Surgery and randomness...

Our little angel got surgery on Tuesday the 7th. She had her prosthesis put in to start correcting her cleft. It gets tightened every other week, and it slowly brings her palate closer together. She also got tubes in her ears, a gastrostomy tube, and a nissen fundoplication. The g-tube makes it so her feeding tube is in her stomach and she can recieve her food in bolus (meals) rather than continuously getting fed. It makes it much nicer not to have a tube down her throat and it is more for long-term purposes. The nissen fundoplication is a procedure where they wrap part of her stomach around her esophagus to make a one way valve so she can't reflux. Since her foods are now going into her stomach, rather than her jejunem, they were afraid she would reflux and then aspirate.

Before her surgery. Bye bye tube... I was so excited to be able to see both cheeks and be able to squeeze and kiss them both!

Drake is such a sweetheart. He is still a little unsure of Laynie, but if he does get curious he says "Hi Laynie" in the sweetest voice and I can tell he really does care a lot about her.

Another thing we had to say bye bye to this week was Laynie's binki! We are all pretty upset about it- it was the one thing that really comforted her a lot. She can't have it because it might mess with her prosthesis.

She loves lights. She really loves to look at the T.V. and the Christmas tree. Don't laugh at our tree- every year I say I am going to buy a new one and this time I am serious. Next year we will have a big beautiful tree.

Laynie was in surgery for 4 hours. It was such a long wait!!! Everything went great! She was absolutely miserable the day after surgery, but after that she started feeling better.

This picture shows part of her prosthesis. There is also something on the roof of her mouth, but this is the chain that gets tightened. Her mouth is a little yucky looking here, but you can sort of see it. She also has to wear arm restraints so she doesn't mess with the prosthesis.

Here is a picture of her tummy. The tube can come off when she isn't eating. Then it just looks like a little button on her stomach. It's kind of hard to see everything with all the wires, bandages, and tubes.

Little Laynie is such a strong little girl. She has gone through 100 times more than I have gone through in my entire life and she is not even 4 months old yet. I feel like she has to be one very special girl to be given these challenges in life. It is so hard see your baby go through so much, but she has been amazingly strong and patient through everything. I just love her more and more every day!

We got to come home on Friday. It is always so wonderful to come home, but I am so thankful that we have such an amazing hospital in Salt Lake. Her next surgery is scheduled for February. That will be the lip and nose repair. I just LOVE Laynie the way she is and I dread the day that her lip will get closed. I can't imagine her any other way and I don't want her to change. I know it is the best thing for her to get it done, but it will be such a bitter sweet moment! I guess I have two more months to enjoy her face the way it is!

This little boy makes me smile from ear to ear. He is so funny and totally owns my heart! I missed him so much this week. He stayed with Grandma Debbie and had a total vacation. He just loves her and I know he had a great week. Thank you mom for being the best mother and grandma in the world!

Trevor got our Christmas lights up today! It is now beginning to look a lot like Christmas at this house. I love it... it is the BEST time of the year!