The Story of Max: March 2009

Today, Max walked. He's been doing the "hang onto Mommy's fingers and toddle along" thing for a while now, but when Uncle Hans came home this afternoon, held him for a moment, then put him down on the kitchen floor, he zipped right along over to Jessi, a good 10 feet of solid one-foot-in-front-of-the-other.

I know, baby steps (literally), but this was WALKAGE, not to be confused with "three or four steps then kiss the floor." Incidentally, we quickly tired him out by passing him back and forth, and soon after, it WAS three or four steps then kiss the floor. But before that, he walked.

So Max is quickly becoming ambulatory, which, of course, is very cool! But it also means Mom's gonna have to get quicker in the chase as the little man ramps up his game and puts some speed on.

Here's a subsequent trip across the kitchen, admittedly not *quite* as cool as the very first, but lots of fun, nonetheless! (Turn your head or your computer sideways for optimal viewing angle (in other words, there is no video editing software in the house!).

I haven't written for a while - so sorry! Max and I are doing really well. We are settling into a nice routine. Max gets up around 6:30-7:30 AM, has a delicious breakfast, plays with his toys, goes on an outing with Momma and Nona, comes home for a snack and a nap, spends the afternoon either playing or on another outing, eats again, and goes to bed around 7:30. His meals are currently a combination of toddler formula, a little oatmeal cereal, and some baby food mixed in. He loves yogurt, banana, apples, peas, butternut squash, carrots, etc. Thankfully he is not a picky eater, and gulps it all down in a bottle.

We've seen several doctors already. Our first visit was a regular Post Placement Adoption visit where he got most of his shots, needed to give some blood (ouch), and basically get checked over. At that point, he was in the 3rd percentile of weight which we've been working to increase ever since. His highest score was in head size, which was around the 30th percentile.

Then Max had an ear infection, so back to the dr we went! He was quite the trooper as he endured 10 days of antibiotics. He's all healthy again, and we're all happy!

Today was our consultation appointment with Children's Hospital. We met with four different medical people: a pediatric doctor, a social worker, a nurse, and the surgeon. All of them were so nice and accommodating. We are truly lucky to have such a great hospital in our city!

To summarize, Max will probably have at least two surgeries for his cleft lip and palate. The first surgery can hopefully be scheduled before I need to go back to work in May. The actual surgery will last about 3 hours, and will include connecting the outside soft tissue of his lips and his nostrils. You and I have a circle of muscles around our mouth that lets us pucker our lips, suck a straw, say the "oo" sound, etc. Max doesn't have that cirlce. His musles end at his left nostril, so the surgeon needs to disconnect it from where it currently is, and connect this muscle group to where it should be, plus connect the lips, of course. He will also reshape Max's nostril. The cartilage is so used to being flat that he will probably have to get a silicone tube placed into his nostril to help reshape it. We will probably stay in the hospital for a night, and then have about a 5 day recovery period.

The second surgery will probably happen 4-6 months later, and will focus on the palate. Here, the surgeon noticed that, even though Max has a unilateral cleft lip/palate, his palate opening is actually quite big, similar to a bilaterail lip/palate. Max isn't helping things by putting his fingers in his mouth (his version of sucking his fingers), which is making the opening even bigger. Therefore, the second surgery will actually be a lot more detrimental for Max. I don't know a lot about the details here, and will wait until we have to have it to find out more.

So how am I feeling? I was so thankful that my friend Heidi (Griffin' s Mom) came to the appointment with me today. It was so helpful to have her hold Max so I could interact with the doctors, fill out paper work, etc. Thanks, Heidi!! Overall, I'm feeling similar to how I felt boarding the plane in Beijing. It will be a long road, but we'll get there! And there just isn't a choice here - he has to have these surgeries. So we just move forward, and get them out of the way.

In the meantime, I get to focus on his overwhelming cuteness factor, which seems to be getting greater every day. He is so close to walking, and is enjoying himself tremendously. He laughs a lot, eats a lot, poops alot, sleeps plenty, and hates hates hates getting his teeth brushed! He loves his buddies Griffin and Mason, loves Tante Heidi, Jemae, Ray, Laurie, Kristin, Anne, Uncle George, and adores his Uncle Hans. The list goes on and on, and will especially increase next week, as we're off to see his granparents, aunts, cousins, and more friends!!