Does it really take a surgery to update the blog?

Apparently it does!!!

Grady had his cleft palate closed today, and according to the surgeon, Dr. Morton, he did really well during surgery and they had a lot of success closing tissue and muscle just like they were hoping to! Hopefully it will stay closed and the recovery will go well.

Grady pretty much hates surgery. He pretty much hates doctors. Despite his lack of food this morning, he was happily playing while we were in the waiting room. He had no idea what was coming.


Then we got taken to the back, and the nurse dared to check his vitals.


Then he got put into a gown, and was waiting around in preop. He got a little cuddly by the end. All the trauma and lack of food apparently started getting to him.




Finally he fell asleep. This was before any anesthesia or sedative.


Then we talked to Dr. Morton and met the very nice anesthesiologist. Ryan had actually talked to her yesterday because Grady got cold symptoms and a low grade fever, and we were afraid that surgery would be postponed. Fortunately, this did not happen.

After a little more than three hours, we were able to go meet him in the recovery room.


A little bit of morphine and he fell asleep.


He has been a little mad about having the no nos on his arms (he loves putting his hands in his mouth), but generally he's been ok. His brother came to visit (Jonah always gets worried when Grady has surgery. He doesn't like his brother to be in pain). Here he is showing off the gingerbread man he got in preschool today for doing his homework.


He is home with his daddy right now, and I know that he is sleeping peacefully in his own bed. He spent the night at "his best friend Jackson's" house last night (he never says "Jackson" only "my best friend Jackson"), and although it was very fun, between that and the trauma of the day, I'm sure that he is happy to be home. His sweet brother is resting as well.


I'm proud of my little boys. Sorry that Ryan is in none of these pictures! He was here all day, but he was taking the pictures and not getting bodily fluids all over him. That was my job!

Thanks everyone for the good thoughts and prayers. It's good to have another surgery under our belts!

Grady update (pre surgery)

I'm using this time in the hospital while Grady is snoozing to put some things up on the old blog that I have been meaning to for awhile. I wanted to write some things that have been going on with Grady BEFORE the big surgery today.

The most exciting thing for me was the day that Grady started walking. It was Veteran's Day, November 11, 2008. Grady was in speech therapy and didn't want to do what the therapist wanted him to do (sign that it was his turn to play with the toys). So, what he did was stand up and walk away from her independently across the room. Now, I know that he was supposed to pay attention and do what she wanted, but I was absolutely so excited to see him WALKING INDEPENDENTLY!!!! After coming home at 18 months very weak and not able to sit independently, and months of physical therapy through early intervention, he could walk. :) Here is a video we got of that milestone in November.




Grady is 28 months old, and on his last physical therapy evaluation, he was at the 22-28 month level for his gross motor skills. He has finished physical therapy and will now be receiving different services through early intervention. Way to go, sweet boy!!

Another thing that happened was that we went to the courthouse in Brighton and completed Grady's validation of foreign adoption in Adams County, Colorado. I couldn't get good pictures outside the courtroom. Here is all we have.

Yeah, they're not great, but it was yet another milestone completed!

Here are Grady's adoption journey milestone dates. These dates are so important to me. Adoption is such a special way to join a family.

9/17/07: We got Grady's referral from Deneice at Chinese Children Adoption International
9/24/07: After consulting with an international adoption doctor, we sent our Letter of Intent to adopt Grady to China
10/17/07: We were LID (logged in with our dossier to adopt Grady!)
10/18/07: We received Pre Approval to Adopt Grady
1/2/08: We received the Letter of Acceptance to adopt Grady
1/21/08: We received Travel Approval to go to China for Grady
2/13-2/28/08: We were in China to adopt Grady
12/5/08: We went to court for the adoption validation

I'm so happy that he is in our family and that he is making such strides in his development and attachment! I look forward to celebrating our first year family day in February!

Jonah-isms!

Another thing I wanted to document for later are some awesome things that Jonah says. I know that I can't keep track of everything, but some things just stand out. :) Jonah is very verbal and says some things that are just simply awesome!

When Jonah was very little (only 1) he was always really concerned about sirens. We told him that firetrucks, police cars, etc. had their sirens on because they were going to help people. One day, he dropped his toy he was playing with in the back seat. He asked me to pick it up and I reminded him that I never pick up toys while driving. After a pause, Jonah asked me if a fire engine could help him.

When we got the referral for Grady, we showed Jonah the picture of his brother. We were hoping that he would be excited that Grady was joining the family. I asked him if mama could love two boys. It just melted my heart when he said of course without a pause. He is a little boy full of love. Of course he sometimes gets jealous of his little brother, but all in all, he just loves him still.

One more quote that brought us a laugh happened on Christmas morning. Jonah was so grateful for every present he opened. It was so satisfying how happy he was. One thing I wish we could have caught on video is when he said in the middle of all the chaos, "Thank you, God, for telling Santa who makes good choices." Jonah already is developing such a pure trust in God. This helps him through his fears (and he does have a lot of fears). He uses his first memory verse from Community Bible Study's kids' class that he attends, "I am with you always, Matt. 28:20" to help him face his fears. And he has no problem talking to God. When there was a loud screeching sound in our house during one of Grady's physical therapy sessions and Ms. Sue, the physical therapist, and I were tearing through everything trying to find out where the sound was coming from, Jonah said, "God, please help us find the sound." Then he wondered why he was the only one who was asking God. He has so many deep questions like, "Why does God let tornadoes tear down people's houses?" and "Are dinosaur souls in heaven since their bones are on earth?" We don't always know how to respond to these questions since adults struggle to find these answers. But Jonah has no problem posing his questions to God. With his new fear that there may be scary dinosaurs in heaven (despite our reassurances that heaven is a nice place that he would want to go), Jonah once said out loud, "God, why do we have to die?" He was sad that God didn't immediately and verbally answer his question. I hope that we can live up to the challenge of teaching him what we can about his deep questions. He will probably be a student of God and these deep questions for years to come.