Wow - it's been awhile...

As expected, time is flying now that school is in full swing and the holidays are near.  It seems every year, around Halloween, we reach the top of some invisible, cosmic hill and suddenly start rushing full speed down the other side to the end of the year.  Since my last post, Ellie has turned 22 months, Tom has had surgery (and then an emergency admission back into the hospital for complications, causing us to postpone Ellie's baptism), we've celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving and taken a trip to Asheville to see Tom's sister and her family, Patrick has lost two teeth, Samuel has started toying with using the potty again...  Suffice it to say, our cup has runneth over.

Ellie continues to thrive.  The ear tubes have brought her hearing into normal range, and she is starting to babble - and even sing! - a lot more.  She's added a few words to her repetoire - "milk", "pumpkin" and "night-night" - and we have an evaluation scheduled next month with the state's "Babies Can't Wait" program to see if Ellie qualifies for speech therapy.  If so, they will provide services until Ellie is three, at which point the local school system will take over.  And, of course, we'll have regular speech evaluations at the cleft clinic. 

A few pictures from our visit to North Carolina.  Hard to beat the beautiful scenery...

It's still really hard to get a good picture of all three kids - stinkers! - but they're cute anyway.  :)