Wills' 2 year photos!

Our amazing photographer Kristi, from 3 Blessings Photography, was doing mini sessions the week after Wills' birthday. We realized we don't have any professional photos of him since he got his glasses so we thought this was the perfect opportunity to document him turning 2 and his new look. We also thought we could get a couple of shots as a family since we won't be a family of 3 much longer!

31 weeks

On Thursday, we hit the 31 week mark. I also had my monthly appointment with Dr. Smith, my perinatologist. Charles left that day for Chicago, so my mom came up to go with me and to spend the weekend with Wills and I.

To make a long visit short, the take home message from this appointment is that Te2 continues to grow. He weighed in at a hefty 5 lbs 8 oz and we are measuring 3 weeks ahead. We could also see hair in some of his pictures and he had his eyes opened. I never really thought about babies opening their eyes while in there!

And as usual, his hands and feet were in the way quite a bit while trying to get good shots of his face.

Preschool

Or as Charles calls it, "Pre Pre Pre K,  Because then it sounds even more ridiculous".

We went to visit on Sunday so Wills could see his classroom and meet his teachers. He stuck pretty close to Charles and I, but they had lots of trucks and buses for him to play with so he was pretty happy with that. When it was time to leave, he threw a major fit. Unfortunately I have experienced one of these before, but Charles never had, and it is definitely something we don't want to repeat! We were hoping the devastation at leaving would be a good sign for today, the first day of school.

Thankfully  my work is allowing me to go in late on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I can take Wills to preschool. We got up and ready this morning and I attempted taking his picture and he kept running away from me and saying "no". Here are the best I could get.

He is wearing his shirt from his birthday party. I figured when else is a shirt with a school bus and your name on it going to be appropriate?

When it was time to leave I asked if he was ready for school and he was. We got in the car without any fuss and drove the very short drive to school. It is maybe a mile from our house.

We pulled in the parking lot and he said "We're here". We saw a friend from church right when we got there. They aren't' in the same class, but I'm sure it was good to see another familiar face. When we got to our classroom, we took off our backpack, put it in our cubby, and went straight for the firetruck.

I gave him a kiss and told him Miss Michelle would be picking him up. He whimpered as I walked away, but his teacher Miss Jill distracted him and by the time I was out the door in the hallway he had forgotten all about me. Overall a great start!

Fundraiser and splash pad

Uptown Kids,  a children's boutique near our house, was hosting their 3rd anniversary party this Saturday. All the proceeds from the party went to Citizens Caring for Children, which is an organization that works with foster kids. They had a petting zoo,  two bounce arounds, a hockey rink, face painting, balloon animals, and two kid focused bands playing. They also had a ton of food and sno cones. The petting zoo, bounce arounds and sno cones were the big hits with Wills.

 

 

On Sunday after an early lunch, we decided to go to Memorial Park and check out their splash pad. Wills had a blast!

Te2's First Doctor's Appointment

On Monday, Charles and I met with Dr. Kevin Smith, the director of the Cleft Craniofacial Clinic at the University of Oklahoma. He will be the one doing Te2's surgeries. He went through a power point presentation with us that reviewed the different types of cleft lips and cleft palates. It also covered the different types of bottles available for feeding a baby with a cleft palate. We found out that they are pricey, about $40 a piece! It also covered the typical surgery timeline for Te2.

Dr. Smith told us that he cannot guarantee that there is actually palate involvement. He said we will not know that until Te2 gets here. This definitely gave me a little bit of hope, which I'm not sure is a good thing. We had already accepted that the palate was involved, so hopefully hearing this won't cause us to have to go through that disappointment again if he is born with a cleft palate. It would be such a blessing if it isn't, because it would mean a lot fewer surgeries and complications. I guess we will just have to wait and see!

There are a couple of devices that I have seen other cleft palate teams use, the NAM and the Lantham. Dr. Smith talked with us about those and it seems it is dependent on how large the cleft is. It would be preferable to not have to use either of these. The NAM requires weekly appointments for adjustments and the Lantham has to actually be surgically placed, so it would be an additional surgery.

Assuming we don't have to use either of those devices and that there is cleft palate involvement, the surgery schedule would likely be similar to this:
Lip Repair at 10-16 weeks
Palate Repair at around 12 months
Alveolar Repair between ages 5 and 11

Other surgeries he might have to have depending on development, growth, scar tissue etc.
PE tubes
Velopharyngeal repair
Nasal tip reconstruction
Lip scar revision
Orthognathic surgery

This is the site for our cleft palate team. It has a great overview if you want more details about cleft lip/palate and the specific surgeries.

We won't see Dr. Smith again until Te2 is born. He will come evaluate him in the hospital and then we will go from there depending on what he finds.

24 months

It feels like such a long time since I wrote one of these. We went in today for our 2 year well check. Wills' allergies kicked back in on Monday, so I was a little concerned they might not consider him well enough, but thankfully they did. At our appointment today we got one shot and he had his finger pricked to check his iron levels. They did this because he is on the slim side, a somewhat picky eater and I have a history of anemia. His iron levels were just fine, so no worries there. Looking back at our last appointment with shots, Wills took a monster nap that afternoon. Sadly for me, this was not the case today. I put him down just after 2 and he laid in his bed chatting and calling the hogs for almost an hour. He finally fell asleep just before 3 and only slept for 45 minutes. If he sleeps any less than an hour, we usually pay for it around bedtime.

(yes, we like to wear shoes with our pjs)

Wills is still constantly on the move and usually at a very quick pace. We have a pretty great backyard for playing, so he is out there a lot. His cozy truck and his water table are big favorites when he is outside. We joined the Santa Fe Family Life Center again this summer to use their pool. He absolutely loves it when we go to the pool. They have a baby pool that he really likes to play in and then they have a big pool where we practice our swimming. When we are in the big pool, he will get on his belly and say "kick, kick, kick" while he kicks his feet to get wherever he want to go. It is super cute. The picky eating continues. There are some days he eats so much I can't believe it and other days I think he is surviving on air. Charles and I just remind ourselves that he is not going to let himself starve. He is still great at eating fruit, but you never know with anything else. Unless it's a sno cone. That is always a sure thing!

Language is still progressing. His vocabulary is pretty large and he has lots of 2 and 3 word combinations. He can name all of our immediate family, as well as all of his friends. Wills knows his shapes and colors. We are working on counting and the alphabet. Some days he seems like he gets it and other days not so much. He starts preschool next month and I am super excited about seeing how they help him progress. He still loves books and even has a few favorites he makes you read over and over. He will ask for Curious George, Llama and the Dinosaur books by name.

On the teeth front, I feel like they are all there, but honestly I am not going to stick my fingers in there to find out. He has been drooling quite a bit lately, so maybe he is getting his 2 year molars? Brushing our teeth is still a chore most days. We try it in the bathtub, on the changing table, standing on our step stool. We never know which way is the right way on that particular day!

Twenty Four Month Stats:

Weight: 27 lbs 12 oz, 47%

Length: 36 inches, 91%

Clothing Size: 18 to 24 month and 2T tops, 2T bottoms cinched at the waist or using dapper snappers

Nicknames: Buddy, little man, dude

Must haves: Transportation vehicles of any kind, books, Learning Tower, Holly

Wills' world is going to be shaken up over the next few months. He will start preschool in August, we will be moving him to a new bedroom, and he will be getting a little brother in October. Hopefully he will handle this all with grace. If not, hopefully God will give Charles and I the tools to handle it all with grace ourselves!