I'm super excited....today we received an update on Olivia from her orphanage. The liaison for our agency was able to get in contact with the director and have a ton of questions about her answered.
Here are some of the highlights
~Height: 83cm, Weight: 12.5kg, Head circumference: 46cm, chest: 48.5, teeth: 16, foot length: 14cm.
This makes her about 27.5 pounds and about 32 inches tall.
~Both physical and mental development are very good. She could walk on her own now, very alert and swift. She likes to imitate others. She likes to smile, to talk and likes busy and noisy places. She could understand simple sentences. She knows her name and say Auntie and a few of her friends name.
Guess she'll be right at home in our crazy house.
~She eats two meals with conjee, each time about two small bowls. Three meals of formula with rice cereal, about 300ml each time. She likes to eat snack such as candy, cracker and steamed buns. Sounds like there is not much variety in her menu.
I wonder how long it will take for her to learn the English word for french fries.
~She seldom cries and in case she does, play with her for a while, she will be fine.
~We call her Ming Juan.
I was able to let them know if there was anything specific I wanted to ask....beyond the obvious stuff I knew they'd already be saying. I had asked if they say her full name or shorten it to Ming.
~She uses a bottle.
Uh oh....we'll have to work on that. I never had a bottle drinker once the boys turned one. We won't be in a hurry though.....small steps.
~She is outgoing and has good appetite.
Oh yah...she'll fit right in.
~We still uses diaper for her.
Kinda figured this....already bought some to pack.
And the most important and really most surprising...
~She has third degree of cleft lip and palate. Never had a surgery yet.
Ah....little sweetie.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Braces
I took Tyler to his first orthodontics appointment today. It was just a consult to see what we should get started on for his teeth and braces. It's been long overdue, but the cost has kept us waiting on it. Looks like he'll have to have 4 teeth pulled in order to make room, then braces for 2 years. The Dental school we went to is definitely cheaper, but it's still a ton of money. Not sure how we're gonna cover it especially since Timmy will be close behind him, but I guess we'll figure it out.
These kids get more expensive the older they get....sheesh.
These kids get more expensive the older they get....sheesh.
Saturday, February 12, 2011
A gift
Look at what I got in the mail yesterday.
It is from my good friend, Jill, who I refer to as "one of my military wife girlfriends".
She is one of about 15 women who I "met" online 8 years ago (this month, to be exact) while Jason was overseas. I happened to find a forum for military wives and fell in love with it. It was a great source of strength during that terribly hard time. After a few years, it was obvious that there was a smaller group inside that mass of thousands who were more connected than the others. One of those girls created a forum just for us. We used that for the next few years until facebook came along, and now that is the way we keep in touch with each other and our lives.
I've personally met about 5 of the girls, and a lot of them have met each other too....but for the most part, we just are close because of the circumstances that first brought us together and that initial common thread that set us apart from most.
In the past 8 years, we've seen each other get married, get divorced, have countless babies and say goodbye to our husbands as they deploy again, we've lost weight together and gained weight together, we've exchanged secret Santa gifts, had some fights and made up, a few of us even have matching tattoos...now how's that for commitment. We've cried as our resident 'mom' went through the heartache of having a house fire and we've consoled each other when a loved one has been lost, while thankfully not one of us ever had to bear the terrible news of losing a spouse in the war, we have laughed with each other (remember walking like an Egyptian) and we have prayed a million prayers for one another. I honestly feel like I know them all so well and we've never even met....most of us.
I have this dream someday of having a get together with all of us there so we can finally give some overdue hugs. God bless you guys....and thank you.
It is from my good friend, Jill, who I refer to as "one of my military wife girlfriends".
She is one of about 15 women who I "met" online 8 years ago (this month, to be exact) while Jason was overseas. I happened to find a forum for military wives and fell in love with it. It was a great source of strength during that terribly hard time. After a few years, it was obvious that there was a smaller group inside that mass of thousands who were more connected than the others. One of those girls created a forum just for us. We used that for the next few years until facebook came along, and now that is the way we keep in touch with each other and our lives.
I've personally met about 5 of the girls, and a lot of them have met each other too....but for the most part, we just are close because of the circumstances that first brought us together and that initial common thread that set us apart from most.
In the past 8 years, we've seen each other get married, get divorced, have countless babies and say goodbye to our husbands as they deploy again, we've lost weight together and gained weight together, we've exchanged secret Santa gifts, had some fights and made up, a few of us even have matching tattoos...now how's that for commitment. We've cried as our resident 'mom' went through the heartache of having a house fire and we've consoled each other when a loved one has been lost, while thankfully not one of us ever had to bear the terrible news of losing a spouse in the war, we have laughed with each other (remember walking like an Egyptian) and we have prayed a million prayers for one another. I honestly feel like I know them all so well and we've never even met....most of us.
I have this dream someday of having a get together with all of us there so we can finally give some overdue hugs. God bless you guys....and thank you.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Livi's room
I have been so excited to do this post. I was waiting until I had the final piece in place and that package came yesterday. So, here it is. I LOVE LOVE her room.
I had seen that wall tree about a year ago and totally fell in love with it. I saved it to my faves on the computer and finally ordered it last month. Mindy helped me put on every individual flower and it turned out so pretty.
The same thing goes for the bed. I had been at Ikea over a year ago and just loved it. I never forgot about it and in December, Jay and I went to get it.
The little table, I found online and loved how it matched the lines in the woodwork of the bed. Makes it look like it was bought at the same place.
The trunk under the window was actually found used. I was just looking around and came across it. Again, it had the same lined wood like the bed and now the table so it just seemed perfect.
I got this shelf used too. It was a dark brown, but I painted it white to match. The last piece of the room I was waiting for were the baskets. I had originally had different ones picked out, but they were expensive so I started looking around again. I ended up finding these for half the cost and I think I actually like them better.
This is an idea I got last year at Tanner's preschool. It's a ribbon hanging (I got these cool oversized clothes pins to hold it) and then you use mini clothes pins to clip pictures up the whole thing. I'm gonna put a bunch of family pics on it and it's in a spot of her room where she will be looking right at it when she's in bed.
And finally....I had to pull out a few of my favorite things from her closet.
I had seen that wall tree about a year ago and totally fell in love with it. I saved it to my faves on the computer and finally ordered it last month. Mindy helped me put on every individual flower and it turned out so pretty.
The same thing goes for the bed. I had been at Ikea over a year ago and just loved it. I never forgot about it and in December, Jay and I went to get it.
The little table, I found online and loved how it matched the lines in the woodwork of the bed. Makes it look like it was bought at the same place.
The trunk under the window was actually found used. I was just looking around and came across it. Again, it had the same lined wood like the bed and now the table so it just seemed perfect.
I got this shelf used too. It was a dark brown, but I painted it white to match. The last piece of the room I was waiting for were the baskets. I had originally had different ones picked out, but they were expensive so I started looking around again. I ended up finding these for half the cost and I think I actually like them better.
This is an idea I got last year at Tanner's preschool. It's a ribbon hanging (I got these cool oversized clothes pins to hold it) and then you use mini clothes pins to clip pictures up the whole thing. I'm gonna put a bunch of family pics on it and it's in a spot of her room where she will be looking right at it when she's in bed.
And finally....I had to pull out a few of my favorite things from her closet.
Tanner's foot
A few days ago, Tanner started complaining about something on the bottom of his foot. I took a look and was pretty surprised at what I found. He has this wart thing on the bottom of his foot that looks like a mound of skin with yellow cottage cheese underneath.....paints a pretty picture, huh.....I wasn't sure though what it was so I took him to our doctor to be sure. He said it is just a certain type of wart and that we could try and treat it with something over the counter. We got this thing at the store that sort of freezes it. It looked weird and sort of stung, but we'll see if it works.
The pictures don't really do it justice. It's pretty big and very strange looking and it's very sensitive to touch which stinks when you're trying to walk.
The pictures don't really do it justice. It's pretty big and very strange looking and it's very sensitive to touch which stinks when you're trying to walk.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Meeting the doctors
On Tuesday, Jason and I spent a couple hours at Gillettes Children's' Craniofacial Unit. We had a consult appointment with 4 different specialists that will be part of Livi's care for her lip and palate.
We met with the orthodontist, plastic and orthodontic surgeon, speech pathologist, and a nurse practitioner. We learned a lot of really useful information about what to expect for the next several years. It was, no doubt though, just a glimpse of what we will really be doing. There was a simple outline of care that took us all the way up to preteen and possibly beyond. I think it's safe to say we'll become very familiar with this place.
The orthodontist talked about what her teeth and jaw might entail.
~ kids with her condition tend to have bad teeth as well so she will probably come home needing some general dental work.
~ Pretty much a sure thing she'll have braces as some point.
~ Kids with CL/P will see their upper jaw grow at a slower pace than the lower. If this becomes significant, she could need certain dental mechanics like retainers, bars, or headgear.
~ She may have extra teeth in there, permanently missing teeth, or just the right number. We won't know until she grows. She may not ever get her 2 missing front teeth, it just depends.
Then we saw the speech pathologist who talked to us about her speech and learning English.
~ She suggested we wait until her palate is repaired because it wouldn't make sense to begin before that.
~ If we ever have any questions about her learning English, we can call and get help with that as well.
Then the doctor who would do her surgeries talked to us. There was a lot of info from him. This is all under the assumption that she hasn't had anything done yet.
~ Upon seeing her picture, he started off by saying he could tell her palate was severe. :(
~ She will need a minimum of 3; probably 4 surgeries. First, her lip will be repaired. It is a one hour surgery with one overnight in the hospital. After about 6 mos. of healing, she will have her palate surgery which is also a one hour surgery with a one overnight stay. The third is not for sure, but because she didn't have any repairs done until she was older there is about an 80% chance of her having this one. It is done when the palate doesn't quite repair itself correctly after surgery. It doesn't allow for full closure or proper speech so it needs to be repaired. This is a half hour surgery with a night in the hospital. And fourth would be one at the age of 8-11 where she would have bone from her hip taken and put in her upper gum line to create an anchor for her adult teeth to grab onto and secure. They used to do this on the kids at about 3 yrs. old, but found that the bone in the gums would dissolve back into the body and be useless, so now they wait.
~ He said that he sees probably 1 child a week that is adopted from another country.....that's a lot....so I asked him what he felt about whether or not she's probably had any repairs done. His guess was that she's possibly had her lip fixed, but not her palate (which is what Jay and I have been thinking too). He said they used to not ever do anything, but that it became almost a pride thing for other countries to do the lip so that the child didn't reflect poorly on them. He said he rarely sees the palate done though. He also said that he would prefer at this point that it hasn't been done so she can have it here. We'll see soon enough.
The one I was most anxious to talk to was the nurse practitioner. She was there to answer all of our every day questions about her and caring for her. I had lots.
~ I don't need to be as concerned about what I feed her as I thought. She told me I can feed her the same way I would feed any of my other boys as toddlers. Just cutting up her food small and nothing to hard to eat/chew. Sandwiches, cheerios, bananas, mac n' cheese.....just all those things you would normally feed a 2 yr. old.
~ She said that Livi would probably surprise us how fast she eats and adjusts to her missing palate.
~ Because she's had this her whole life, she has learned how to adapt to her lip and palate. She told us about one little girl she met that actually would put her 4 fingers in her mouth against the top of her mouth to create a palate every time she would eat something. That sounded so smart and interesting to me. I guess when you've had that your whole life, you don't know any different.
~ The best type of sippy cup is a Nuby which is exactly what I bought for her...YAY! Those are the kind that have a top like a bottle. She actually gave me some cups too especially for kids with cleft lip. They look like a regular cup but they are soft so you can squeeze it to an easier shape to drink from and they also have a scooped opening on the rim so you can see their mouth when helping them.
~ I don't have to worry about her choking any more than I would about any other child. She said that even though her mouth and nasal passage are open to each other, the throat and airway are still far enough back and separated that this is not an issue. Mostly what we'll see is food coming out of her nose when she coughs or sneezes or something. Well, that's happened with all the boys too. :)
All in all, we were very impressed and happy with the whole facility. Everyone was really great and we have a good feeling about it. This was so helpful to be able to find out the answers to all of our questions. I feel so much better about taking care of her when we're in China.
We met with the orthodontist, plastic and orthodontic surgeon, speech pathologist, and a nurse practitioner. We learned a lot of really useful information about what to expect for the next several years. It was, no doubt though, just a glimpse of what we will really be doing. There was a simple outline of care that took us all the way up to preteen and possibly beyond. I think it's safe to say we'll become very familiar with this place.
The orthodontist talked about what her teeth and jaw might entail.
~ kids with her condition tend to have bad teeth as well so she will probably come home needing some general dental work.
~ Pretty much a sure thing she'll have braces as some point.
~ Kids with CL/P will see their upper jaw grow at a slower pace than the lower. If this becomes significant, she could need certain dental mechanics like retainers, bars, or headgear.
~ She may have extra teeth in there, permanently missing teeth, or just the right number. We won't know until she grows. She may not ever get her 2 missing front teeth, it just depends.
Then we saw the speech pathologist who talked to us about her speech and learning English.
~ She suggested we wait until her palate is repaired because it wouldn't make sense to begin before that.
~ If we ever have any questions about her learning English, we can call and get help with that as well.
Then the doctor who would do her surgeries talked to us. There was a lot of info from him. This is all under the assumption that she hasn't had anything done yet.
~ Upon seeing her picture, he started off by saying he could tell her palate was severe. :(
~ She will need a minimum of 3; probably 4 surgeries. First, her lip will be repaired. It is a one hour surgery with one overnight in the hospital. After about 6 mos. of healing, she will have her palate surgery which is also a one hour surgery with a one overnight stay. The third is not for sure, but because she didn't have any repairs done until she was older there is about an 80% chance of her having this one. It is done when the palate doesn't quite repair itself correctly after surgery. It doesn't allow for full closure or proper speech so it needs to be repaired. This is a half hour surgery with a night in the hospital. And fourth would be one at the age of 8-11 where she would have bone from her hip taken and put in her upper gum line to create an anchor for her adult teeth to grab onto and secure. They used to do this on the kids at about 3 yrs. old, but found that the bone in the gums would dissolve back into the body and be useless, so now they wait.
~ He said that he sees probably 1 child a week that is adopted from another country.....that's a lot....so I asked him what he felt about whether or not she's probably had any repairs done. His guess was that she's possibly had her lip fixed, but not her palate (which is what Jay and I have been thinking too). He said they used to not ever do anything, but that it became almost a pride thing for other countries to do the lip so that the child didn't reflect poorly on them. He said he rarely sees the palate done though. He also said that he would prefer at this point that it hasn't been done so she can have it here. We'll see soon enough.
The one I was most anxious to talk to was the nurse practitioner. She was there to answer all of our every day questions about her and caring for her. I had lots.
~ I don't need to be as concerned about what I feed her as I thought. She told me I can feed her the same way I would feed any of my other boys as toddlers. Just cutting up her food small and nothing to hard to eat/chew. Sandwiches, cheerios, bananas, mac n' cheese.....just all those things you would normally feed a 2 yr. old.
~ She said that Livi would probably surprise us how fast she eats and adjusts to her missing palate.
~ Because she's had this her whole life, she has learned how to adapt to her lip and palate. She told us about one little girl she met that actually would put her 4 fingers in her mouth against the top of her mouth to create a palate every time she would eat something. That sounded so smart and interesting to me. I guess when you've had that your whole life, you don't know any different.
~ The best type of sippy cup is a Nuby which is exactly what I bought for her...YAY! Those are the kind that have a top like a bottle. She actually gave me some cups too especially for kids with cleft lip. They look like a regular cup but they are soft so you can squeeze it to an easier shape to drink from and they also have a scooped opening on the rim so you can see their mouth when helping them.
~ I don't have to worry about her choking any more than I would about any other child. She said that even though her mouth and nasal passage are open to each other, the throat and airway are still far enough back and separated that this is not an issue. Mostly what we'll see is food coming out of her nose when she coughs or sneezes or something. Well, that's happened with all the boys too. :)
All in all, we were very impressed and happy with the whole facility. Everyone was really great and we have a good feeling about it. This was so helpful to be able to find out the answers to all of our questions. I feel so much better about taking care of her when we're in China.
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Trae's project
Today is the academic fair that all the 4th and 5th graders participate in. This is our 5th time being part of it. It's actually pretty interesting to see all the different topics the kids come up with. Things like "How does a sewing machine work?" "What Happened at Pearl Harbor" or even "How much water can a Penny hold?"
This is like the Science Fair we all did as a kid, only the topic can be pretty much anything.
Trae did his on Mount Rushmore. They have to do a display board and write a report. He did a good job and used a lot of great pictures from our trip there in 2006. Looking at them for the first time in years made me, and the boys, really want to go back. That was a great vacation!
Here he is.....and he got an A!
This is like the Science Fair we all did as a kid, only the topic can be pretty much anything.
Trae did his on Mount Rushmore. They have to do a display board and write a report. He did a good job and used a lot of great pictures from our trip there in 2006. Looking at them for the first time in years made me, and the boys, really want to go back. That was a great vacation!
Here he is.....and he got an A!
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