Happy Holidays

Well, it is January 1st, 2010 and another decade has passed. It seems like only yesterday we were celebrating the new milleneum as newlyweds who loved to travel. Now we have 3 children and avoid airplane travel and all that it entails.

Ethan is doing great after his surgery in October. I was holding my breath, waiting for it to fail. The surgeon didn't give me great hope, telling me that most fistulas reopen and it still could in the months ahead. But so far it is holding, his palate healed well, is completely sealed and every week Ethan is mastering new sounds. He speaks in sentences and the speech therapist is working on his N's (as in Nyla) and L's (as in Liam). He still has a long way to go and his recent IEP will increase his speech therapy sessions to 3 days a week for September 2010.

If Ethan's palate remains intact and he continues to do well, then we may be able to go several years without further surgery. Dr. Meara has said that the next step would be plastic surgery to his nose and lip around kindergarten or first grade. Later, he will also need a bone graft and lots of dental work. Ethan has been described by my friends as "always smiling". I hope his wonderful outlook on life never diminishes, it has carried him through his medical and emotional challenges thus far.




Happy holidays from our family to yours. I am thankful for those who have followed Ethan's progress over the last couple of years. We appreciate the support, especially during some of the difficult times (which have been many). I am going to stop posting to the blog, it is my hope that there will not be any news to post about, just the normal every day activities of a family of 5. That is my hope at least, we will see what the next decade brings us.....

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.