Watching Carver Thrive

There are seasons in life where every appointment, every procedure, and every milestone feels like a mountain to climb. And then there are seasons where you finally get to breathe. This summer has been exactly that for our family. After everything we've walked through together in just one year, we've been soaking in the joy of watching our little boy be a kid.

Carver is getting so big!

He had the most wonderful first birthday surrounded by family and friends, and it was such a special day to celebrate everything he has overcome in his first year of life.

Right after his birthday, he officially started crawling! He may have been a little delayed, but as we've learned over the past year, Carver does everything on his timeline. Now he's crawling everywhere at lightning speed, cruising along the furniture, and building the confidence to take those first independent steps.

He is so curious, incredibly smart, and wonderfully cautious. His personality continues to shine more every day... and yes, he definitely has a little sass from his mom (oops!).

This summer has been exactly what our hearts needed. After a year of surgeries, appointments, and recovery, awe've simply enjoyed living in the moment. Those quiet, ordinary days are the ones we dreamed about during the hardest parts of this journey.

His little teeth

Life After Palate Repair

Carver is now completely healed from his palate repair, and it amazes us every day how far he's come.

He's drinking through straws and eating completely normally! We introduced him to the Honey Bear training cup, which allows you to gently squeeze liquid into the straw while they're learning to drink. Amazingly, he figured it out the very first time. By about five weeks after surgery, he was drinking through a straw all on his own.

His palate has healed beautifully.

Even more exciting, Carver now has six teeth! Three of them are on the top, including the tooth right next to his cleft and gum line. That was something I had quietly worried about for months. Some children need X-rays to determine whether those teeth are even present, so seeing his teeth erupt normally has been another huge blessing.

Sometimes it's the little victories that mean the most.

Our Next Step with Genetics

One decision we've made recently is to move forward with whole exome sequencing through genetics.

This blood test looks at nearly every gene and chromosome in Carver's DNA. If anything significant is found, Colin and I will also be tested to see whether either of us carries the same genetic change.

To be honest, this decision wasn't easy.

There's comfort in having answers, but there's also fear in learning things you never expected to hear.

We were also given the option to receive secondary findings, information about possible inherited risks for conditions like certain cancers or heart diseases. After a lot of discussion, we decided not to receive those additional results and instead focus solely on learning more about the possible cause of Carver's cleft and what it could mean for future children.

It's a little scary.

But like every other step on this journey, we're choosing to face it one day at a time.

Looking Ahead

Our next cleft team appointment will be this fall with his speech pathologist.

They've followed Carver since he was born, but as he gets older, speech becomes an even more important part of his care. Over the coming months, we'll be paying close attention to the sounds he's making, the words he begins to form, and whether his speech develops as expected.

He isn't saying words quite yet, but he is constantly trying to communicate, and we can't wait to watch his vocabulary grow.

Our Journey Isn't Over

Although we're finally in a season with fewer appointments, we know our cleft journey isn't finished.

The next planned surgery won't be until Carver is around 6 or 7 years old, when he'll receive an alveolar bone graft. During that procedure, surgeons will use bone from his own hip to fill the area where his cleft was, providing support for his adult teeth and strengthening the upper jaw.

We've even asked if one of us could donate the bone instead, but using Carver's own bone gives the graft the best chance of healing successfully and not rejecting, which is another obstacle we could face. 

There may be other surgeries someday as well, possible jaw procedures, nose or lip revisions, speech-related procedures, or surgeries to improve breathing if they're ever needed.

Those possibilities are part of our future.

Right now, we're choosing to take life one day at a time.

We're enjoying summer evenings, celebrating new milestones, chasing a crawling little boy around the house, and simply admiring how incredibly strong he is.

Carver has already overcome more in his first year than many people face in a lifetime.

Yet somehow, he still smiles so easily.

Our greatest hope is that he never loses that light. We will spend every day reminding him just how loved he is, how brave he is, and how perfect he has always been.

Thank you for reading and once again, thank you for the support we have always received. It means so much to us