Wordless Wednesday - Cleaning the Basement

Happy Earth Day!

Earth Day! Quite a big day in our house especially for Leah who is truly our green girl. I picked her up from preschool this afternoon and she asked, "Mommy, what are we doing today?" I simply answered, "Going home like always". She answered, "But Mommy......its Earth Day, how are we going to celebrate the Earth?" Typically, I would make a quick turn to our favorite park but the weather was not favorable for a day there. So we went home and the girls made their own Earth party in the blustery weather. They dug for worms, rolled in the grass, acted like birds (very windy outside), swung on the swings and just took in nature as it was intended. I'd have to say that this was probably the best way they could have spent Earth Day.

Happy Earth Day!

Surgery Plans

Julianne's x-ray



Julianne and I met with Dr. Cornwall, a pediatric hand specialist, from Children's Hospital in Cincinnati. He did a good job of informing me on Radial Longitudinal Deficiency (used to be called Radial Club Hand). Julianne is completely missing her radius and metacarpal to her thumb in addition to wrist bones. He determined that since she is able to bend her elbow 90 degrees then she is a candidate for the centralization surgery. This will make an attempt to straighten her wrist but it would not be completely straight - probably 60 % better then how it is now. From my understanding (keep in mind I had a 14 month old on my lap when he was talking to me), they will insert pins in her wrist to stabilize it with her ulna. Her arm would then be casted for several weeks. In due time, her wrist may "topple" back near its current position, so he said. Her surgery is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5. For those in my travel group: there is a possibility that Christy (Grace's mom) will be our nurse during surgery.



Once this is completed then sometime this summer she will have her thumb removed since it is nonfunctional (has bones but are not attached to anything). Here is the cool part: They will take her pointer finger and move it to where her thumb should be. Dr. Cornwall states that it should look like the real deal. Did you know Dora, Diego, Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse, etc. all have three fingers and a thumb? She will fit right in with the best.


When Julianne turns around six or seven then they will do a procedure that will lengthen her arm. Amazing stuff.

One of the Girls

Julianne experienced her first Tea Party (not a political one, though) with her sisters today.

The day started off with fingernails and faces being decorated including mine. Oh my...how beautiful (cough cough) I looked after Natalie and Leah took turns making me over (more like coloring my face). We then got into our favorite dress-up clothes and walked the cat walk for daddy. I placed a table cloth on the kitchen floor and we sipped grape juice with our pinkies in the air and delicately nibbled on gummy worms and M&M's (we had no tea cookies). Afterwards, we rushed to the ball as we elegantly danced to the Wiggles. All had a wonderful time including the first timer Julianne.

Side note: This morning after Julianne and I awoke, I was carrying her down our steps when I slipped off the landing and fell hard. I probably tumbled about four or five steps while I was still carrying Julianne. She hit her head so hard against the hardwood that I can honestly say that I wasn't sure if she would ever be OK again. Jon had heard the thud of her head and came running to get ice. She was screaming (good sign) and it was really hard to see if she was ok at this point. I didn't feel any bump or see any bleeding so I got her a bottle to see if she would take it to calm her down enough to check her over. Thank goodness she was fine - amazingly. I, however, am dealing with a good deal of bruising on my thigh and hip.

Life is Good!

Life is good! When we started this journey a year ago, we had no idea what was in store for us. This adoption process strengthened our faith in God and deepened the love we have for each other (Did I ever mention...what a wonderful man I married?). It also brought us to our amazing daughter! As we look at her, we feel as if she has been in our family forever. I have heard this before but it is as if God hand picked her us but oh, how true it is, she fits right in and it is as if she knows that she is supposed to be with us. She brings us such joy and she is so much fun.

Just being on U.S. soil for less than two weeks, Julianne is learning SO much. Being behind in gross motor skills, she is doing her homework and trying to catch up to her peers. She has learned to roll over (yes, roll over) from front to back and back to front. She is starting to pull herself up to sitting position from lying down and is starting to show something that resembles a crawl. Believe it or not, standing and walking are not too much of a problem for her since she started to take steps while we were in China (sorry, Scott, you weren't the first). Each day brings her more confidence in this area. In due time, she will be hanging up her "infant" title and taking on the "toddler" name.

She is doing incredibly in the area of communicating too. On Saturday, she said her first word! We had our suspicions that she had uttered the word "hi" but this time there was beyond a doubt that she said it. She looked at herself in the mirror and as the word came out of her mouth, her hand went up in the air to wave at herself. Today I am almost certain that she said "bye" but stay tuned in for confirmation. She is such a fast learner....she is giving kisses, waving bye or hi, showing us how big she is (soooo big), etc.

Last week we had Julianne's big appointment with the IA doctor which lasted about four hours! They suspected that she might have spina bifida and hip dysplacia but after an xray that was NOT the case. PTL! All of her blood work and other tests came back fine. This was the absolute best case scenario we had so prayed for. God is good. The xray did confirm that she is missing her radius as well as one metacarpal. Since she is behind in gross motor, PT and OT start next week and she sees the hand/arm specialist next week as well to determine if surgery is in her future. I really don't think they will consider it since she uses her hand and arm so well. It amazes me that she was rarely able to use her helper hand while in China (it was kept covered) but yet she uses it like a pro. She is doing a fantastic job of using it and her strength is certainly getting better.

Leah and Natalie are such a help with her. They have each changed diapers (wet), helped her get dressed, fed her, wiped her mouth, etc. According to the girls, she is the best Baby Al*ve doll ever. We have noticed that they both want more "Mommy Time" these days. I received a call from Leah's preschool that she wasn't feeling well, but after I picked her up, she told me that she just wanted to be home with me. I couldn't argue since it was nice having "Leah Time". They are growing into such sweet little girls (too quickly).

Life is good, indeed! We are so enjoying our time as a family of five.

Easter morning.

Julianne loves to pull the books off of the shelf and flip through books.

Adjusting

Can you say "jet-legged" ?

A day at the park

At the airport meeting her jie jie's for the first time.

Our last day in China. These are all of the thirteen "babies" in our travel group. Julianne is in blue on the couch.

We are slowly adjusting to U.S. time here in the South house. Waking up at 2 am has been the norm around here for Ms. Julianne and as well as staying awake until nap time. This is such a change from the 10 hour a night routine that we experienced while in China. In due time, we WILL get her back to that schedule! Each night will get better or so that is what I am telling our 2 am alarm clock.

The girls love being big sisters and cater to her every whimper and need minus the dirty diapers. Natalie has regressed a bit but this is understandable since my little "momma girl" now has competition for lap space. I keep telling her that my lap has been growing so I can fit all three girls on it at once. Unfortunately this is true (about my lap growing).

We're Home!

We left yesterday bright and early to start our journey home and 28 hours later we were back home. The way home was not as bad as I had thought it might have gone. Since Julianne's schedule was so off course, there were a good amount of tears on the way home. Couple this with a bad cold, possible ear infection and a persistent cough, she did the best she could. We were even able to get in a little cat nap here and there which certainly makes the time go by quickly.
Julianne is quickly adjusting to home life with her big sisters. If she just merely whimpers, she has two little ones quickly running to her side to wipe her tears and entertain her to distract her. I even witnessed Leah carrying Julianne to the couch, covering her with a blanket and singing a lullaby to her even though it wasn't even close to nap time. Julianne is one big, cute, interactive baby doll to her sisters - a little girl's dream. But within time after a minute with her sisters, she will put her arms up for me to pick her up (a good sign). If I leave her side she begins to cry which is another good sign of the beginnings of attachment. Everything is going well: sleeping, eating, pooping, smiling, playing, etc.
Jet leg.......yes, we have it....Jon more than me at this point. We all (all five of us) took over a three hour nap today. Aaahhh, that felt great. I am paying for it now though since everyone else is sleeping and I am wide awake.
Thanks for following our journey while in China. It was so much fun to read the comments and emails while we were gone and so appreciate the support from when we started this process to now. We really couldn't have done this without the love and support of our friends and family.
I will post pictures tomorrow.

Shopping!

Pizza night in the hall of our hotel - Yes, Papa Johns!!!

The lobby of the White Swan

We received a blessing from the Buddhist Monk.

"Mommy, what is that?" Julianne's first experience with a bubble.

We've been having a good time spending our RMB on our little shopping excursions! Tomorrow we have our "red couch" photo and go to the US consulate to have our swearing in ceremony.

Food faces!

We fed her a lemon and got a pucker!

Broccoli - mmmmmm!

Her first lollipop! She loved it.

Aaaahhhh......Guangzhou!

Julianne's medical check-up (if you call it that). She passed with flying colors or so we think.
Julianne being a trooper on the plane.

Eighty-three year old man we met at Lanzhou Aiport. He spoke English very well and was so interested in our story.

Well, we made it to Guangzhou but not before we felt like we were in an episode of The Amazing Race. We left our hotel yesterday at 1 pm and drove the beautiful rural car ride to the airport then waited and waited at the airport. Our flight was delayed two hours then off to Guangzhou......well, not quite. We didn't know that there was a "stop" in Xia'an, China. We thought "Oh, some people will get off then some more people will get on" Nope.....all of a sudden we realized EVERYONE was getting off and we were getting told politely in Chinese (well, we think - they might have been cussing at us, who knows) to get off. We didn't even have a sweater on Julianne and it was pouring outside so down the steep steps off the plane we went. We were then herded into a bus...wrong again....the lady asked for our boarding pass and we had left it on the plane with our carry-ons. Jon had to run back inside the plane and still couldn't find them. They were kind enough to finally let us onto the bus and we frantically looked for them in our backpack. Alas, we found them while they drove us to the airport. Craziness. Everyone rushed out of the bus and scattered once inside the terminal and we didn't know what we were doing and where to go. After a few minutes, we found an employee who could speak some English and she pointed where we should go. No kidding, within three minutes everyone baorded the bus again and got right back on the plane. Side note: One thing I have learned about China is that people like to rush and not follow any etiquette rules; for example, if you are getting off of an elevator, they do not wait for you to get off first instead they will rush on. We did eventually make our way to Guangzhou's Airport at about 11 PM but we could not find our guide once we got there. In due time, we found her and were off on our one hour ride to the White Swan Hotel. Julianne was a trooper through the whole ordeal and traveled like a pro.

The hotel is very nice but our room has a hint of mildew smell; I guess it is due to the humidity here. The humidity is so high that my hair is truly the frizziest in Debbie history.

Julianne continues to do well and learning new things everyday like today was sucking milk through a straw!