brian & kristin: August 2012

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

ONE

We have successfully kept another human being alive for ONE year.

This little nugget has changed our lives in ways we never could have imagined.

No one prepares you for how hard some things are...

how amazing this one little person can make you feel...

Or how fast time really does fly.

Seriously... how is he ONE YEAR OLD already!?

There is no way to put into words how crazy we are about this little man.

At one years old... Braxton is:

crawling and/or walking all over the house.

{he just passed out like this!}

Says "mama" and "meow" (back at the kitties when they meow)

He has never even hinted at being able to say "da da" until now, after his surgery.
Brian and I both swear we heard "da da" and "daddy" clearly tonight when playing with him.
I wonder if his closed and lengthened palate is already making a difference!
He has also made several other noises/sounds that we never heard before the surgery.

Still loves his kitties!
Now that he is mobile he chases after them with a big cheeser grin and is learning to catch them.

Finally had his cleft palate repaired.

We're still in the recovery period which is proving to be the hardest part.

I just try to keep reminding myself how quickly 3 weeks will fly by...
then we are back to normal and better than before.

We had to sleep train him again for the THIRD time.
I don't know if I can handle another night of a screaming baby.
Luckily it only took about 2 nights and he's back to sleeping through the night again.
I'm just praying this is the last 'big' event to totally mess up his sleep habits.

Hates when we lay him down to change his diaper.
he will squirm and try to roll around like his life depended on it.
For awhile, it was so hard to hold him down it had become a 2 person job.

Loves to talk on the phone!
He used to just want to chew on our cell phones but one day he started putting it up to his ear.
It's so funny how quickly they pick up on things!

Can shake his head 'yes' and 'no' to mimic you.
Pretty sure he doesn't really know what they mean yet.

Does not really like to sit down and read books anymore.
(Hoping this is just a phase!)
You can usually get in about 2 pages before he tries to turn a couple pages, then shut the book and throw it to the ground.
Does not have the attention span or isn't interested in sitting and listening.

Is still a little string bean.

We have to wait to do his one year check up at least 4 weeks after his surgery so we don't have an updated height and weight yet but he's small.

He has already lost a pound since on his liquid diet.

I am so ready for him to start eating well and fatten up.

It sucks having to constantly worry about him getting calories and gaining weight.

Loves the Itsy Bitsy Spider.

His favorite song by far.

He tries to do the spider motions and is getting pretty close.

Will start to 'dance' when you put on music and bounce to it.

Is into EVERYTHING.

Loves to get into the cabinets and pull things out.

Loves to put everything he can in his mouth.

This stage is the most exhausting...
certain things are easier

(like him sitting in a high chair and feeding himself)

but we can't let him leave our sight for 1 second or he is trying to put something he shouldn't into his mouth.

Is officially on soy milk.

He still got gas pains when we tried regular dairy or lactose free milk.

Not sure if he officially has a milk protein allergy but we're claiming that for now and he tolerates soy well so far.

Has become super affectionate.

He was pretty lovey dovey before his surgery but even more so afterwards.

Sometimes its a little needy (when he accompanies it with whines) but he is always coming up to Brian and I and giving us hugs and kisses.

Has 4 teeth.

The two on the bottom came awhile ago and the top two just came through.

One was relatively painless, the other took 2 weeks to pop through... so painful!

Even though it makes me sad he is getting bigger and growing up we are also so excited for all the new things that are coming!
He gets more and more fun every single day.

Happiest 1st Birthday, Nug Bug!!!!
We love you so much!

Monday, August 27, 2012

Cleft Palate Surgery

{August 14th}

Braxton had surgery to repair his cleft palate. It's something we've been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. We knew it wasn't going to be a big deal as far as surgery goes so we didn't really think about it much until it was right upon us.

{I only had 1 minor emotional breakdown the night before}

We got to the hospital at 5:30am and they checked us in and got us back to a room right away.

Braxton did so great for not being able to eat or drink anything that morning... he was just happy to jump on the bed and climb around everything.

And he is so dang cute in these hospital jammies.

The surgery lasted 4 1/2 hours and they called and gave us updates every hour

{"He's still doing great"}

He was pretty cranky waking up out of anesthesia but that was to be expected.

The doctor said babies recover so fast from the procedure (much faster than adults do!)

and that he might only be on pain medication for a day or two.

We kept him on constant pain meds the first 2 days and he was just really sleepy and cranky the first day/night.

They released us from the hospital after 1 night as soon as she showed he could drink 8 oz from a cup.

(babies that have this surgery usually have aversions to anything near their mouth at first)

He's been pretty happy since we've been home and just goes through periods of being needy/whiney.

The biggest part of recovery is that he can not have anything in his mouth...

no hands, toys, spoons, bottles, pacifiers, sippy cups... anything.

They gave us arm braces called 'no-no's' for him to wear anytime we are not right next to him to keep him from putting anything in there.

This also includes nap time, bed time, and in the car seat and stroller.

They are the cutest and saddest things you've ever seen at the same time.
After the first few nights we decided to stop putting them on him at bed time b/c he would wake up crying often since he had a hard time turning over.
Plus, he's never really put his hands in his mouth when he sleeps anyways so we weren't super worried.

He also has to be on a liquid diet for 3-4 weeks.

These two things are by far the hardest part of this whole process.

Everything he eats has to be blended up and pourable from a cup.

They said they expect him to lose a little weight but the goal is to make sure he has at least 3-4 wet diapers a day and doesn't get dehydrated.

The first 2 days home we've had to get creative to get him to eat.
He's done pretty well eating baby food from the cup but he refuses to take more than 3 or 4 drinks (at most) of any liquids from the cup.

Since he is getting so much less in his belly, he has been sleeping horrible!
He fights when we put him down, then wakes up about 1-2 hrs later. Again, he'll only take a few drinks of milk and we have the hardest time putting him back down.
He'll scream and cry (for up to an hr straight) before we give up and put him in our bed with us.
Then he thinks its party time and wants to play and wrestle and whine for another 1-3 hours.
When he finally passes out, we might get 4 hrs of sleep before he's up crying again.
I think most of it has to do with waking up hungry. He basically begs for his bottle and we know he would chug it if we gave it to him so it kills us not to be able to do so.

We had his 1 week follow-up today and his surgeon said everything looks great so far!
The sides have already closed up and his sutures are healing good.
His stitches should dissolve in another couple weeks and after our 1 month follow-up we'll get the all clear to return to totally normal.

We also asked him about the sleeping problems and if crying/screaming would inhibit his recovery at all.
Since the answer was no.... sleep training is starting again tonight.
{ugh}

Only 2-3 weeks left to go on this liquid/soft food diet
and then we'll be back to normal!
We are so grateful everything went was well as it could have!