Malia walking more and more plus Alex gets 3rd place in 1st grade Science Fair competition

Malia just recently has been taking more and more consecutive steps!! Way to go Malia! Soon we'll be done with occupational therapy because the last goal is walking. After that, we will be stepping up the speech therapy sessions and concentrating our efforts there.

Alex made a homemade volcano for the science fair this year. We had a lot of fun putting that together and learning about volcanoes along the way. Way to go Alex!

Trip to H.E.B. for lunch with Gem'a

Malia had great first post cleft palate surgery check-up

Malia's cleft palate surgery was on December 21, 2011, and her first check-up was yesterday, January 4, 2012. Her palate looks great! Hooray! She is also very excited to get soft foods again and not just pureed foods. Alex had his last hurrah at Brooke's birthday party (Happy 10th bday Brooke!) yesterday at Gatti Town before going back to school today after the winter break.

Recuperating after palate surgery

Malia is doing fine. She is on a puree diet for two weeks and then soft foods for 4 weeks. She really wants regular food and is not happy about all the puree, but we are experimenting with different soups and yogurts and lots of blending of whatever we are eating. We enjoyed Christmas with both sets of grandparents and Uncle Nick, Aunt Rocka, and Uncle Gavin. Thanks to Linda and Paul, Marc's parents, for keeping Alex during the time we were in the hospital with Malia. Thanks to Amy and Dan, Dianne's parents, for keeping our dogs, Hobo and Oscar, and giving Hobo his insulin shots. Thanks to everyone for coming together for Christmas. It was perfect (except for missing Kate and Don ~~ understandably though since they were visiting Don's side of the family this year).

Cleft Palate Operation Done!

We are home from the hospital. Malia's operation took about three hours and we had to stay 2 nights at the hospital. She's doing fine and eating pureed foods. I'll post pictures tomorrow (maybe). We are pretty tired and going to bed early. Good night good people.

Train Time at Grandma & Bapa's House

Nothing like a hug from your big brother in front of the Christmas tree