8 weeks old!

Check out my beautiful baby Paige at 8 weeks old! Isn't she just so sweet!

Friendship

Jen- I sit here looking for a friendship poem to show how much I appreciate our endless hours of bitching, crying, and heart warming conversations. But, as you know I'm not a sappy person and all I could find was "glad we are friends" "when we first met" blah blah blah! So here's straight and to the point...

Thank you for the endless years of friendship where we can talk about anything. Tonight was refreshing!

Ode to Paige

PERFECT BEAUTY
by Joanne Green


The Great Sphynx of Egypt has, over the years, Lost her nose.


Venus de Milo has no arms,


And the Liberty Bell sports a great, wide crack.

And yet each of these is considered to be a thing of beauty,


A standard of perfection.


And so it must be that we do not, as one might imagine,


Look to perfection in order to see beauty,


But rather, we look to beauty,


And thereby see perfection.

7 weeks progress pics!

Just a warning, Paige is usually NOT very happy when I get these pics. It's about the only time she lets me see in her mouth is when she is mad and/or crying! LOL So just pre-warning you now, these are not her best pics. :)

This is Paige's NAM now with the nose stent. It helps to mold her nose. It will be added to each week to make her nose mold prior to surgery.


Paige with her NAM and nose stent now. It doesn't bother her. She has not cared that it's there at all. Actually it keep her nose open so it really does help her to breath better. Before, her nose was flat on that side.

You can see Paige's gum line that has moved a considerable amount. This week has been a really dramatic difference. Her gums are a bit red from the molding but it doesn't bother her at all. It's such a slow process that while we can tell a difference, I doubt she can.

Check out how open her nose is on the right side now. This was all flat prior to this week and the nose stent. Also, you can see how far her gums have moved on the left side. I believe her cleft is only about 6 mm now. When she has her surgery, they will straighten out her nose so that the cavities are the same on both side and symetrical.

Thanks for looking!

Recent Pictures of the crew!

Home soundly from the hospital!

Comfy, cozy Paige!

Hanging out with Paige!

Sun was in our eyes at the Pumpkin fest parade. Just a little mommy and kiddo time!

Mommy and Maddie!

Paige is home

Thankfully Paige is home from the hospital. After 4 days of being there, she is now sleeping soundly. Her little hand is quite swollen from the IV but she is eating okay and acts pretty well. She has been really tired and sleeping most of the day. I can't wait to get her a bath when she's up and nice and comfy. We are going to try to do our best of not getting sick again but it's really hard. I work with children, Hal works in a hospital, Owen is in Kindergarten, etc. One of us is bound to bring something home at some time. My kids get vitamins every single day, they wash their hands, change their clothes often, take showers, etc. Just seems to still happen.
But, thankfully Paige seems to be doing better.

This is one of those times

where if you don't want to hear me bitch, you might not want to read! Seriously, this could get nasty if I don't watch what I say!

I'm fed up! Seriously fed up. These last few weeks have literally been the weeks from hell! I can't even enjoy my poor baby because she is so sick all the time. And when she's not sick, it's just a matter of time before something else happens. I know first hand that there are many children that are much worse off than she is. I have seen some really SICK children! But, to us, this is devasting! It's really difficult to juggle starting a new job, working my current job, Hal in school, Owen in Kindergarten, Madison in general, spending every week at the hospital, this whole week being at the hospital, working to get subs for when I'm off, not feeling guilty about the time spent with Owen and Madison, and everything else involved in just living. But, then I also have the fact that I am starting to get really fed up with a specific group of individuals in my life. I have some really great family and friends. I have family and friends who would drop what ever they are doing to help us when they can. They are the type of people who know that I have always put my children first and that this is all really difficult for us. They also know that Hal and I never ask anyone for help when it comes to raising our children or caring for them. But, I find it very difficult to handle when we ask for help and all I get are excuses for why it's not possible. It's not like we ask all the time for help. It's not like we are trying to "inconvience" anyone. We did not chose to have a sick baby who requires a lot of our attention. We did not ask for any of this and it's not fair to our children to have to worry about who is caring for them. We should not have to sacrifice their health and well being when this is all happening. I will not just pawn my children off on just anyone. We ask for help and it seems that we just get excuses from people who say they care! Then, there are people who will take off work for us, spend time in hotels rooms for us with the kids, drive 2 hours to watch the kids. But, we can only ask this so many times before we feel like we are using these people. Then, there is this other group of people that all I can do is *sigh* when I think about their uninvolvement in the well being of our children. DO NOT PRETEND like you care and not even call to check up on Paige when she is really sick! She is currently STILL in the hospital and has been for 3 days! Hal is with her tonight as I am drained and really just need to sleep. I'll go back in the morning. Yet, there are some people who will talk to the entire town about Paige but yet not even care to check and see if she is okay. Which she is not! She is better, yes! Her fever is down and she is starting to recoop but this has been tramatic for her. Unless you have checked on Paige or read the blog, responded or just plain showed your caring interets, DO NOT pretend like you give a crap about my baby girl! I'm done with fake people. I'm done sharing my beautiful children with anyone who does not on a regular basis care about these children. I will not waste my time caring anymore about these people. People who truly know me, know that I would bend over backwards for anyone! Expecially when it comes to children. Yet, when we ask for help, it only comes from people who we would least expect. Thank you to these people, you know who you are! We love you!