October

Ethan had his palate revision 2 weeks ago today and he is doing well. This was a difficult surgery and it took him a week to get back to his usual busy self. The surgery took about 2 1/2 hours and the surgeon essentially opened his palate up completely and closed it again with the muscles in better position and also closing 2holes in the palate. Two weeks later we think it is healing well but the surgeon explained that the palate will be healing and rigid for about 4-6 wks. Once everything is healed the muscles may begin to move so that Ethan's speech will improve. Ethan has already started using p and b sounds much more clearly, those sounds he could not make for the last 2 years because air was escaping from his mouth through his nose. He is on a soft diet for a couple more weeks and other than that he seems to be happy and healing.

I also wanted to post a few pictures from our trip to Asian Culture camp on Cape Cod - Liam and Patrick did the ropes course and loved it!









Before Liam's soccer tournament the day before Ethan's surgery.


Ethan playing in bed around 4am, the staff gave him many gifts from a "treasure chest" which he made sure were in bed with us. He is also playing with the flashlight they used to check his incision.


Ethan home from the hospital the day after surgery, still very sleepy from pain meds.


Liam and Nyla in our backyard, fall 2009


Thanks again for checking in on Ethan and for your well wishes.

Fall is here

We have had a hectic month with the start of school and many many other activities. You truly miss the freedom of summer when school starts! The kids are loving their new classes and making new friends. Liam and Nyla are playing soccer and trying out cub scouts/daisy troops. Nyla turned 7 in September and we celebrated at a paint your own pottery place here in Nashua.

Ethan started 2 preschools this fall. One is for special needs and typical kids where he receives one on one speech therapy sessions 2 days a week, as well as other therapies. The other is an all day YMCA preschool where he goes to swim lessons and creative movement class, as well as allowing me to work a couple of days a week per diem nursing. For the first 2 weeks of school Ethan cried & sobbed (sometimes soaking my shoulder with tears) when we would drop him off. The preschool would report "missing mommy and daddy" for the day. It was depressing! I thought I would be so happy when he started school, after 2 years of chasing a very very active toddler boy! It was strange to not enjoy it and to wonder if I was doing the right thing. Thankfully, he started to enjoy his school day and the activities, now he usually goes to class and waves "bye mom", only occationally looking sad. I am concerned about the surgery in October and how he will transition back into school.

Liam started 3rd grade and Nyla started 1st grade in September. Liam is slowing getting used to the extra homework - with a lot of whining that first week! Nyla is reading above her grade level already and is eager to learn, ying and yang!

Over Labor Day weekend we visited the Lakes region of NH and just spent time together as a family, it was very relaxing.



Ethan gave us a big scare a couple of weeks ago by choking briefly, then swallowing this marble. We figured that he probably swallowed it, but I was so shaken up that we ran to the ER for a xray, it was in his stomach. Two days later it came out the other end and I was so excited I had to clean it up and get a photo of it. Needless to say our house is marble free again. Ethan was given the marble run only a month ago for his birthday, all the kids loved it but I guess we weren't ready for it!

Summer vacation in Canada

Wanted to post a few pictures from our trip home this summer. The kids really enjoyed spending time with family and friends, the hardest part was the drive home, 15 hours from Manitoulin Island.
Visiting with Zia Ernest, Louise and Lina in Oakville.

Liam caught 4 fish and Nonno caught 4 fish (Nonni cottage on Manitoulin Island). Liam was so happy and excited to show us his catch. These are experiences you can't replicate!

After biking to Bridal Veil falls, the kids had fun swimming under them. But Ethan decided it would be fun to throw rocks around until a gentleman got upset and we had to leave! In my defense I told Ethan about 20 times to stop throwing rocks, but he really doesn't listen!

Visiting with Nadia & Sara's kids in Maitland. We have been friends since grade 9 and this is the first time we had all of our kids together. Thanks again!

Ethan Turns 3

Ethan had a great birthday party with a few friends in our backyard, with a bounce house and water slide to entertain the kids. Mid party we had a huge thundershowers, which luckily cleared up after we rescued the kids from the collapsing bounce house and ran into the basement.

Ethan is doing well overall following his surgery in June. We have continued with speech therapy through the summer and he is really conversing now, although I have to translate since it is difficult to understand him. He is speaking in sentences, and is attempting more sounds although most of the pressure sounds he still can not reproduce. Ethan qualified for the special preschool starting in Sept where he will receive speech therapy and other therapy (just because he happens to be there). He will attend the preschool Tues and Thurs mornings.

We scheduled his palate revision for October 12th at Boston Children's. I am really hoping that he will not need another surgery after this for a couple of years but we will just have to wait and see. This will be Ethan's 4th surgery not including ear tubes. My biggest concern is his crazy busy activity level. I want the surgery to be successful and his repair to heal well, so we may have to use more sedation after the surgery, I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.

Next week we will be celebrating Ethan and Nyla's adoption day. It will be only 2 years since we adopted Ethan yet it feels like he has been part of our family for much longer. Nyla will be celebrating her 6th adoption day. Many memories of traveling to China in the August heat to adopt our 2 beautiful children, the last trip being very special since we were able to travel as a family to bring our little Ruhan home.

Firsts

Nyla had a couple of firsts this summer. I have the pictures reversed but first Nyla decided to learn how to ride her bike without training wheels in July after much practice over 2 days. Then she got her first loose tooth and thanks to my neice Quin who pulled it out for Nyla on our visit to Newmarket this week. Nyla will be 7 in a couple of weeks, she has enjoyed spending lots of time with friends and family over the summer and is so anxious to start grade 1 in September.

Liam's first communion

May 30th, 2009. Liam's First Communion celebration, it was a special day for him.







Some photos of our day at the Boston Dragonboat races, June 5th.

Ethan is home

We went into the hospital early yesterday morning for Ethan's palate surgery. When the surgeon got a good look in his mouth, he realized that the repair was more extensive than he had thought. Ethan had a hole in front of his teeth, behind his teeth and his palate needs to be lengthened & repaired. He was concerned about everything healing properly since fistula's are really difficult to repair, so he concentrated on the hole in front of his teeth only. It took less time and when he came out to talk, he said he would do the rest of the repair in 4-6 months time. This upcoming surgery will be more involved and he felt that by splitting them up into stages he will have a better chance of success and good healing.

So Ethan came out of surgery feeling pretty good (the surgeon had numbed everything). He only received a little pain medication, more for aggitation from the anesthesia and then we rested most of the morning in his hospital bed. In the afternoon he started getting very active. He was drinking apple juice, then using the potty, and was very determined to get all the monitors and the IV off. He succeeded in pulling his IV out and luckily they said it could stay out. When he started dancing and jumping around the room we decided to ask if we could go home. Dr. Meara was very nice to let us go, they called to check on him too. We got home just before bedtime, Ethan took him medications and fell into a deep sleep. I was so happy to sleep too after being up since 4:45am.

Today he woke up around the usual time and I haven't needed to give him anything for pain. Just don't attach a monitor to the kid and his fine! Yesterday when I kept asking if anything hurt, he only pointed to the IV and the pulseox light on his toe! He is on a soft blenderized diet and that is the biggest challenge. He wants to eat the same things as the other kids, cookies, cereal - regular food, but had to settle on applesauce. With his first palate surgery he wasn't walking or eating regular food yet, so it was not a huge challenge to feed him. This time is different... and we will be doing it again in a few short months!

I did ask the surgeon if he felt we could hold off on this next surgery (selfishly not wanting to put him through this again so soon). But he had reviewed the findings of the speech therapist and felt that we can't wait if we want him to have the best chance at developing normal speech.

Thanks for checking in on Ethan and I hope everyone is doing well. I will try to post some pictures during nap time. Patrick is off work this morning and giving me a break while I post this.

New development

I went to see the plastic surgeon, Dr. Meara yesterday and he decided it was time to revise Ethan's palate. He is leaking a lot of air which is affecting his speech and he gets a lot of fluids through his nose. So it is scheduled for June 8th. It is good thing for Ethan, I just was not expecting another surgery so soon. I hope all goes well and I will post afterwards. There will other procedures down the road, the focus now is to give him the best opportunity to speak correctly.

Spring is here!

Wishing all the moms out there a happy mother's day! Liam wrote a great story about his mom, mentioning more than once that his mom's favorite thing to do is sleep in! How well they know me.



Now that spring is here we are enjoying the warm weather and spending a lot of time outside. We also decided it was time to start potty training Ethan! Not fun, not something I enjoy and although we have some good days with no accidents we also have some really bad days. Hopefully by the time he starts preschool in Sept, he will mostly trained.






Ethan's vocabulary is really expanding rapidly. The downside is that he can not say most consonant sounds, so it is difficult to understand him. We took him to an appt at Boston Children's Hospital last week. They tested his speech and the therapist recommended that he receive speech therapy 2-3 times a week and right now he only sees the therapist once a week. So I was on the phone all week trying to find another therapist, no luck so far, hoping this week goes better. Other than the speech therapy, everything is the same, no surgery until he is 4-5 yrs old.

Liam is busy with school and travel soccer. We are talking about a trip to Vietnam, that would be a wonderful thing if we can figure out how to do it with Ethan being so busy. It might be a trip for Patrick and Liam this time around, I will keep everyone updated. Nyla is busy with rec soccer, school and ballet. She is learning to read and is sooooooo excited to start first grade in September. Hope everyone is well and I will post again soon.

I am sorry for the long delay in posting. Life has been busy. The best part of vacationing in Florida for winter break was getting out of our daily routine. The kids had a great time at the Disney parks and were much braver than I thought they would be on some of the scary rides.

Ethan is doing well, yet speech remains a big issue for him. The only sounds he can say are the vowel sounds and m, h, w. He continues to work with a speech therapist one day a week and he will transition over the summer to the 3 yrs+ program. I am hoping that he will qualify for services 2-3 days a week, he has a lot of catching up to do and it isn't happening quickly. My big question is whether another surgery would help or is therapy the answer. I am hoping that we will get some answers at his next appointment. That is not until May, so until then we are going to sit tight and wait.

Hope everyone is well and I will write again when we know more!

Ethan in action

Ethan proudly shows his creation. He was left unattended for a few minutes and decided to mix fruit loops with butter spread (an entire container) into his cup of milk, yummmm.