Daniel's Doctor Visit

We took Daniel to see the reconstructive surgeon last week at CHOP. Daniel did really well. He opened his mouth so the doctor could look in. It took awhile before he started to realize he wasn't too sure he was happy about the situation. Soon his mouth was WIDE open screaming! It was one of those silent screams. Until the doctor let him up then the wailing began. Poor guy. The doctor feels it would be good to schedule Daniel's surgery to close his palate fistulas (holes in the roof of his mouth) as soon as possible. Crazy thing is the the first available surgery time wasn't until August! The doctor said that the fistulas are definitely causing speech issues. We're just hoping that Daniel doesn't pick up some bad speech habits while we wait for the surgery. We have a speech therapist coming out next week to evaluate him. Nothing much new here. Waiting for spring so we can get out and play! I know, I know, we've got a long way to go. Waiting for the groundhog to give us some good news this year. Here's a few pics of Daniel with his "crazy" hair. We make it stick up after his bath at night. It's coming in nice. Now we just need to control it :)

Dance, Dance, Dance

The other night after dinner Dave and I were being goofy and started dancing around the kitchen. Leah and Daniel decided to join in so I grabbed the video camera. I didn't want to humiliate Dave publicly so I edited most of him out :) The dog just watched in amusement as these crazy humans made complete fools of themselves. Judge for yourself.

SNOW!!!!!!

Wwe got our first real snow last night. So at 7 PM we all ventured out to play in it as we knew it would be gone in the morning. Not sure what Daniel thought of the snow. Yesterday we bought daniel new shoes as the ones I bought before we met him were not the correct size (yes, horrible Mother. I let my son wear the wrong sized shoes for 6 weeks) Anyway, we didn't have boots for him so he had to wear Leah's old pink boots that were also too big for him. Poor kid! Oh well. Enjoy the pictures:

"Hmm.....Not too sure about this white stuff. And my gloves are too big"

"They finally buy me shoes that fit now they put me in pink boots!"

"Ok, the dog likes it. it can't be too bad"

"Hey! This is pretty neat! Besides the fact I have on pink boots and humongous gloves"

"This is NO fun!"

(thanks to daddy who accidentally hit him in the face with a snowball-He was fine in a few minutes)

building a snowman

Leah hitting daddy with a snowball

Daniel's Photo Shoot

Today we were bored and had some fun with a photo shoot. I have some photos of Leah that I'll post later. Here are some of Daniel. He was having a blast in the old washtub as well as with the fishbowl of water. Of course he'd have fun with a bowl of water! He was surprisingly neat with it.

Making Faces

LOVE this one. This is so him. Trouble with a capital T

A boy and his dog

A few photos from today

Video from the Museum

Enjoy some live action from the Discovery Museum. The chefs are VERY serious in the diner kitchen. Check out the egg flip as well as Daniel's pick food off the floor "2 minute rule":)

Discovery Museum

Today we visited the Garden State Discovery Museum for Leah's Birthday. The kids (Leah, Ava, Ryan and Daniel) had a great time. Here are some pictures from the day

The knight and the princess

The diner

"Paging Dr. Ryan and Dr. Daniel"

Ava and Leah

Leah serving ice cream down the shore

The crew

Daniel practicing for the Flyers

The Action News crew

"hello?"

Daniel's new words - video

We now have the ability to post videos (thanks Dad!) and i just need to test this. Here is Daniel showing off his new words. He can say "Ello" - Hello, "Anyo" - Daniel and "Mamoon" - balloon :)
Please ignore the fact that he is playing in the recycling/trash in this video.

So far behind

Where does the time go? Happy New Year a little late! We had a quiet New Year's Day. It was nice, It was also Leah's 5th Birthday!!! We had a family party on the 31st. I can't believe Leah is 5 already. Talk about time flying. Feel like only yesterday when I held her for the first time. That was the most amazing feeling that I will never forget. I added a few photos of Leah from the past. She just gets cuter (yes, I'm biased) through the years. And she's such a good little girl and a great big sister.

We went to the Aquarium in Jersey this past weekend with Linda and Ryan and had a great time. the kids love touching the sharks, rays and other critters. Daniel seemed to like watching the Hippo. and running around the aquarium.

We had our first post-placement visit with our social worker Patti last week. All went well!

Daniel has also slept through the night for 4 straight nights now. Keeping fingers crossed that this trend continues.

That's all for now!

Happy 5th Birthday Leah!

Daniel and the Hippo!

Daniel eating Pastina - He is Italian!

Ryan, Daniel and leah at the aquarium

Leah's birthday

Leah's Birth Announcement

Leah and Fager - Leah about 6 months old - love the baldness!

Christmas Slideshow

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