How many boyfriends can a girl have?

This is Timothy and Ellie Grace at the Knoxville Zoo where we gathered with other familes who adopted through CCAI. Timothy's parents went to Vanderbilt with Erik and were very instrumental in us choosing our agency.
Sheridan adores Ellie Grace and she thinks he is pretty special too! He is in our FCC playgroup/First Fridays group and we enjoy spending time with his parents, Michael and Kim.
Zeke and Ellie Grace are about to start their third year of preschool at RPP and they are in the same class again!

A few photos from our first experience at CHOA

Niklas liked the pre-op bed but he wasn't quite ready to change into the hospital gown
Daddy comforting Niklas after surgery
Niklas is leaving CHOA with his treasured balloons (thank you to Grandpa How, Grandma Susie, Aunt Kristi, and Aunt Tina)

We are home!

It is hard to believe that Niklas had his first surgery on Thursday. He woke up in a great mood and he and my mom (thanks for going with me!) played a bit while I completed paperwork at the hospital. His favorite toy in the pre-op room was the remote control. He became very relaxed just after they gave him Tylenol and Versed. I hugged him and put him on the bed when the nurse came to take him and he went without any crying. I had mixed emotions about this but at the same time knew that I felt everyone's prayers and God was watching over him.
Then mom and I proceeded to wait......she was knitting a sweater and I was reading the book Silent Tears (I finished it before we came home on Friday!) as we waited and waited some more for one of the doctors to visit us or call with a report.
Our ENT finally came in and said that they did find a large amount of fluid in both ears so Niklas' hearing should be better. Mom and I thought we had enough time to go eat but the cell rang and the surgeon said that he was done just before we were done with our lunch. We both finished and somehow Erik met us at the room just before they brought Niklas to us. Whew!
Niklas didn't like the nurses poking him or the machines beeping from time to time, but overall he was a trooper. He and I slept on and off that night. He drank a bit out of the syringe (cleft feeder) and then he had applesauce for breakfast. We had visitors from Northside Pediatrics, the nurse practitioner from the cleft clinic, and our doctor during the morning. Erik's sisters and parents were about to arrive with lunch when our doctor cleared us to go home. They went ahead with the visit as we got things ready to go home.
Our experience at CHOA was wonderful! Our friend Amy (she and her husband are waiting on their referral) was our Charge Nurse during the night. She would have been our night nurse if I had reminded her we were coming. I was reading my book until about midnight and then decided to try and sleep (would have rather stayed up talking) so I missed chatting with her. Sorry Amy!
Niklas has had a pretty good weekend recovering at home. I think we will feed him an early dinner tomorrow night though as he seems really tired and unwilling to eat anything by that time. His favorite food today was the Dora ice cream/yogurt that he spotted in the freezer. We did manage to get some more of that eaten instead of the mac n cheese at dinner. He got his No-No's (arm restraints) off during the first night but we now put a long sleeve shirt over them so they stay on. He hasn't put his fingers or objects in his mouth so we let him be free during the day while we can watch him.

We have a surgery date!

Niklas will have palate surgery along with ear tubes at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta on August 28th! I am excited that it got scheduled so quickly because we were led to believe that it would be late September or October so we had planned on having the tubes put in next week. Thankfully our ENT and our cleft surgeon were able to find a date that worked for both of them. Erik may have a very important meeting at work that day but my mom will come sit at the hospital with me and Niklas. Erik will make sure he is there when Niklas returns from surgery.

Happy Children!

Mondays are usually pretty boring days but we had a busy day today. Ellie Grace and I had dentist appointments this morning. She was excited to go see Mrs. Catherine and her tool "Mr. Thirsty" but Erik and I wondered how much cleaning they would be allowed to do in her mouth. She had seen one particular toy when we went to Toys R Us to use the small birthday gift card (too small to actually buy much but a good way to get children in the store) and it was promised if she was a big girl this morning. She pleasantly surprised us and we were off to visit Toys R Us this morning. The panda now has a stroller to sit in and pretty Chinese music to listen to!
Niklas has jumped on Ellie Grace's Dora big wheel almost every time we go into the garage. So we went to Target today to get him the Diego version so they could each have their own. He loves the music and danced to it in the kitchen! He cried big tears this morning when we put it outside where it belongs but we will go ride it soon.

Favorite Links

I have spent the last hour adding links to the "favorite links" section on our blog. I am sure some of you wonder why the list is so long so I thought I should type a quick post. Every family listed has been touched by adoption and many of them are personal friends of ours. Some have used our agency, CCAI, and traveled with us on one of our trips to China. We have learned about the cleft doctors and had tremendous support from others who have brought home children with cleft lip/palate. This support will be invaluable as we face each surgery or procedure in the years ahead with Niklas. Our local playgroup and the fabulous First Fridays groups have also led to new friendships for the children as well as Erik and I. It is amazing to see the path that God has led us on and the wonderful families that he has brought into our lives.