Good news and good friends

This really has nothing to do with today's subject, but we made a T@rget run the other day and found these wonky glasses in the Halloween aisle. I think they had something to do with Harry Potter...but it's hard to say. In any case, we had to have them in spite of the fact that we had to buy six at a time (anyone want some?), plus, they're all refractive around the edges and make you dizzy when you walk. QQ was not amused. It was really all about mommy and daddy...


In any case, we had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon this morning, and, though the appointment was brief and perfunctory, all the news was good!

Dr. Folk said that both the lip and palate looked good (based on a very rudimentary and non-invasive inspection).

We had been concerned about the normal things - fistulas and splitting sutures. Though we knew that the lip adhesion was intentionally partial, we didn't know how much give it was supposed to have. We had also been told that she would have a "rather large" space near the gumline in the cleft, due to the wideness of her cleft palate. When the packing dissolved, we could see the hole near the gumline, and of course it made us uneasy. We didn't know what sort of hole to expect, and whether it was normal or excessive. Apparently, the space was as expected, and no other fistulas are evident. Very, very good news!

As for the lip, the doc said it looked just fine, and that it could even split a bit further before the healing is done, and still be fine. This is a huge relief, since we had no idea what was expected. As I've mentioned before, the scar is irrelevent, since it will be cut out and reworked during the cosmetic surgey in the spring.

So...everyone's happy. Mom and dad are breathing a sigh of relief, and QQ is feeling better by the day. Her nights are still rocky, but I can't tell you the joy it gives me to see her old personality coming through by day.

I'm glad to see that she hasn't lost her joy, or her love of people.

By the way, the awesome vintage space t-shirt?
Well, yesterday we got a couple of bulky boxes in the mail from New York, full of some of the coolest clothes ever, thanks to Maia. Yes, some of you may have noted that there's another Maia commenting on some of our posts. It's not me, it's Maia Rossini, who lives not far from my birth-town of Woodstock, and who is the proud mother of FangFang, another little girl from the Chinese province of Jiangsu, who (in case you can stand yet another coincidence) also had a cleft lip and palate.

FangFang is just a bit older than QQ, and has passed down her incredibly cool wardrobe. This shirt was the first thing that I was unable to resist!

There it is, the first of the old QQ faces that she has pulled out again now that her mouth is feeling a bit better. Oh, how I love to see that spirit shining through!

A shout-out for mommy.

Here she is at the doctor's office for her perfunctory check-up.

This visit was much less traumatic than the last, thank goodness!

Rockin' out with daddy.

She does love to be upside-down.

Awwwwwwwww yeah!

After the doctor, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to Steve's Snappin' Dogs. Too bad QQ isn't down with solid food yet. She'll come around once her mouth is healed.

In the meantime, she read the newspaper. There was a good story about red pandas at the Denver zoo.

And she watched us eat hot dogs.

Oh, the humanity. Have I mentioned before how addicted I am to the fried green beans? Steve also makes a darned good kraut.

Back home, we thought we'd go through Maia's boxes of goodies. She assured us that she didn't need a fashion show, but....

...we kind of couldn't resist. So many über-cool clothes! Check out this James Perse shirt-dress!

And the autumn-colored silk jacket! QQ is very, very spoiled in the sartorial department. Wait till you see the rest......