Right as Rain

So it's been just over 12 hours since Jake's surgery and he's back to his old self already. Grandma and Grandpa came to visit this evening and he was sitting up on his own, laughing, and grabbing at Grandma's hair - just like always! In a way, the partial repair has been nice. It's an easier adjustment visually. He still looks like Jake, just a little bit different. He certainly acts like Jake. We read our favorite book, played peek-a-boo through the crib bars, and now he's refusing to settle down and go to sleep. Just like every night! Here he is catching a little tv before bed.

Jake's First Surgery

4am is Too Early!

Jake is out of surgery and sleeping peacefully. The surgery went well, although they were not able to do the full lip repair as we had hoped. There was not enough lip tissue to bridge the gap (which is pretty wide!) so they had to do just a partial lip adhesion. We'll have to bring him back in later to get his lip worked on again. Not what we were hoping for, but not really a surprise. Today has been hard on all of us - we're exhausted. On top of everything else, we had to get up at 4am! But, for the moment, things are peaceful. I think I'll take a cue from Jake and just take a nap.

Cleared for Surgery

Playing in the waiting room

Sleeping it off

Surgery Tomorrow

Jake's surgery is at 6am tomorrow. Almost done packing and cleaning house! I'll be posting from the hospital provided I can get on the hospital's wireless and only if Jake doesn't need me for a few minutes. Here is Jake and turtle taking a break from the NAM. This is the 'before' picture!

Jake Speaks! (sort of...)

Jake is starting to make a lot of new sounds. We were kind of surprised. With a cleft soft palette, I thought we wouldn't hear much more than the incessant "eh, eh, eh," noise that he makes. His first sounds were "ow," and "ai." (After every sneeze or cough, he used to say "ow." We cracked up every time!) Within the last week, he's added g, r, and l sounds! The g sound is actually a result of him gurgling drool, but he does it purposefully to say something like "grar." Yesterday morning, he looked up at me and said "lal!" I couldn't believe it! (Laundry Jake!)