was her breathing. She now has inhalers to take with her. When she turns 4, she will have more stuff to do and in the mean time, we have to get her to an allergist! (preferably one in our own county) OH BOY!!!!!!! :o)

I wonder if she will grow out of this? Reading on the internet is so confusing some pages say she might, some say you never do, you just "control" it. Who knows except God! Say a prayer for our Becca, if you will.............thanks.

K

3 MONTHS! 3 MONTHS! 3 MONTHS!

Prince Matthew has been with us, as of tomorrow (6/6/07), for 3 months! He is so comfortable with us now. He doesn't want to listen to us, doesn't want to let his sister go when she hits him, gets in trouble at daycare, says NO NO to mommy and daddy......OH YEAH, he's our boy alright!!!!!

As for mommy? These last 3 months have been such a joy! Honestly, through all the illnesses, diseases, weird bodily liquids through the nose, or elsewhere (ahem). I love having a little boy! I knew having Rebecca would change our lives, which she has, more ways than one. But there is something about having a little boy! They are so relying on Mommies! (and Daddies) It's so cool to hear Matthew yell in the house, Mama? Where are you?! *shivers* I love hearing that! I just love it!

Life is not the same with just one child. It's DOUBLY fun now! Especially when Mommy and Daddy play with Becca and Matthew on the playground! (It's big enough for parents to play on too!!!!) YAY!

Join us tomorrow in celebrating our little boy's 3 month anniversary! PRAISE GOD!!!!

K