Hopes for the new year

This year has brought two very awesome things to us...Micah and I finally got married and we had our sweet baby Judah. It's weird how fast this year went by, I spent the better part of it pregnant and though that seems to have dragged on forever, it is such a distant memory now that Judah is here.
2012 will bring a lot of challenges our way. Judah will have his first of many surgeries and I am starting to dread the first one so much. We are still awaiting a call from Atlanta with the date. Things will be rough for a while but I am so thankful that we have so many family members and friends (and some people we don't even know) that are rallying around us and praying for us and Judah. I hope that Judah is strong and handles everything well....even more, I hope that WE are able to handle it. I hope that he heals and recovers quickly and that there are no complications. I hope that our family is happy and healthy and will continue to be for a very long time.
It's funny, I've read a lot of facebook posts tonight that say "Aw, I wish I was going out" etc. but I can't tell you how happy I am to be staying at home (with a couple glasses of wine, of course ;] ) with my two boys.. I love them more than anything in this world.

Making an impression

Today we went up to Atlanta to make Judah's impression for the Latham device...it wasn't too bad but was hard because I had to hold him down while they put the tray with putty in his mouth. It seemed like it took forever, and he cried a lot but I am thankful he didn't struggle because that would have hurt me a lot more. The doctor said it will take about 2-3 weeks for the lab to make the device...and in the meantime the schedule coordinator will be working out when the surgeon and OR and all the other things will coincide for his lip surgery. Once they get that date set they will back up four weeks and that is when they will do surgery to put the Latham in place. They said he will have to stay in the hospital overnight after that surgery for observation since they will be putting him to sleep...I've also heard from other Latham mom's that they have feeding difficulties afterwards and often have to change bottles so I'm glad we'll have resources to help us immediately afterwards. Once the Latham is put in we will have to go up to Atlanta every week to have them check the progress. We also still have to see the ENT doctors for his tubes and see their hospital pediatrician for them to do a pre-op physical.

I am having a hard time mainly because everything is still up in the air. It's almost like before he was born and we didn't know anything, but now we just don't know when anything will happen. I am stressing out about whether to go back to work because I don't know how we'll make ends meet otherwise...but then again there aren't any viable childcare options other than shuffling him to Ft. Mitchell to stay with my mom...but that would involve me driving there, then to Columbus for work, then back there to get him and then home. Micah is trying so hard to get a better job and hasn't heard anything from anyone. I just feel like time is running out and I can't seem to find a way to make things work out the way I need them to. As stressful as all this is I can't imagine being able to function at work...I can barely function in my daily life. Today was just very trying in a lot of ways...I hate being at doctor's offices and I dread all the upcoming time we will have to spend in them. I hate that my sweet baby has to have all this done and wish we could just worry about normal things like how many poopy diapers he has, rather than how many surgeries he has to have. I know it isn't productive to think about things these ways, but some days you just can't help it. I guess I'm having a "why us?" kind of day.

Pictures!