Malachi just hours after birth. His premaxilla was twisted outward and had 2 neonatal teeth that had to be removed. We knew about his cleft 5 months before his birth thanks to a high resolution ultrasound.

Malachi at one week. He's such a good baby, ALWAYS happy!

Malachi at 4 months old. Anything he can grab goes into this boy's mouth!

Our "little man". Such a sweet guy. 

Mommy & Malachi. Everyone says we look alike. Mom was born with an incomplete cleft lip and complete cleft palate. Like mother, like son.

Malachi one day before lip repair. Originally he was only going to have a lip adhesion done because all efforts to pull his premaxilla in to place didn't work. He was older than most babies when things got started, then he had a reaction to the adhesive used to hold his appliance in place, and lastly his nasal stints irritated his nose. Poor little guy!

Big sister Sasha loves her baby brother so much. She's a regular "mother hen."

(Left) Malachi 5 days post-op with his stitches removed. His doctor came to us an hour into surgery and said Mal's premaxilla was more flexible than they thought and he could do the full repair that day if we wanted. Of course we said "Go for it!"

(Right) Check out the new profile!

Malachi's Christmas picture at 6 months old, just 2 weeks after his lip repair. He's such a handsome little man.

Malachi (6 months) and proud sister Sasha. Their first Christmas together, with many more to come. Malachi's palate surgery is scheduled for May.

Malachi at 11 months old, the day after his palate repair. Still smiling, even through the pain. Such a trooper!

(Left) Our "Little man" at 1 year old. We can't believe how fast he's growing and how much he's changed over the last year. (Right) Mommy loves to take snapshots of the kids. This is one of our favorites. What a face!

Malachi is now 2 and such a ladies man!  He has grown so much that we can't believe he's the same little guy we brought home from the hospital.  He hasn't had any current surgeries and won't need another one until he's between 6 and 8 years old and that should be his last one.  We were so lucky to have such an amazing cleft team working with us.