June 2013

We continued to do our trial month of homeschool, made crystals and homemade charcoal for drawing. We also started attending the Donnelly Library "Dig Into Reading" summer program.  Midas Gold visited and then Clyde wanted to go panning for gold so we did over on the Stringer Place - no gold, but did collect some cool rocks!

We went to Jemima Davis's funeral and had some of her famous cooler.

 My Christmas present - a wall tent - was delivered and erected.

Clyde had an ear check up.  He's lost both tubes and for now they think it looks like he's outgrowing the need for them.  Yeah!

We saw baby bluebirds in a fencepost on the Stringer Place and watched the sheep pass through.

Clyde caught "a such a big fish"!  And, he got to walk with the other kindergarteners in the Montessori Academy kindergarten graduation.

Our Rydalch cousins visited, and even did school with us, and there was a double rainbow while they were here.

Trip to the Capitol & Clyde's Checkup

Yesterday we went for Clyde's annual Cleft Palate Clinic.  We saw the plastic surgeon, dentist & hygienist, audiologist, clinical psychologist (new addition to the team), and speech therapist.  Clyde weighed in at 39 pounds and was 43 inches tall.  He's doing very well across the board.  The only problem was that in his left ear he can't hear sounds above 6000 hertz.  Those apparently are well above human speech and he can hear them in his other ear, so not a huge issue, but we're going for further testing.

After the Clinic, we decided to stop at the Capitol building.  I hadn't seen it since the renovations, and it looks great.  The kids loved the rotunda, but their favorite was the cannon. 

Watch out world.... in her own words, "I'm Alice Big Governor!"  The kids got to meet Governor Otter, Controller Jones and see our cousin, Lt. Governor Little.  I was explaining how they were doing important business making laws in the House chamber.  Then Ben said, "Isn't that Abraham Lincoln?"  Turns out we were there for Lincoln Days. 

Doctor visits...

Last week (July 12) we went to Boise for the children's annual well visits with Dr. Nasser. Alice was 28 1/2 lbs. and 35 1/2 inches (about 75th and 95th percentiles). Clyde was 31 lbs. and 38 inches (about 75th percentile for both). They are both really healthy and happy!

In June, Clyde went for his annual cleft palate clinic at St. Luke's Children's Specialty Center. He saw a pediatric dentist, an orthodontist, an audiologist, an ENT, the plastic surgeon, and the speech therapist. In the photo, the audiologist had hooked him up to a machine to see if his ears were clear of fluid. He got new semi-permanent ear tubes in January and they are supposed to last about 10 years or so. Other than the beginnings of some little cavities on his teeth, everyone said he was doing really well. He probably won't need any medical intervention until he gets his permanent teeth when he'll have some orthodontic work and get his final surgery placing some hip bone into his gum to fuse together his upper gum where it still has a notch.

Good News

A month or so ago, we went to the speech therapist with Clyde. He's a wonderful man that works out of St. Luke's and we've only seen him a couple times to monitor Clyde's speech as it emerges. Initially at about 18 months old Clyde's speech was a little delayed. Now at nearly three years with really no interventions, Clyde is speaking so well that the therapist said we don't need regular speech therapy. We are so thankful for this. It means we won't have to make regular trips to St. Luke's. It means we don't need to do any corrective surgeries to his palate at this time. Our surgeon did such a good job that we will be saving substantial time, money and effort at this stage.

Clyde is a very thoughtful and funny little boy and we're so proud of him. It looks like we won't have to do anything but annual check ups for his cleft lip and palate until he gets his permanent teeth and they'll do the last surgery. Such wonderful news!

A day in Clyde's life...

8:00 a.m.


Mommy, mommy, mommy...
(Enter Mommy)

Mommy... Poopy....

Wipe, wipe, Clyde wipe.

8:30 a.m.

(Clyde, do you want breakfast?)

Pizza, pizza

(I'll make you an egg pizza)
Egg pizza, egg pizza, milk
(Baby crying in background)

Baby, baby neenya.
(Enter baby (with Mommy))
Baby neenya crying. Baby cookie. Baby eat. Hammy, big daddy hammy.
(Eat your egg pizza Clyde)
Clyde pizza, egg pizza, baby cookie, milk. Hammy, big hammy, big hammy (crying and pointing to back door where we keep hammers). Mommy, hammy, big daddy hammy.
(You need to eat your egg pizza Clyde)
All done. All done. Big hammy. Mommy hug.
(OK, drink some more milk first).

Milk.

(Did you drink all your milk?)

All gone.

(Let's clean your hands and face)
Mouth.

(Clyde is now clean and removed from highchair and headed for back door)

Big hammy, big daddy hammy.


(Clyde is now left alone with two big hammers while Mommy takes care of baby)
Hi-ya. Hammy, big hammy.
(Clyde leaves the hammers in the kitchen and comes upstairs)

9:15 a.m.
Baby poopy
(No Clyde, she's just wet)
Baby wet. Wag (rag - offering mommy a rag, thank you Clyde)
Clyde poopy
(Are you poopy Clyde?)
No. Baby poopy. Mommy, hammy, wah, wah, wah.... (extended crying)
(Clyde goes back into his room and starts to play)
Book. Mommy. Book. Mommy. Book.
(Clyde do you want to read a book?)
Hoponpop.
(You want to read Hop on Pop?)
No, Elmo. Elmo.
(OK let's read Elmo. Can baby read with us? (as we're all 3 getting situated on the couch))
No, Clyde book (then pushes his sister's foot away because it's just barely touching him)


All that by 9:30.... to be continued....

And here we were worried about speech development with his cleft palate!

Home again!!

I was so happy to be home!! I walked around and all my stuff was right where I left it. It was kind of hard to balance at first because I couldn't move my arms, but I figured it out. One of my favorite things is hats. I really like this cowboy hat of my mom's. She even took me to a store and I got my own hat that fits better, but I like the big hat. I just point and say "hat" and they give it to me. I wear it everywhere. (Mommy and Daddy think that's a crazy first word, but hey I like hats!)


While I was at home getting better, my Aunt Catherine visited. She's fun. I got to wear her glasses and I think you'll agree that I look pretty cool.

My new friend Clara from Seattle visited me too. I got to take off my arm bands for this picture. It was so nice to bend my arms! Clara is cute, but she mostly just lays around.

It seemed like forever (Mommy says it was 3 weeks) and I went to the doctor and he said no more arm bands and that it was OK to eat real food (for that whole time I only got to drink milk and juices). We went to a party for one of Mommy's friends that night. She got married in a park. Everyone said I looked pretty cute.

Another surgery...

You shouldn't always trust your parents. Mine woke me up one day in the middle of the night and tried to feed me. I wasn't hungry; I was tired. Then they woke me up super early and wouldn't feed me - and then I was hungry! Mom only gave me a little water.

Then they took me back to the big brick building. It was still dark outside.

After we waited a while, they took us back to our own room and they put me in a purple rocket dress.

Then I got to play with a bunch of toys...

All the other kids were wearing purple rocket dresses too. I met William. His mommy and my mommy know each other.

They gave me some cherry stuff. I got really sleepy and don't really remember the rest.

I do remember waking up and Mommy and Daddy weren't there. It was scary. The people in blue took me upstairs to my own room and I was happy to see my parents. I was hurting and there were tubes and cords hooked to me. It wasn't very comfortable.

Mommy and Daddy said I looked like a big fish because the doctor had put a stitch through my tongue and it was hanging out of my mouth. I couldn't move my arms either. It was crazy. I didn't like the hospital.

My mouth felt so strange. Mommy says that the doctor closed my palate and fixed my lip on the left side. She says I don't have to go back for a very long time.

My Third Month

I just turned three months on August 15th and they say I'm growing like a weed. I weigh over 13 pounds now. I say I'm growing like a baby not a weed, but they still don't seem to understand my words even though I talk a lot.


This was a fun day. The neighbors brought their baby over to see me and Elliott.



I get to take baths again now that my face is all healed. It's fun! Mom and Dad said I look like a Jedi in my towel. I don't know what that is, but I heard them say something about special powers so I guess it's OK to be a Jedi.


One special power I have now is the power to sleep anywhere:

I just got a new chair with my name and everything and it's small enough that I already kind of fit in it. Here I am, lounging:


Here I am with my bunny again. I wrestle lots with dad, so here's a move I learned:


I'm not just bigger than the bunny now, I'm smarter too! Sometimes I help mom and dad water the garden (OK really I just go with them, but some day I'll help). We grew these tomatoes, daddy made the bread, and daddy caught the fish. The rest of it all came fresh from friends and relatives...


OK, that picture isn't nearly as great because it doesn't have a cute baby (namely me) in it, but my parents are pretty proud of their garden so I said it was OK and I'd share my blog.

Great Escapes...

When I got home from the big brick building, mom made me a special new place to sleep. Instead of my big crib, I stayed in the little white crib and it was propped up on one end and mom built me a little nest. I could barely move! And to make things worse, all the sudden I couldn't bend my arms either!


This really frustrated me:



After a while, I found out that if I moved around a lot, then my arms would be free:
When mom came in on that day, she was amazed at how far I threw that arm band!

At night it was worse. They would put those bands on and then they would wrap me in this fuzzy thing that mom called a straight jacket, but I still managed to get a hand out....


and sometimes more...

If they think they can tie me down, they're just plain silly!


"Power to the babies, man!" Don't let them tie you down either!

My First Surgery

I was born with a cleft lip and palate. Here's a picture of me at about 4 weeks where you can see it up close:


On July 19th, Mom woke me up at 3:15. I'd been trying to sleep in longer, so I thought it was kind of strange, but I never turn down a good meal so I ate it right up. Then Daddy came and woke me up at 5:15. I figured something strange was going on and I hoped it was something fun. Then they took me back to that big brick building where we stayed when I was born. We waited a long, long time. Mom says that's because they rescheduled my surgery from 7:30 to 9:30, but all I know is that I was getting really really hungry and no one was doing anything about it. I cried and tried to let them know, but they wouldn't do anything, so I just gave up and went back to sleep. Here we are waiting:


Here I am in the weird gown they put on backwards. It had pictures of rocket ships on it.


All the sudden Daddy gave me to this guy:


The next thing I knew I was waking up and my mouth felt all funny. Mom and Dad weren't anywhere around until these two ladies took me upstairs. I had my very own room with a crib that Mom said kind of looked like a jail cell and Dad said looked like a bear trap.


Mom and Dad were saying I looked a lot different and kind of swollen. I felt so out of it, I just slept a lot. My grandmas and my Grandpa Harry came to visit, along with my cousin Elliott, my Aunt Merlaine, my Aunt Janelle, Shelley, and some other people too.



I can't move my arms and they wrap me up tight at night. I'd just like to touch my face where it feels funny, but I can't reach it no matter how hard I try.


Eating's kind of hard and they give me some bad tasting medicine, but mostly it's OK. The nurses were really nice and Mom stayed the night with me. I got to go back home the next day and Mom made me a special "nest" to sleep in my little crib. Here I am on my way home in my car seat:


I heard them talking about another surgery next year -- how far away is a year? I hope it's a long time...