Palate expander pictures

Here is my brave man just minutes after we left the office. He realized that is wasn't "so bad" and that nobody could see it. He was all smiles, he loved the fact that he got to keep his teeth to show and that a new Bakugan movie was in the player playing for our ride home.

Then he opened wide so I could take an inside shot. We have our first follow up appointment on 7/29. So far, he is doing really well. He is back to his normal diet. His speech seems OK however I am watching this. I have noticed as he gets tired he gets harder to understand. So I just find myself listening better. When we see the team in August the ST will probably give me a better understanding of things. He hasn't really complained of having it in. Again when he is tired, he gets a little weepy and says he wishes he didn't have to wear it. I wish that to! BUT! It was a little sad having to tell him NO he couldn't have a piece of laffy taffy (he loves that stuff) and to watch his smile turn upside down. I just explained that he couldn't have it now but will be able to sometime in the future. He was fine with that and moved on to sweat tarts! :)

Happy 4th of July

My 3 reasons to celebrate!

We had a great 4th of July in Cuba. We had many wonderful picnics with lots of good food and great laughs. The rain held off Friday night so we could see some pretty fireworks and thanks to Grandpa Cody got to enjoy them too. He doesn't do well with the loud noises and Grandpa gave him a head set and they worked like a charm. Saturday we had a great picnic at Aunt Joyce's. The kids got to swim....the adults played Kan Jam, woffle ball (with many slips in the mud), and everybody enjoyed a playstation 2 game of karaoke. Such a great time! Sunday, we cooked out to celebrate Brett's parents 40th wedding anniversary. The kids got to swim as that was really our nicest day of the weekend. But let's face it - to kids they don't care how cold the water is - they just want in it. It was an exhausting weekend and every night the boys crashed the minute their head hit the pillow.

They played hard and had fun and that's all that matters!

Palate Expander is on

Today Cody got his palate expander on. Since our last ortho visit I have talked with Cody - not every day - but at different times to try and get him to understand just what was going to happen. Last night the anxiety came to head and he cried. As best I could, I held back my own tears and told him everything would be OK.

Our morning started out at 6:30 as we got in the car for our hour and a half ride. As we were pulling into the parking lot he got that "look". We got him dressed and went inside. He didn't want to play and I could see the tears coming. Thankfully Brett was wish us cause lord knows somebody had to be brave and not cry. To see Cody cry broke my heart. We've been so quite in this journey of ours and now to start a new chapter and one that Cody will remember, it got the best of me at times. So Brett and Cody played with some ball game on the wall and I chatted with a mom who was there for their first visit - her son is 2 and was also born with a cleft. Next came our name in the rotation and Cody went to the bathroom for the 3rd time. That allowed me time to tell the nurse and doctor that he was having some anxiety with this.

Well I love our ortho - Dr. Scott - He sat Cody in the chair, gave him his mold of his teeth and told him to keep em to "show em off"....then showed him how the appliance was going to work. Cody got very emotional and Dr. Scott asked him to tell him what was wrong in his big boy voice. Cody said he didn't want to be there and didn't want that in his mouth. Dr. Scott worked his magic and in it went. It didn't take long. The office has a reward program. So Cody received his special tie dyed t-shirt to wear on future visits. He was also given a raffle ticket and after 3 raffle tickets - he gets a big prize. Then our name is in a drawing for a Target gift card. We headed out and went to McDonald's. Luckily, this is just down the street and we will get to know it well I am sure. Sad thing to a 5 year old though is they don't serve french fries at 9:30 in the morning. He wanted eggs and bacon so we got him that. I think he ate about a 1/2 a piece of bacon but did drink all his chocolate milk.

Upkeep tonight has been tylenol every 4 hours, he's had milk shakes, eggs, toasted cheese sandwich. His activity has been great. I've not noticed any big changes in speech. I've read that some people can tell immediately but he's doing very good so far.

My surprise came tonight when the phone rang and I saw on the caller ID that it was the doctor. He called to check up on him and make sure he was doing OK. That means sooooooooo much to me. He told me to give him a squeeze and tell him he was very proud of him. He told me to watch the next couple days as he may complain of his teeth hurting as the teeth are starting to move. So we'll keep tylenol on hand and more milk shakes.

We go back on 7/29 for another check up. Dr. Scott said the appointments will get easier and easier from here. I have pictures - just not tonight.

Tyler's ENT visit

Ty had a check up with the ENT today. Brett and I noticed about a month ago that you could pull his right ear lobe and see the tube sitting in his ear. It's still there and the tube in the left ear is also out. His left ear has closed up nice and looks great.....not the same for the right ear. He's got fluid sitting there and it's a little pink. Not infected but it could become that way. She told me to watch for any balance issues, him saying "uh, what, etc...indicating that he can't hear" and any infections. We have to go back in 3 months and if their is still fluid then we will have to get another set of tubes. OR if we should get an infection she wants to know and we'll address it sooner. Keeping my fingers crossed that the fluid will go away and no more tubes necessary. However, the only good thing is that he also has a very noticeable piece of skin from his upper lip to the front teeth that our dentist would like clipped. So if he needs more tubes, then the ENT can clip the skin as well. So we wait.....and watch.....and will see the pediatrician for his 4 year check up sometime in July so we'll see if by chance the fluid is going away.

How to eat pizza.....

Kids have their likes and dislikes but I think most kids LOVE pizza. At least my 3 love their pizza. If there is ever a meal I want everybody to eat - we get pizza!

It's how they "eat" their pizza that differs.......and Cody takes the cake in our family. He has to have a pepperoni pizza. So we usually order 1/2 cheese, 1/2 pepperoni. Here are Cody's steps to eat pizza:

1. Find the perfect piece.
2. Take the pepperoni off.

3. Take all the cheese off - every single piece of it.

4. Eat the pepperoni.

5. Eat the rest of the pizza.

6. Start over till his little belly is full.

Cody showing Uncle Shaun the "perfect piece".....

Tyler's 4th Birthday

Tyler had a GREAT 4th birthday. We woke up to some rain and cooler conditions on Saturday and I was quickly having a little chat with the weather man as he LIED about the weather. Once I got over it....we got busy to setting up the tent, Brett went and got the bounce house, then I to get the balloons and then it was time to go to the fire station.

What an awesome job they did for us at the fire station. We met with 2 fire men and they quickly took Tyler and up in the truck he went. He got to steer, blow the horn (picture below), turn the truck on, turn the lights on. He LOVED it. Then they took us around the truck and showed us what was in each compartment. After that the fireman slid down the pole and then all the kids got to try it out. Then they got out all the gear and he put it all on for the kids to see. He explained everything as he went and did a really good job at. The fireman called Dispatch and had them run a test so the kids could hear the tones. It was a lot of fun and I think they all learned something. We took a quick photo op in front of the truck and you can imagine how hard it is to get all the kids to look at the camera. After we left the fire station, we came back home to enjoy the bounce house. I have to say the bounce house was worth every penny. It was a super nice house with a covered top - which came in very handy as it did rain on us. The kids jumped and jumped and jumped some more. We enjoyed a super yummy ice cream cake, presents and then it was time to beat the pinata. The weather did not cooperate at this point so we had to move the pinata to the front porch and the kids got to release some energy. They all got to hit it a couple of times and then it broke open.

Here is my birthday boy. He came to bed and was full of stories. It was wonderful to hear him explain his day and hear the excitement in his voice. He truly had a wonderful birthday!!!! I still can't believe he is 4! Happy Birthday Tyler - Mommy, Daddy, Cody and Dylan love you!

Tball Banquet Pictures

To tide you over as this weekend is going to be a long one with the birthday party tomorrow, here are a couple pictures from the T-ball banquet!


One last time....."Go A's".....
Cody and Dylan - very proud of their trophies! Now I need to get a shelf for their bedroom so we can display them!And the certificates.....