So maybe there is a turn in the road ...

Sasha and I celebrated our birthday weekend recently (he is 10/23 and I am 10/24 - go figure!?!) and it was great! We did family things and had lunch at his favorite eatery - The Red Robin. They put the balloons "under our ears" and did the clap clap song. And there was ice cream. Sasha was over the moon. He had such a great day. He makes my momma heart just sing - every day.

Two days before his birthday we put on the first of his orthodontic devices. It is a palate expander. I know of no adult that would put up with such an intrusive and somewhat overwhelming device. Yet my son deals with it so amazingly. The orthodontist is a Harvard-trained artist that literally fitted the devise around every crock and nanny of Sasha's cleft anomaly. I know because I clean it all every day. It is funny - we are growing closer over that silly palate expander. We argue about foods he can eat, he eats them and then I come to help with the gagging. So my son still eats. And I clean. A lot.

The absolutely worst part of it all is turning the expansion key every week. It makes me break out in cold sweats. I only turn that key once a week but it is an image that haunts me. What if I turn it too much - or not enough. ?!??!?!? I would rather be back in the far north of Russia in the dead of winter than face this. Or maybe not.

Anyway, it is all good. We do well. Yesterday was not one of our banner days but at the end of it all Sasha loves me, Mama, because I came and got him. His words not mine. The rest is all surplus at the end of the day. My son is a miracle everyday. He is my miracle I found in Russia.