Bragging on Becca

Today Rebecca was singing up in front of the church with the children's choir. They were so cute! There is a video and pictures. I have to wait until they are released and then I'll put them up. They did all of the worship and 2 extra songs! (5 songs) They were so neat. Becca did all the hand movements and knew all the words. She did very well. Alot of the kids weren't even paying attention to the leader, but Rebecca was. She is so attentive and focused when something like this happens. She is a little perfectionist. UGH! Was hoping she didn't get that from me, but maybe I rubbed off a little bit. *darn*

Ok, inquiring minds want to know............apparently

I haven't been updating this blog to much because I forgot the password. Now that I've found it......we'll see. You can definitely find us on facebook! BY ALL MEANS! ;o)


It's February, nothing going on except SNOW! And too much of it. I've had enough. The kids haven't mind you, but hey, when I was a kid, I couldn't get enough of it either.

No pics just yet. Rebecca is learning like crazy. I can't even keep up with her. She is reading at a First Graders level. Reading level 2 and 3 books at the moment. Pretty impressive. She's doing First Grade Math also. She's got money down pat! I tell you, a born shopper. Didn't have to teach her anything. Must be the "girl" aspect of it.

Matthew? Well, he's learning too. He's in PreK, doing well. Had an IEP session for him and alot of things were changed. cognitively he's doing wonderful. Speech wise? He's fallen behind a little bit, which worries me. He's not making some sounds that a 2 or 3 year old can make. He has a real hard time with D's, S's, M's, N's, CH's, SH's, TH's, F's, etc. We've turned his IEP inside and out to be able to allow extra time to learn these sounds. Yes, it has EVERYTHING to do with his palate.

Hmmm, any news on the BIG news? Not just yet, but there are good signs. Trust me, as soon as we get the "big" okie dokie, you'll know and learn what we are about to do. (Some of you already know...........boogers!)

Other than that, just working, packing, making lots of lists, and watching snow.... either by melting, falling from the sky, or shoveling it. Ugh..........enough.

Later.......Momma Kooky

Sincere Apologies!

To everyone who has emailed, called, posted on their own blogs about us, etc. etc., I apologize for not posting in such a long time. One good reason though. Our laptop's motherboard has died! I'm using a friend's computer to do this posting.

Update on the kids:

First day of school has gone very well. Rebecca loves school and is having fun. She's actually a little bored with school. Don't worry, we've already spoken with her teacher about this and it was mentioned that possibly Rebecca might change classes with an "accelerated" kindergarten class. We'll see. She's smart. I tell ya. Both in deed and in education. She's already reading, already writing, doing reading comprehension with story timelines and doing spelling words. Most of these things are at a First Grade level. Again, we'll see if she gets moved up. I have reservations about it.

Matthew? He likes school. At least he did. We are having problems with the other kids understanding Matthew, which I thought might be a problem, but didn't really "fret" about it. Well, in talking with his new speech therapist, it's now a problem. He is starting up speech immediately on Tuesdays and Fridays. The teachers understand him plain as day. It's the other kids who have problems. We are working on that.

Mom and Dad are working away. Surviving, no courses for anyone at the moment. Taking a break and gearing up for a Norwegian visit coming soon. It's Roy's mom. We are totally excited about her coming to the USA. This will be her second visit in about 5 years? Yeah, about 5 years. She will stay with us from before the Thanksgiving holiday to after New Year's! Rebecca is ready to see her again. Matthew? Well, he's a little intimidated by her only because he hasn't seen her yet. He doesn't know what to expect. He'll love her. She'll love him. This will be the best Christmas EVER!

Pray for me, Momma Kooky. My job. Just stressful. Pray for provision, promotion and protection! Please.......Same for Roy too.

Well, since we are on someone else's machine, i don't want to take up too much time. Pictures will come......they will. Just be patient. We are trying to get our pc downstairs in working order for the internet. Bye for now..........((hugs))

Call me crazy, but.............

There is a bunch of lumber sitting in our yard and colored stuff (lumber) as well. It's our DECKING stuff! Yes.........after years, and years of watching others sit on their decks and drink champagne and eating caviar.........oh wait, sorry, dreaming there for a moment...........drinking their coffee and listening to the birds sing, well.......our deck is about to be built off the back of our house. It will be a modest deck. 12 x 20. It's going to be made with TREX (composite decking), so don't ever say we didn't go GREEN! :o)


Now, when will it be done? Not sure. Soon though. We have all of our building permits, county permits, HOA permits........and any other permits you need. *apparently you need quite a few where we live* I can't wait. My Italian kitchen will have it's theme and I will most likely carry that theme to the deck as well. I've been looking for some deck furniture, but nothing has hit my fancy enough to get yet. Close, but nah. Not yet.


That's our project so far. After that, Kooky heads off to Denver, CO and Dallas, TX for some business! ;o) And after that, it's a week of VACATIONING in the quiet sunshine and getting ready for Rebecca's first day of school! Do you know that we need, Hannah Montana shirts, shoes, socks, pants, pencils, paper, folders, glue sticks..............and I'm suppose to find all this with the Hannah Montana logo on them? PUH - LEEZE! She's in for a rude awakening! Ha! We'll see. Oh, I forgot the most important thing........THE BACKPACK and LUNCHBOX! Oh let's not even go there. We'll see what we end up with. Right now, I can't even think about that yet. First, the deck and we'll go from there.

And how's YOUR neck of the woods? Hmmmmm????? Care to share?


Momma Kooky (who has one week before flying to Denver, CO)

Just a quick update.....

WHAT A LONG, LONG, LONG day at Children's Hospital..................


Just wanted to update you on Matthew. His teeth will stay in place for now. Yesterday, at Children's Hospital, he showed no signs of pain for his teeth or the one in particular that we think was giving him pain (the one growing in his palate). We had 3 people from dental and one person from orthodontics look at Matthew and they all said to "leave it alone" unless it is a constant pain/threat to Matthew. So we were ok with that.



To answer the question, would it leave a hole in the palate? They said yes, but that tissue would probably build back in there and close off the space. *best guesstimate*

Other questions answered? His nose. It's getting lopsided because of the graft that was put in so his nose wouldn't be so flat........well, it will be need to be fixed, but not at the present time. His lip is PERFECT, as the surgeon said......took lots of pictures of that....one of his mouth (hanging upside down from Daddy, mind you) and yes, there seems to be another pinhole of a hole in his palate again. We are just monitoring it. It will be fixed also.

We are looking at 3 to 4 years for his HARD palate reconstruction surgery! It's already in the early planning stages per our plastic surgeon. He was talking about it yesterday.



One big downer yesterday............Matthew failed his hearing test again for his left ear. (cleft affected ear) He didn't do so well on the hearing test, again. They think his tube has moved, or is moving out of his eardrum. We have to make an apointment with his ENT to see what's going on. Passed with flying colors with his right ear though. (Again, the right ear is compensating for what the left ear doesn't hear. Not necessarily a good thing, mind you.)

So............we'll make the appt.'s and see what to do from there........

Momma Kooky

Here's the scoop.............

Yes, Matthew has one of those weirdo teeth that decided to come in WRONG and it came down in his palate. *not good* Yes, it may need to come out. *that's what our regular dentist said* NO we are NOT letting them take it out because if they do, it leaves a HOLE in Matthew's palate again and we are NOT going through palate surgery again for that!!!! *may have to, may not* Here's where the GOOD stuff comes in.....

God's great isn't He?! Matthew already had an appointment to see the Craniofacial team at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, DC the end of June. Well, we just moved it up and I took a chance and asked for June 2nd.......figuring that would be filled up..........THEY FIT US IN because Matthew is having pain from this tooth! Thank you Lord! So, we ride up there this coming Tuesday, Xrays and all and see what they want to do.

You have to remember that during the Craniofacial team appointment, we see about 7 doctors in all. 2 of which are the folks that did his palate/lip reconstruction work, and the dental/orthrodontic folks. So we'll be in GOOD hands! Matthew is definitely ok with this.

I wish I could put his xray online. It's kinda wicked to see. He has all his teeth in the gumline and then this one bright white tooth laying overtop of the rest of the teeth. That's the one that is inside his palate part of his mouth. (roof of his mouth) He doesn't like it. He says it hurts him, although we've seen him eat a piece of ice! Go figure........most of the time, like 85% of the time, he WILL NOT eat anything hard/chew hard things. (ie, meats) He'd rather go hungry or just eat the softer stuff.

So, look for another post next week on what we are told from Children's! Should be interesting. Please pray for NO MORE SURGERIES unless absolutely, positively, no doubtingly needed. ;o)

Momma Kooky

Matthew.........Matthew..............and more Matthew

Well, over the weekend I think we found out why Matthew doesn't want to eat anything hard or crunchy. He has a very loose tooth. Yes, he's only 4 years old, but one of his teeth which has come in north to south instead of teeth like everyone else, west to east...........is MIGHTY loose. I have no idea why but today we will find out. We are going to the dentist. He doesn't mind going. He likes our dentist. She's cool. Plus, you get to pick a toy from the treasure chest! So yeah, he's a happy camper!!!

As I was talking with the dentist yesterday trying to tell her what the problem was, she told me that cleft children sometimes have teeth which come in wrong, like Matthew's and they come down outside of the gumline, which is what this tooth has done. It is because of the cleft palate/lip. Even though it was fixed, doesn't matter, the "damage" to the gumline and gums was already done. It could be that, or it could be something totally different. But it was reassuring to know that she had experience with cleft children.

So, today at 3pm, we head to the dentist. Just momma kooky and Matthew. Just pray there is no pain involved. Matthew's already been through painful procedures and I WILL NOT HAVE HIM BE IN PAIN! Actually, someone asked me the other day at church how many surgeries has Matthew had already. We aren't totally sure (especially about in China) but we think at least 4 or 5 surgeries already. And he's only 4! And yes, he will have to endure more in the future, but that's when he's like 7 or 8ish. (for the hard palate to be placed)

Wish us luck and say a prayer! ;o)