Happy Birthday Aunt Alice

Much love from all of us!

March-ish Pictures

Indoor Rock Climbing:

Chris decided to make a fun outing for the family and suggested indoor rock climbing. Avery has a rock wall where she does gymnastics and even though it is much smaller than what we did, she really likes it. Both kids were very timid at first, but by the time we left, they were climbing walls like experts. Avery still would never go all the way up, but even halfway, she kept wanting to do it again and again. They both said it was the "best day ever"! We will try to get back at least once a month now that we know they enjoy it; good exercise too. 

Miles tried most of the adult walls, and his goal was to get higher than Chris on whatever they tried. He usually succeeded. 

Miles had a concert at school. It was called Suessical the Musical and they sang songs from Dr. Suess stories. 

Miles and some of his friends:

Miles and his best friend Preston and his little sister Emily, who is luckily enough exactly Avery's age.

Field day at Miles school. I volunteered in the gym, so I didn't get to see most of the activities, but Miles said his favorite was the hula hooping and when I asked if he was any good at it, I was in disbelief when he said yes. A trip to Toys R Us later confirmed he was correct when I asked him to show me with the hula hoops that were on display. He was actually able to do 3 at a time. I was wildly impressed considering neither Chris nor I can hula hoop at all.

Avery with her best friend Bristol from school. Some how she always manages to be good friends with a twin. Bristol's twin Liam is sitting behind her in the pic and is always good to tag along as the third wheel with the girls.

Uncle Bryan came to visit. The kids were thrilled......no need to say more!

 Miles has had straight A's all year so far and the school posts the straight A students every grading period in a frame in the hall by the front door to the school.

Rodeo is a huge deal here in TX. Even though we didn't make time to go this year, there are month long activities everywhere you look dedicated to this beloved event. Part of the rodeo is the caravan where different groups on horseback come from all over the state to participate and the mode of transportation to the downtown location is seen here actually making it's way down one of the major highways. Not everyday you see a horse drawn carriage heading down the road in the middle of the afternoon. Maybe next year we will brave the crowds and check it out........maybe.

Surgery Update

It has been a little over a month since Miles' last surgery. Everything seems to be healing well. There are still a few places where the skin tone is uneven and that will blend more as they continue to heal. We still have not scheduled his next surgery, but hopefully I will get in contact with the doctor and figure out when that will happen here soon.

Happy 8th Birthday Miles!

A little belated (can't believe he's 8)....Happy birthday buddy!! We love you! Hope you have a great year XOXO

Update on Miles' Ears

Miles had stage 2 & 4 on his second side at the end of January. It was just supposed to be a 1.5 hour surgery, but Dr. Bonilla decided to do some touching up on the first side, so the surgery got extended to 3.5 hours. We were definitely stressed with the unplanned extra time, but relieved as usual when it was over. His recovery was not as easy/quick as we thought it would be, but it was much easier than the other ones we've been through. He seemed to bounce back pretty well physically this time, but this whole process has been fairly difficult on him emotionally and that has been tough on us. We have been considering what to do after we go through the last stage of reconstruction in a month and a half. I think we have decided it is time for a break after he has completed the last stage of microtia repair. We were going to try to do the atresia repair in line with the reconstruction, but this has been more difficult than we anticipated. Miles is ready to be done and so are we....at least for a little while. After the surgery in April, we will take the summer off and then begin talking about it when Miles is in 3rd grade. We still haven't made a decision to go forward with it. We have known enough people who have had children with our son's condition and they have pursued atresia repair with some of the more competent surgeons, even with the one we were considering and the results have been less than satisfying. Considering the results, I don't think we could handle any revision surgeries past the two that is required to complete the atresia repair should their be any issues. We are kind of "surgeried" out right now and are still wondering where we will find the drive to get through this last one in 6 weeks. We are still very pleased with the results and continue to think Dr. Bonilla is amazing. None of our decision to hold off for a while is based on anything he did, but based on everything we didn't know about this whole process. Every child is different and some seem to breeze through even while finding their own bumps along the way. We haven't had a lot of major issues to contend with, but we have to do what is best for Miles and at the present time taking a break just feels right and necessary.

Here are a few pics from the last surgery - with stitches - two weeks after:

The right ear is pretty much completed except for the lift stage:

The left ear is almost done. Dr. Bonilla has saved extra cartilage in the earlobe (that's why the earlobe on this ear seems longer than the one above). If he needs it, he will use it in the last surgery, if not it will be discarded. I am sure he will do some adjusting in the area where the canal will be to try to match the right ear, but again all of that will have to wait until the last surgery where the ears will be cut away from the scalp and skin grafts from the stomach will be placed behind them to elevate and project the ears from the head.

Stitches were removed yesterday and these were taken in the office, so they are still a bit red from all the poking by the ENT:

The best part of all of this is that Miles is extremely happy with his new ears and does not regret going through the surgeries to get here. He has told me he would like to hear from his new ears some day. So there is still hope that we will finish the process in the near future and just maybe, technology will come up with something more amazing before that happens :)