Picture time once again. . .

Leah and I were playing dressup with Caidy, she did so well for the first outfit. (compliments of Grandma Wilson)
Not so well for the 2nd outfit! The afgan she is on was made by Great Grandma Wright, it is just gorgeous. Leah and Caidy being silly! I love her smiles! Elijah in a monster truck tire last weekend when we went to Abbotsford for a children's convention at the Tradex center. He loved the trucks and bikes, typical boy!

Defying all the odds

Caidy's clefts have really been improving from wearing the tape and I wanted to compare a picture of her at 1 week to her at 6 weeks. It is amazing how much it has shrunk! We really don't notice it because she always wears her tape, but WOW what an amazing difference. Also in the 2nd picture you can notice the gap in her gumline, I am not sure if you can see it in the 1st picture but her gumline is pretty much covering the gap now. Our orthodontist was guessing that due to the size of her cleft her first surgery would most likely be at 5 months, but because she is responding to the tape so well and her cleft has shrunk by so much in such a short time, the surgery will more than likely be in July now. Although nothing is set in stone, it is so encouraging to know that she is really beating the odds in every area!

Big Smiles!

Our beautiful little girls smile!!

Our little Piggy!

Our little girl has changed so much in the last 2 weeks! She is smiling all the time, more alert and turned into quite a little piggy! Caidy was weighed yesterday and is {{{{{{{{{{ DRUM ROLL PLEASE }}}}}}}}}}}}
8lbs 3 oz!! She gained 10 oz in 2 weeks! We finally figured out a bottle that works, Dr. Brown bottle with Cleft palate nurser nipple. She takes only about 15 mins to chow down 4 oz! Half the time she doesn't even want to burp until she is finished the entire thing and then lets out a huge one and starts smiling away! She is also still only getting breast milk, which is the hardest thing I have ever done, but I know she needs it. As of today my goal is to make it to her first surgery and we will see how things are going after that, I don't want to overwhelm myself by saying I am going to make it to her first b-day, I know that would just make me want to quit more!
We have tried our hardest to get a picture of our little princess smiling, but can't seem to time things right, so hopefully in the next day or two we will be posting a picture of her beautiful wide smile!

Lighten the Mood 2

Here is a Comic from the Vancouver Paper that relates to our family! It's funny

Elijah's Big Day

Thank you all for thinking of us today. Elijah did really well and amazed both James and I with how great of a kid he is! :) When we arrived at the hospital he was flirting with all the nurses and making everyone there fall in love with him! Every single person commented on what a well behaved boy he was, and I think he made an impact on everyone!
James took ELijah into the room and was there when they gave him the anesthetic, he was instantly asleep, daddy came back a little teary eyed having to see his little guy put under. I know I wouldn't have been able to go in there with him.
After the surgery I was able to go in and see him and he was just sitting in his bed hanging out! He didn't cry once while we were there and allowed all the nurses to take his temp, blood pressure and listen to his heart. Tommy met us at the hospital and once Elijah saw him all he wanted was his uncle and didn't want anything to do with mom or dad! He was pretty upset when Tom put him into the van and had to leave.
He has also been doing really well since we have gotten home. It is a fight to give his his tylonol with codeine, but you can tell it is working. He had a very full diaper tonight and it really hurts when he has to pee, but once he does he goes back to playing hockey and running around. It has been more of a fight to get him to sit still!
He is gone to bed and Caidy is sleeping as well, so James and I are going to bed early because we are a little unsure what tonight is going to be like!

Elijahs' Surgery

Please be praying for our little guy tomorrow morning. We have to be at Children's Hospital at 7:40 am and Elijah goes in for surgery at 9:10. We should be able to leave the hospital around 11:30, which is nice to not have to spend the day there. We will update everyone when we get home tomorrow! Thanks for all the encouragement and support!

More Pictures!

This is one of the professional pictures we had taken, I scanned it in so its al little fuzzy, but I love it none the less. Plus if I ever get around to it they will be in the mail to so many of you soon!
A very proud Leah
An equally proud Elijah

Grandpa West

I love this picture! Grandpa and Grandma West were out visiting the past 2 weeks and unfortunately are now gone home. Leah and ELijah had a great time playing and re-getting to know their grandpa and grandma who lives too far away, they miss them almost as much as I do! :)