Thankful Thursday

Well I am not thankful for kids shampoo. As I was putting away clothes my nice daughter was sitting on the potty, and within reach of the shampoo (as I found out). When I went to get her she had put shampoo on her legs (thinking it was lotion like mommy uses) and also on the adult toilet seat and tried to rub it in. So miss Maia got her second bath for the day about 1/2 hour after the first. But I am thankful for a CLEAN little girl.

Mark

bad news

this morning Melanie called me with some bad news. as most of you know Melanie was married once before.we are close to her former in laws. this morning we found out bonnie (Melanie's former mother in law) has a twin sister who was found dead in her house along with her husband. we  don't know anymore than that. we have gone out to dinner with them a few times and found them to be very nice people.

mark

Maia update

I've been saying that I was going to do an "update" for a while now and since it's still quiet this morning, thought I would take a few minutes before getting ready for church to do that. So... how is Maia doing? I'll start with the physical stuff. I know we've posted bits and pieces as we've went along, but just to summarize. We've seen all the doctors at the Spina Bifida clinic, had lots of tests and met with therapists.

• Neurology: Maia is doing great for a child who has spina bifida. Her MRI shows an Arnold-Chiari malformation which means that her cerebellum and brain stem are pushed downward. This affects her balance. At times, she is pretty unsteady. Her shunt is fine and seems to be working well. The EMG showed that she has a predisposition towards seizures so she will continue on anti-seizure medication as a preventive therapy. At this point, there is nothing she needs other than follow up with the neurologist every 6 months or so.
• Urology: Maia has vesicoureteral reflux - basically, her bladder muscles are too stiff and urine flows backward into her kidneys. It also causes her to be incontinent. The reflux has the potential to damage her kidneys. Thankfully, her tests show healthy kidneys. The urologist started her on medication which will relax the bladder muscle as well as a prophylactic antibiotic. We are cathing her four times a day with the goal of keeping her dry between times. Not happening at night yet, but we are making progress during the day.
• Cardiololgy: Absolutely no heart problems!
• Ophthalmology: Maia has strabismus - crossed eyes. Her eyes work independently of each other, although the vision in each is good. Her right eye is slightly stronger than her left eye so we are patching the right eye for 4-6 hours/day to strengthen the left one. Maia will see the eye doctor in a few weeks and we expect that he will schedule surgery shortly after this to correct the strabismus. She may need to wear glasses for a period of time following - we're not sure.
• Audiology: Perfect (but selective - lol) hearing.
• Physical Medicine/Rehab: Evaluations by physical, occupational/speech therapists all say she is doing great. Yes, she is delayed for her age but with play and the stimulation/attention she is now getting, she will catch up. No braces or orthotics are needed. Maia's hip joints are loose so we need to encourage her to sit with her legs in front of her or crossed when she is on the floor.

So physically, all is as good or better than we expected knowing the medical issues she had when we adopted her. It would have been great if there were no bowel/bladder issues, but these affect nearly every child with SB so it was not unanticipated.

Emotionally/adjustment wise, Maia is also doing well. She is slowly becoming more affectionate, occasionally giving kisses when prompted. Still doesn't like to be held or cuddled, but will come up and lay her head on our knee sometimes. She does love her grandparents VERY much! Maia is making more eye contact with us and has started to notice when Mark or I leave her - good signs of attachment. Her lungs are fully developed - lol! There is a lot of testing and screaming that goes on in our house when she does not get her way. It's hard for a girl who has to learn what's acceptable behavior in her new family. Although I don't like the temper tantrums, I recognize them as a sign that she trusts us enough to let that behavior show. And hopefully, they will decrease over time as we are consistent in our expectations. Most of them have to do with food and toileting. Verbally, she has about 25 words of English which is awesome! Her Russian vocabulary was only about 10 words so the fact that she has more than double that in less than 2 months of being home is wonderful! And her comprehension is excellent - she is understanding many simple instructions such as putting her silverware in the dishwasher after meals, throwing napkins in the garbage. Need to work on her ability to dress/undress herself, but it will come in time.

Some days aren't easy, but that's parenthood. I am thankful that God gives us enough good days that they sustain when those challenging ones come. We love our girl and it is fun to see her grow and blossom!

Ok... gotta run, I'm cutting it close in getting ready for church.

Dancing Girl

 Sweet pea!

Saturday

Today is Saturday Melanie's friend Dolores asked if we would talk to her church about our adoption. Melanie made a very nice power point presentation and we used their projection screen for the talk. It lasted about 40 minutes. We (by we I mean Melanie) talked about how we started out to look domestically for our little girl (well it turned out to be our little girl) . Then how we went to international adoption and finally found the little girl we were looking for.
Then it was my turn to talk and I thanked everyone that helped us along the way (all that I remembered at the time) I'm sure I forgot one or two people (there are so many of them). So to everyone who helped in any way thank you very much.

Mark

Thankful Thursday

I know... I've really been a slacker lately. It's not for lack of things to blog about, it's for lack of time. Perhaps this weekend, I'll be able to post a few pics of our girl and summarize where we are at. But for now... I'll just share a couple things I am thankful for.

- This Saturday, we will be sharing the story of our adoption journey at my friend Del's church (Anyone can attend - if you want more info, just email me). Planning for this talk required me to go back over our blog looking at time lines and remembering details. Although I "know," I sometimes forget how evident God's hand was each step of the way. He is faithful!!
- My mom had dinner with us tonight. It was nice to spend a little time with her and visit. My sweet hubby took care of Maia after we ate so that mom and I could chat.
- Maia continues to do well. We've counted about 25 words that she says now. Given that her Russian speech was limited to about 10 words, she has made great progress!!
- Now, I'm thankful that I have a few minutes to go spend with the my wonderful guy - he is really the best!!

Just a pic

I was going to post tonight, but it's getting late and I'm wiped out. So I will just share this blurry, too cute picture of our girl. She's doing well, starting to feel comfortable enough to explore a little bit now. Today, she figured out how to put a big thick pillow on the floor in front of my night stand to turn on my radio. After she showed me, we had fun dancing to the music! I've got to upload those pics so they will have to wait for another day.



Teacher born with Down syndrome breaks through stereotypes... Inspirational!

More proof that God knew what He was doing when he created kids with that special extra chromosome!