Finally resting

What a long day it is now 7:20pm! Jailyn is doing great for being in such pain! We headed to the hospital at 5am. jailyn went into surgery at 7:53am and didn't come out until 11:50am. We spent 2 hours in the recovery room. I was able to hold her after about 1 hour as she was trying to come out of her deep sleep. She wasn't happy but glad to be in loving arms. I'm not sure she received the same love when she had her lip repaired in China. Jailyn has been in and out of sleep all day, mostly crying for the last 2 1/2 hours. Our surgeon came to see us at 6pm and ordered Tylenol with Codine for the night.
What all did Dr. Fearon do? He repaired her cleft palate, I can't remember the exact term he used for the throat but he repaired that too, Plastic surgery on her lip and nose - hard to explain... and she also had Dr. Peters the ENT put ear tubes in. A lot of work done!
We will not be released until Jailyn can drink. She has not wanted to have anything to do with her bottle this afternoon. Hopefully, the codine wil help ease the pain and she will want to drink tomorrow.
How does she look? Very swollen and very different. Her lip is much fuller and her nose and mouth are much smaller. Still beautiful but looks very different.

Thank you for all of your prayers! Please pray that we are able to get some good sleep tonight!
Love y'all!
Jodi

20 steps!

Jailyn had her first Physical Therapy appointment this morning. She had a great time showing off for her Therapist. Jailyn is now walking 15- 20 steps at a time. She is getting much more confident with her abilities! This afternoon was the first time that she let go of something (other than a person) to walk. And, she has learned how to stand herself up. I say she has learned...not always does she have the strength or control to do it but she is getting stronger. The PT thinks she will be walking really well by her surgery on the 30th. She will be even happier when she can run around with the big kids.
Jailyn still loves Kenzie and Conner's karate classes. She has the entire beginning and end of class routine down pat! She even puts her hand on her heart when I recite the Pledge of Allegiance. She wasn't too happy when Mom and Brady were on the karate mats... yes you read the correctly! Mom and Brady have joined Kenzie and Conner! Kenzie and Conner are much higher belts then us - blue vs. white! But we are having fun!
Jailyn is much better at saying,"Mama". She doesn't call me by name but when asked "Who loves Jailyn?" She responds "Mama". Hey that's the perks of being a stay at home mom!
I could go on and on about my beautiful daughter but since it is bed time and she is pulling at the computer I had better go.

Have a great day!

Learning more every day!

Jailyn is learning more all the time! She is so fast at cruising and crawling that we decided she needed a new playhouse to help her strengthen her muscles by standing and walking around in it. At first she wasn't too sure of it - but when the big kids came home from school and played in it she realized this is pretty cool. She has also enjoyed eating her snacks in it. This drives the dog nuts because he can't reach the food through the windows. :) She loves to tease mom at the stairs. She actually made it all the way up to the game room one time - (I was watching at a safe distance) Cosmo came running to me almost tattling that she was upstairs. Pretty funny!
Jailyn loved decorating Easter eggs. She wasn't excited about sitting in her high chair and not being fed - but once she saw what we were doing she was more then eager to jump in and join us! She did a great job!
Sunday morning she woke up with a nasty cold. This didn't stop her from looking for her Easter eggs that the Bunny had hidden! Each of the big kids took a turn helping her find her eggs. It was great!!!
Kenzie and Jailyn wore their China girl dresses to church. They looked just beautiful! I posted some pictures of the kids here but our home is getting so small that it is hard to get a good posed photo. - too many shadows in this spot! Maybe the weather will be nice this weekend so we can take some photos outside.
Jailyn is trying to use her words more and more. Her first official word is "Ella" this is what she is calling an elephant! This morning she was saying "mama"- but refuses to say it this afternoon. She greets people with a "ai" for "hi" and "uh" for "up". She also makes the same sounds for "all done" as she does the sign for it. She also tries to tell the dog (cosmo) "out". I was scolding Conner yesterday and she was sitting nearby - she looked at Conner with a serious face, pointed her finger at him and starting yelling at him. It was pretty funny!
At Jailyn's last appointment she weighed in at 18lbs 9oz. She has jained two pounds since we have been home.
Growing like a weed!!!

Jailyn is truly a blessing to our family!

Leaps and bounds!

Wow! Jailyn is learning so much! She amazes us every day! Yesterday was her first visit from her Speech therapist. Jailyn did great! She is trying so hard to move her lips to make new sounds! Tuesday evening she stood on her own for 20 - 30 seconds. Jailyn is so much like her brothers and sister! She isn't happy just standing - she has to do her little dance or her imitation of jumping jacks! (so cute!)
Wednesday evening Bryan was playing with her and she took about 5 steps on her own.
She loves her new walking game!! She is still not to sure about letting go of the coffee table to get somewhere but she will let go of our hands. Today I rolled a ball away from her and she began to walk toward it. About 7 steps and gravity had it's way with her - but she is trying very hard!
Such good news!

Have a great Easter!
Jodi

April fool's day!

Is someone playing a trick on me? It's 9:30am and my whole family is still asleep in bed! Including our princess! Ofcourse, she was up last night for a while but just wanting a bottle and some snuggling time! Jailyn is changing every day! She is becoming quiet the toddler. Our first month together she seemed like such a baby... not any more! Her personality is shining and she is much more comfortable telling us when she likes or dislikes something. She has decided that baby food is not as good as finger food. This is good and bad. Great that she wants to feed herself but she needs all the nutrients she can get and I felt better when she was on baby food only. Jailyn has quiet the sweet tooth and loves to eat. "eat" and "more" are her favorite signs to show us! Infact, she has gained 2 lbs! She is now 18lbs 9 oz. Yeah! Almost in #3 diapers.

Jailyn's ECI evaluations went well. The therapists fell in love with her immediately! She loves to show off! Jailyn will receive speech thereapy once a week and Physical therapy twice a month. We are hoping to be done with PT in a few months - we will be working on her balance and getting her to walk. In Speech therapy we will be working on consenant sounds and communicating through sign language. We want Jailyn to put two and three words together so that when she does begin speaking she will already understand the concept of using sentences.

Jailyn is bonding really well. We can tell that she is understanding the difference between family and friends and really good friends and casual friends. Though we are on the go every afternoon with the big kids activities we are always going to the same places... soccer or karate or school. She isn't fighting getting into the car seat anymore and laughs when we pull into the karate school parking lot! She knows everyone will give her lots of attention there!

Jailyn just woke up so I better go for now. Oh, our camera broke - so no new pictures - will go camera shopping this week!
Brady, Kenzie and Conner are doing great too! I think I may need to do a blog for each of them too! This is a fun way to keep connected with friends and family! Better than the annual Christmas card!

Have a great day!
Jodi Sue :)