Turkey Week

Wow, I can't believe Thanksgiving is over! We had a WONDERFUL time celebrating with family and friends. Our thanksgiving started Sunday of last week when we gathered with my husbands side of the family. We always have a ton of yummy food and lots of laughs, this year was no different.

This is Malachi with his two cousins Ashlyn and Ethan.

Malachi was clearly VERY tired and passed out just like this!

On thanksgiving we celebrated with my side of the family. We again ate lots of wonderful food and enjoyed playing Wii with each other. There is noting quit like a bowling tournament in the comforts of a house! We had a blast. I am so thankful that my mother in law and father in law were able to join in my families thanksgiving day festivities.

Josh and My brother being goofy and mashing the spuds.

Malachi finally wearing his glasses! Hes so cute!

My side of the family!

The day after Thanksgiving we dropped Malachi off at his grandparents for a sleep over and we headed to Chicago with a bunch of friends. We went to Daily Plaza to see the Christmas Tree and enjoy German goodies at the Kriskringle Market. While there our friend got engaged!! (Congrats Meg and Will!) We walked around for a bit, looked at the windows displays at Macy's and then ate dinner at the house of blues. We had a WONDERFUL time with our friends and look forward to doing it again next year! (Thank you grams, gramps and Nana ((Malachis great-grandma who was in town for thanksgiving)) for watching stinky so we could go out!!)

Josh and I by the tree, man was it cold!!

Me with our popcorn and boot of hot chocolate!

It was a wonderful week and I am looking forward to next year already! Did I mention Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday?

On to different news, Malachi is going for surgery on December 15th. We go Thursday this week for some pre-op stuff. While we are thankful he is getting it done before Christmas we are praying for no complications so that we can be home for Christmas. Nothing ever seems to be easy with Malachi (medically speaking) so we are cautiously going into this with no expectations. We shall see what happens!

As I type this I am sitting next to a warm fire place and a Christmas tree full of lights. Malachi is sleeping soundly in his crib and my hubby? He is watching a move next to me. This is the perfect way to finish up a very busy week!! We hope you all had a great holiday!!

Not again!

Malachi and I woke up super early and headed into the American Family Hospital in Madison, WI today. Our mission? To figure out why Malachi can't pass a hearing test. We had a meeting with the audiologist first. Their determination? Fluid. She did make a comment about never seeing a charcoal colored tube before this bit of information will become important later in the story. She told me that before we could do anything we need to get his ears cleared first. We were then taken to a exam room and waited to see the new ENT. He came in and had a little look in Malachi's ears. His determination? Both tubes are fully blocked, and one is out of place and resting on his ear drum. I instantly became pissed, just 2 weeks ago we were at his normal ENT and he said everything was perfect, they were fully open and even commented me on how well we were doing at keeping his ears clean and dry. Is it reasonable to expect that in 2 weeks things could have taken a complete 180? Dr. M (the new ENT) thinks not, and believes its been like this for some time. The old ENT will be hearing from me, and I can guarantee they will not be nice sounds. Oh and the reason the audiologist has never seen charcoal colored tubes? Well thats because they don't make charcoal colored tubes, that was just the amount of junk backed up in my poor sons ear.

So frustrated.

We then discussed the amount of snoring Malachi does and Dr. M said "then lets take out the adenoids!" I got more accomplished in the 1 hours I was there then in the entire year Malachi has been seeing Dr. F (the old ENT).

The Plan.

We will be going back to Madison (Dr. M is our new PERMANENT ENT) and Malachi will have new tubes put in and his adenoids taken out! Dr. M is also going to look at his tonsils and if he thinks they need to come out, he will just do it while Malachi is already under. Dr. M is amazing, simply amazing.

Sometime in the near future (before Christmas) we will be back up in Madision checking into same day surgery and handing Malachi over to be put to sleep where he will get some new equipment and have some useless equipment removed. Not again.

Being that it is so close to Thanksgiving I decided to end this post with some thankful thoughts. I am thankful for Malachi and all his medical complications, each one has given me a chance to show Christs love to nurses, doctors and support staff. I am thankful for skillful surgeons and nurses who have all placed their loving hands on our sweet boy. I am thankful that we live in a country where some of the best doctors practice. I am thankful that Malachi's medical needs have been taken care of one way or another.



I

1 Year ago!!!

One year ago today Josh and I woke up full of anticipation. It was the day we had been waiting for, for months. It was the day we were supposed to bring our son home. Unfortunately Malachi was still in the hospital for a UTI. He wasn't eating well and the docs wanted to keep him longer to monitor him. Our dreams were shattered when we were told he probably wouldn't be released and therefore we probably wouldn't be able to bring him home. We held out hope and brought the diaper bag and put the car seat and stroller in the car just in case. Josh and I had to drive to Chicago to complete some training at the home Malachi was living in. The home was for children who were medically complex, it was sort of a holding place for the kids before they were placed in their new foster care homes. We did a lot of praying on the 2 hour drive downtown. We got their and attended a meeting with the staff of the home, they determined that Josh and I were ready to bring Malachi home as soon as he was released from the hospital. That day we also got trained on how to use his apneia monitor and CPR. We were finishing things up at the house and then we decided to go visit Malachi in the hospital. We had just pulled into the parking garage when we got the phone call. Malachi was getting discharged and we were going to be able to bring him home!!!! We had to go back to the house and finish up going over his paperwork then we could go to the hospital and they would release him directly to us!!!! I can't even describe to you how we felt at that moment. We got back to the hospital around 3. We got to hold Malachi and feed him while we waited for the discharge papers. Those didn't come until 7 that night. At 7:30 we walked out of those hospital doors with our son. He was finally coming home and we were beyond excited. When we got home around 9:30 we fed him, got him in his very own pj's and put him to bed. It was the first time in his life he was kissed before he fell asleep, it was his first time sleeping in an actual home it was the first time he had real parents. It was a glorious day. We didn't sleep that night, we just watched our son sleep. We prayed and gave thanks to God for trusting us to raise this boy, we were in awe of the gift we were just given. November 21, 2008 was the day we welcomed home our son. We will celebrate this day every year by having a family day. Today we are going to hang out, play with our son, enjoy soy ice cream sundaes with chocolate sauce and shower our son with love. God is good.


Malachi and I waiting to get discharged from the hospital.


Malachi sleeping in his swing while we got things organized that first night.

One year photos

Just thought I would share the website of our amazing and talented photographer. She has just recently posted a blog entry about our picture session this past July. We absolutely LOVE how our pictures turned out and are looking forward to using her again in the future. We did not know each other before we met at a wedding and she told me she "was going to take Malachi's picture" I of course agreed. I LOVE her artistic style which includes color, crops and extreme close ups. She was able to capture Malachi's personality and was never on a quest to get him to smile, which makes these picture my most favorite. Go look and tell me what you think!

http://indigophotography.us/blog/

nothing new

There is absolutely nothing new going on in our lives right now. For the first time in a year, things are actually quiet boring, and I LOVE it. Malachi has been doing wonderful and managing to stay healthy despite multiple people in our church having swine flu. I'm knocking on wood that it continues to stay out of our house! Just a quick update...

A year ago.

A year ago tomorrow Josh and I finished our home study. It was our last step that needed to be completed, on our end, to bring Malachi home. It was a day that we had longed for and wished would have come quicker. I remember waiting for our case worker to contact us to schedule our final home visit, I remember word for word what a friend told me "a year from now this will all be done, and the wait that you are experiencing right now will be a grain of sand on the beach..." I didn't know then just how right she was. All the anticipation, wonder if Malachi was ever going to get well enough to come home, the questions, all of it means nothing now. Exactly 8 days after the finalization of our home study Malachi came home (I will write more on that in exactly 8 days). I remember cleaning and getting the house just so, we were so relieved when it was over and our case worker told us we passed and that she was going to fax our information off. Oh what a marvelous day it was. The house was clean and Malachi's room was all ready to welcome him home. We were ready. Ready to be parents, ready to tackle this crazy life, ready to be obedient to God and fully commit to Malachi. Oh what a glorious day it was!

Update on ST

Sooo...I am STILL fighting with EI to get Malachi's speech increased. Today a new ST came to evaluate Malachi. She was nice, but Im still leary of her, she is VERY passive and offered little help. I am trying to remain hopeful as the was the first time she has ever met us. After her evaluation she was beging to tell me where he was at and she stopped, almost like she didn't want to continue. I blurted out "What ever age you evaluated him at, just tell me, your not going to hurt my feelings. I KNOW Malachi is behind, my number one concern is that we are doing everything possible so that Malachi can advance." I don't think she knew what to say, but I am not in this to make friends, I could care less if they like me. After we talked some more I asked her if she thought he needed to be seen more than once a month....and she said YES!!!!! Finally we are getting somewhere! We will meed for his annual IFSP on December 7, Im mentally preparing for it as I have LOTS to say!

Getting Close

I can hardly believe that it's already November. It has been unseasonably warm here in the Midwest and we have been loving it. Most of the leaves are off the tress and the grass is brown. Fall is almost over and soon we will be bundling up in our hats, gloves and coats, ugh. Glistening snow will soon cover the brown grass and naked branches. Our fire place will warm the house and the doges will relax and soak up the heat. I enjoy winter when am bundled up in our house watching the snow fall or spending an afternoon making a snowman. Winter is just around the corner and I am having mixed emotions about it. I guess its my love/hate relationship with it. Has is snowed yet in your town? Do you enjoy winter?

ABR

Anyone out there ever experience a ABR? Malachi is going to a ENT and audiologist in another state because we have never gotten an accurate hearing test on him. They want to do an ABR (sedated hearing test) im not worried about it, just wondering how long it takes. Please share your experiences with me!

Growing like a weed

Malachi is growing. Fast. And to be honest, I like it. He has never been a big fan of baby food, he would pitch a fit and not eat it. All he wanted was his soy milk. A few days ago he took a nap from 9:30 in the morning till 1 in the afternoon. I was worried he was sick. Much to my excitement the very next day he ate 2 entire jars of stage to baby food and washed it all down with some mike. And he hasn't stopped since! 12 month onesies are now to small. I put him in a pair of overalls last week and they were way to big, I needed to roll the pan cuff, this week they are floods! This all from the little boy who wore 0-3 months till he was 7 months old! He is growing like a weed, finally!

Fashion Show

Today we had the 2nd annual Gigi's Playhouse Fashion Show. Malachi got all dressed up and practiced blowing kisses early this morning. When we got to the Bull Vally Golf Club we got to visit with friends and enter some wonderful raffles. It was so fun to watch all the kids dressed up and running around. 

This years theme was "Getting Down with Fashion." The kids got to pick out clothes from Gymboree, Justice and Maurices.

 

Malachi was the very last person to go. Hi blew a few kisses and the signed "all done." He looked adorable in his outfit, I was one proud mama!

 

All the models got a rose. He LOVED being the center of attention.

After the fashion show, we all went downstairs to enjoy a delicious brunch. These were the cute centerpieces that some of the old kids got to help paint.

One last family picture, i think this may be our Christmas cards this year! We had a wonderful time and can't wait till next year. Thank you to those who can out to show their support of Malachi and all the other kids. It was wonderful to see such support, I had to fight back tears as I watched the video when we got home. I am beyond thankful for this journey God has taken us down and the BEAUTIFUL people we have gotten to meet along the way. We can't wait for next year!!