A Few Photos from Septmeber & October

First day of Chinese School for the year.














Making "moon cakes" at school.



















Sebbie on the first day of AYSO soccer.



















Lots of dressing up in October. Sebbie now has someone to dress up besides himself!




















At the pumpkin patch.














Halloween night.

9/14/09

Whoa, sorry about the lack of posts. Maggie has recovered well from her surgery and her new lip and nose are just marvelous. When I look at before photos and then after, Holy Cow! I don't know how they do it. Check these out:



















Taken tonight in her "new" police car. Graciously handed down by her friends Alice and Jack.















Journey's of the Heart's annual end of summer family gathering



















Brrrrrr....it was a cool afternoon



















Inside her new log cabin play house. Even big brother likes it.















Just before cake on Candace's birthday



















Sebbie's good friends Mandy and Candace. Our older "adopted daughters".













Mommy & Sebbie at Odell Lake in August













Odell Lake Resort/Restaurant













Sebbie's new kitty "Tiger"













Sebbie hit the fishing/catching jackpot at our annual cub scout camping weekend. This year at Yellowbottom Creek Campground.

Maggie's next surgery is scheduled for November 12th. This surgery will be to close her pallet. Supposed to be a rather challenging recovery. We will keep you posted.

Home Again

Maggie was released today. No more IV's or oxygen monitors. She and Cathy had a less than restful night, with the nurse coming in every two hours or less. Maggie doesn't want anyone touching her but us, or she made a LOT of noise whenever a nurse approached. Now that we are home, we have to clean her incisions 5 times/day with hydrogen peroxide and then apply Bacitracin ointment. I have to hold her head still while she screams very LOUDLY, kicks and squirms and Mommy cleans up the dried blood. It is important that it doesn't scab over to minimize scarring. Today she could have clear fluids and now that we are home, ice cream. She gets ice cream after each lip cleaning. Tomorrow she can start eating soft foods like scramble eggs and rice cereal. A pleasant surprise so far is that she is the only one in our family who doesn't vomit after surgery or from pain meds. Yahoo to that!

Below are some photos from the last 48 hours.














She liked her cool new bed - the night before the surgery. I miss that smile, but look forward to her new smile.














Holding Sebbie's hand for his blood pressure.














Then it was her turn. The next morning, Maggie refused to put on that silly hospital gown, until Sebbie put one on too. He even wore it to the holding room, where we said good bye.














The red glowing finger from the oxygen monitor was kind of cool.














First snuggles with mommy and a slight thumbs up!













So very tired!














Snuggling on the couch at home with Sebbie. Down but not out. We asked her if she was glad to be home and the little thumb popped up. Last night, when she had some ice cream, she kept popping up her little thumb in approval. She still couldn't talk, but could express her approval with that thumb.

After her shower tonight, we held her in front of the mirror, telling her that she was still very beautiful, and then showed her how she will now be able to pucker up and kiss us and also whistle like her big brother. She looked at herself in the mirror and cracked the faintest, tiny
smile with her new lip. Maggie looked happy!

End of the evening

Sebbie and I left the hospital about 9:oop.m. Maggie was asleep in her crib, mommy is tired and ready for a rest. A big victory for the evening was Maggie going pee in the toilet. It was either that or a catheter. When we told her her options, she filled up the cup in the toilet. Yeah Maggie! We are hopeful to be going home tomorrow if she continues to progress as well.




Sebbie loves the legos that they give him!













All for now, off to bed, hoping that Maggie and Mommy get some much needed rest.

Maggie is out of surgery

Maggie is out of surgery after 5+ hours. Dr. Kuang did the full upper lip and the rhinoplasty. She doesn't look like our little Maggie any more. She has a full upper lip, connected to her new nose, absolutely, totally, completely unbelievable!!!!!!! She has breathing tubes in her nose to keep the air way open, her lips are a bit puckered shut from swelling, and her pain seems to be under control. I am not sure when the numbing agent wears off. They just gave her more morphine. She shook her head yes when I asked if I could give her a kiss on her forehead and a little, teeny tiny tear leaked out of the corner of her eye. Right now, she is snuggled in mommy's lap, looking around and quiet. The arm splints are on, but I don't think she realizes it.

Yesterday, the social worker said it would be perfectly normal us to grieve a bit for the way our daughter used to look. I've been having a hard time with this and I feel better knowing most parents do feel that way and miss the way their child used to look. Intellectually, we know this is of course the best thing for her, but we loved the way she used to smile and express herself with her facial expressions. I hope that she will continue to have a huge, ear to ear grin with her new upper lip. I understand it can take a while before the first smile happens again, and that will be a happy day!

Once again, Sebbie was very useful in helping Maggie with procedures. She refused to have her blood pressure taken until we arrived this morning at 6:30a.m. As soon as Sebbie had his BP taken, then Maggie wanted hers. When the nurse arrived with the Versed, she wanted nothing to do with it, until she saw big brother take his (pretend only, don't tell her that) and then she pointed to her mouth so she could have some too. No hospital bracelet either, until Sebbie had one on. Once the Versed took affect, she started to relax and get into jellyfish mode. We all accompanied her to the holding room, spoke with the surgeons and anesthesiaologist, signed the usual papers etc. Dr. Kuang said the Rhinoplasty was to move her nose up higher. Now, with no lip or tissue to hold it up, it is a bit lower on her face. She also did not know yet if they would make the lip, or have to do the pre-maxillary setback. If she can't recruit enough tissue for the lip to go over the two front teeth, then she will cut the upper, narrow pallet (that contains her two little front/buck teeth) and move it back into her mouth and also rotate around a bit. The risk with the pre-max setback is the tissue can die -a small risk. Sebbie and I were both very emotional, and as usual Cathy's mommy hormones kicked in and she is our rock of strength. I'm most useful in massaging Cathy's aches and pains from sleeping on the bumpy, pullout couch.
Our latest update is the ENT came out at 8:00a.m. and successfully implanted the ear tubes. At 9:15a.m. they reported from the surgery room that Maggie was "giddy and giggling" when she put on the watermelon infused mask to go to sleep.

Sebbie and I are off for some retail therapy. All for now.

Maggie's pre-op started today at 1:00p.m. She resisted being examined until Sebbie volunteered first for everything, then of course Maggie wanted her weight, height, temperature, blood pressure etc., etc. taken just like big brothers. They were both really impressed when the social worker brought each of them down cool, fun toys to build/play with. We met with everyone but her surgeon, who will check in with us before surgery tomorrow morning at 7:30am. Cathy and Maggie are staying at the hospital, Sebbie and I are staying at Uncle Eric's/Aunt Suzy's, which is an easy 20 minute drive to the hospital. The surgery planned for tomorrow is to build a new upper lip - that is the layman's version. The medical version involved 3-4 different medical terms, including rhinoplasty - don't know what is involved with that.

We started our pre-surgery routine last night, the same we did with all four of Sebbie's previous surgeries. An almost, all-you-can-eat sushi feast at Aomatsu in downtown Corvallis. Maggie fits right in with our families love of sushi, and she was the last one slurping down noodles. She even eats her teriaki chicken with a chop stick! Tonight, we gorged at the Spaghetti Factory, an easy 10 minute drive from the Hospital. Again, Maggie fits right in, loving nothing better than diving in to a huge platter mizithra and butter pasta. She even finished eating her bowl of spumoni ice cream. We've allowed her little tummy to expand the past few weeks, since we feel her subsisting on soft foods the next couple of weeks post-surgery is not going to be to her liking.

We will do another update tomorrow, after the surgery. Thank you for thinking of us.

The Last Two Months

Hello! It has been a busy couple of months and adding to the blog always seemed to get pushed to the back burner. So we'll try to catch you up with some fun photos and a video!

Maggie is scheduled for her first surgery on Friday, August 7th. We will check into Shriner's Hospital in Portland on the 6th and will be staying until at least the 8th, probably the 9th. I will stay with her in the hospital and Steve and Sebbie will sleep at Susie and Eric's house (my sister and brother-in-law) and join us during the day.

Her first surgery will likely be to create a lip and put in ear tubes. If the protruding front part with the two teeth obstructs this process, the surgeon may instead work on moving that back instead of the lip, but she won't know until she starts. The really fun part is going to be the three weeks of arm restraints that she will wear after the surgery. Yikes!

We'll post updated info on how the surgery went as soon as we can. Meanwhile, please think of us. It is going to be a long haul, but it will be good to get started with the first one!

Lots of love, Cathy, Steve, Sebbie, and Maggie




















Trying on Gege's robe














A little sibling snuggle time














Belated Mother's Day at home














The cat bed is comfy!














In our park across the street














Sebbie as catcher (his favorite position)




















Last day of 1st grade














Reading with Gammy and Poppers during their visit














Sebbie's 7th birthday party at Osborn Aquatic Center



Maggie LOVES to swim!!!!!














At the Spaghetti Factory














Hangin' in the hot tub during Grandma and Grandpa's visit














First trip to the tea house with Mommy
































Going to get Sebbie's new kitten "Tiger" at the Animal Shelter




















Pictures of Maggie's first camping trip with Baba!



















































First time on the beach--not too sure at first














Then, she warmed up!

Weeks 3, 4, & 5

Over the last couple of weeks some unexpected things have needed our attention, so our blog is a few weeks behind. A major highlight was a trip to California to see Gammy and Poppers. There has also been more gymnastics, swimming, and baseball games. With the weather getting nicer we are spending more and more time outside and Steve spent some time today working hard to get our yard family-ready for the summer. Some photos and videos are below!


Lots of big bear hugs around our house these days.










On our way to visit Gammy and Poppers.












At cousin Rob's Little League Game.
















At Gammy and Poppers' we had a chance to visit with very dear friends....










Have a parade...


Have time for silliness...










Learn about big kisses from Poppers...

Have time for more silliness...


And, of course, enjoy some yummy food!