But I know, one thing, that I love you.: We survived!

I must admit that at day one and two post-surgery, I had my doubts that things were EVER going to return to any semblance of normalcy. EVER. However, I am pleasantly shocked and amazed at how quickly Mia has bounced back. She seriously continues to impress me with her happy, pleasant, sweet, indomitable little spirit and how she just tackles anything placed before her head-on.

"Yeah, that's how I roll!" :)

Mia learned how to climb on and off her little car today and was on and off it ALL day long. She can even propel the thing herself... backwards. It about gives me a heart attack when she leans back, doesn't hold on and pushes herself backwards because she ALMOST tips the thing over backwards with her on it!

"Yeah, I roll THIS way too."

She cracks me up!

Sleeping arrangements have changed!

Up until tonight, this was Mia's bed. Her car seat. In the middle of our bed. We had to keep her at a 40% angle or more to help with swelling, so car seat it was. Thank goodness we have a king size bed!

Now for a close-up, in case you missed it in the above photo. This is why Mia LOVES her knitted blankies - loves to stick her fingers and toots in the weave of the blanket. Silly girl! (And no, her toes are NOT all crookedly normally, just when they're stuck skewumpussly in her blanket!)

We tried this for a night... actually for about 5 minutes. She'd stir and wake up and sit straight up and then all towards mama for a human pillow and so she could sleep face down on my torso. She sure looked cute though, so I had to take a photo. :)

BACK TO THE CRIB FINALLY!

This was Mia taking her first nap today in her crib. I had to sneak in and make sure she was okay with the arm restraints and hadn't gotten them off or gotten herself into a horribly uncomfortable position. Yeah, she was pretty comfy and had some of her favorite knitted blankets handy and cozy.

So, I'd read up on palate surgeries on my cleft group prior to Mia having her palate surgery, and there were so many stories about their sweet kiddos not eating and/or having huge eating issues, etc. There were a few "best case scenarios" that I was hoping for, but a lot of really rough stories. I was really worried, and any time I'd think about the approaching surgery I'd get sick to my stomach. I'm glad that I knew all of the different scenarios so that I could be adequately prepared for what might happen, but I'm even MORE glad that things went so incredibly smooth. Yeah, those first days were rough, but dang, she'd just undergone a three hour surgery! Seriously, that sweet baby girl of mine is such a tough little cookie and just seems to take everything in stride. She's only 13 1/2 months old and I think she's already tougher than I'll ever be!

Day after surgery - first day home. Arm restraints don't slow her down at all!

What is Mia eating, you might ask. Well, for breakfast she usually has baby oatmeal cereal with a can of fruit baby food mixed in. Lunch, rice cereal with veggies and/or veggies and meat baby food mixed in and a Gogurt for a snack. Man it's hard not being able to do sandwiches anymore for her for lunch for a bit. Today I actually contemplated trying to puree milk and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for her. I didn't actually DO it, merely contemplated it. Of course we still have a week and a half of arm restraints to go, so I'll let you know how it goes if it comes to that. :) For dinner we do some more cans of... wait for it... wait for it... baby food and then a chocolate pudding cup for dessert. I'm started to get sick of this soft foods already. Sigh! Thankfully Mia's still eating, so that's good!

Nice cold Gogurt. Yum!

We still are having some issues trying to get her to drink fluids. She seems to do best with open cups, but they aren't the tidiest way to drink. Her favorite is orange soda. Yeah, not milk, not apple juice. Orange soda. Does this make me a bad mother? We're at the phase where we're trying just about any non-alcoholic fluids we can find. She has not taken a bottle since that one time until tonight when I finally got her to take her bottle. Zeus and I were shocked when she actually took it because we've been trying daily to get her to take it. We both tried not to talk or move so that we wouldn't distract her from drinking and make her stop. I was so paranoid that I was going to squeeze it wrong or that it would get plugged or she would choke and it would be over. I'm not sure Zeus or I even breathed! She actually took 4 ounces, which is around what she use to take. Hallelujah!

Of course, it hasn't all been a piece of cake today. Last night and tonight she's had a rough go of things. To add insult to injury, it seems as if some of her one year molar teeth have decided it's the perfect time to try and break through. She's been kind of sad and clingy again and was really sad and cuddly today when she woke up from her afternoon nap around 5:30 pm. We lathered on the Orajel and did us some cuddling!