Ok. So Maybe I will make this a quarterly update. I don't seem to be able to get around to updating any more often....
Well..school is almost out. Rob graduates next Tuesday. He is moving out the week after that to start college life. I am not ready for that! He is going to move off for the first year and then will return back here to finish up his degree.
I am hoping to put the boys on the swim team this summer, they are excited about that. Me not so much. Practice is from 7AM to 9AM everyday. Yes that is 7AM..... For those that know me well, you know I am NOT a morning person! The activity will be good for the boys.
Mahli is doing well. She is picking up more English everyday. She has adjusted very well, you would never know that she has only been here for 7 months. She is almost completely potty trained! Yay for Mahli!! She loves to jump on the bed, but is absolutely terrified of the trampoline! hmmmm... She has such a cute little personality and shows it to everyone. She has almost quit melting down every time we go out in public. She is still quite OCD about having ANYTHING on her that does not belong, it must come off immediately!
She gets along great with the boys and you can hear her yelling for them or the dogs at any given moment. We have recently had a new addition to the house. Rosie is a 120 lbs, 20 month old Mastiff. Mahli loves Rosie just as long as Rosie does not slobber on her! When Rosie gets a drink, Mahli heads for higher ground!
I will post some pictures later this weekend. We are hoping to meet some friends at the zoo in the next couple weeks and maybe will have some pictures from there soon!
Friday, May 15, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Bad Mama
I know, I know.....I have been very bad. I have not posted in a loooong time. We have been so busy and trying to get everyone settled in. Then came the holidays and then my return to work. Anyway, excuses aside, we are all doing well.
Mahli had some regression when I returned to work, but she is doing better now. We have gotten results from most of her testing. Her blood work was all good, except for a low platelet count. That is being followed up on. We have repeated all her vaccinations. We have her MRI results and are now working on a plan for follow up of that.
She has an EEG scheduled later this month and I am waiting to hear from the Dennis Development Center at UAMS/Arkansas Children's Hospital about her referral to them. She will need developmental testing from them.
I am looking for a part time developmental daycare in Little Rock where she can attend maybe two days a week. I really have mixed feelings about putting her in daycare. I really think she may feel like she is back in an orphanage setting. She does not react well to pictures from her orphanage or of the Aunties. However, our international adoption doctor is really pushing for the daycare setting. She feels she needs the socialization. Her condition affects her ability to control her impulses and I think this may be very hard for her. I do think it would be better for her to receive all her therapy in once place though. She will need OT, speech/language, and behavioral therapies.
She has gained weight and gotten taller since we have been home. She is now 30 lbs and 36 inches tall. She is still in 24m clothes though. I am having a hard time with pants as she has long legs. She is so skinny the waist just falls off if the legs are long enough. Guess she will wear lots of dresses! She does not mind as long as I don't try to put anything in her hair to match! She loves her beads, but other than that is NOT a girly girl.
She has settled in pretty well. She still has issues with me giving anyone but her attention. It does not matter that she did not want my attention until one of the boys has it! She does get along well with her brothers though. She is still not playing well with toys, she is just not really interested. She has learned to ride her brothers scooter, that is pretty funny. Of course, she only wants to ride it when he is on it!
She is not really speaking very well yet. She will repeat what you say, but does not say a lot on her own. If you tell her to say something, she will repeat it. Hopefully, this will improve with therapy.
We finally got what I think is the right diagnosis for the rash she has had since we received her. Pityriasis rosea, is what Dr. Baldwin says she has. She has been misdiagnosed with allergies and ringworm, which it does look a lot like ringworm. She has the rash all over her back and a little on her arms and legs. She now has some oral meds for itching and we are keeping her well covered with lotion and we are using Selsan Blue as a body wash. This seems to be helping a little. I know she had the rash in the orphanage as she has the scars to prove it.
We gave up on the potty training and we just put her on the potty when she gets up in the morning and after her nap. We also put her on before her bath. She has some major sensory integration issues, expected with her condition, and does not seem to know when she pees. She is excited when she gets off the potty and can see the pee, but does not know until then that she has gone.
We are still working with the rocking. She still does this a lot and we are trying to distract her when we see her doing it. There are some OT techniques to help with this as well.
Luckily one area we do not have any trouble with is sleeping. When we put her to bed at night, she climbs up in her little bed and wants all four of her blankets on her. We tuck her in, and she is usually good for the night. I am not sure why she wants all the blankets as she kicks them all off during the night, but I am happy to put them on her anyway. She has only had one night that she woke up crying. That was right after we came home. I did have to take her night light out of her room. If I turn it on, she will DESTROY her room. I also close her door. If she does happen to wake up at night, she will wander the house.....very quietly. So I close her door for her safety.
She is learning to like many foods. She hated french fries while we were in China. Now she loves them. She still does not care much for cold food, but will eat very hot food with no response if I do not stop her. She loves spaghetti, and basically any type of pasta. She does not like chicken. She would snack all day if I let her. She is always pointing to something and wanting to eat it. She does not horde her food in her mouth anymore.
Well I think I have written a book. Hopefully, I will get back to posting regular and they will not be so long.....
Mahli had some regression when I returned to work, but she is doing better now. We have gotten results from most of her testing. Her blood work was all good, except for a low platelet count. That is being followed up on. We have repeated all her vaccinations. We have her MRI results and are now working on a plan for follow up of that.
She has an EEG scheduled later this month and I am waiting to hear from the Dennis Development Center at UAMS/Arkansas Children's Hospital about her referral to them. She will need developmental testing from them.
I am looking for a part time developmental daycare in Little Rock where she can attend maybe two days a week. I really have mixed feelings about putting her in daycare. I really think she may feel like she is back in an orphanage setting. She does not react well to pictures from her orphanage or of the Aunties. However, our international adoption doctor is really pushing for the daycare setting. She feels she needs the socialization. Her condition affects her ability to control her impulses and I think this may be very hard for her. I do think it would be better for her to receive all her therapy in once place though. She will need OT, speech/language, and behavioral therapies.
She has gained weight and gotten taller since we have been home. She is now 30 lbs and 36 inches tall. She is still in 24m clothes though. I am having a hard time with pants as she has long legs. She is so skinny the waist just falls off if the legs are long enough. Guess she will wear lots of dresses! She does not mind as long as I don't try to put anything in her hair to match! She loves her beads, but other than that is NOT a girly girl.
She has settled in pretty well. She still has issues with me giving anyone but her attention. It does not matter that she did not want my attention until one of the boys has it! She does get along well with her brothers though. She is still not playing well with toys, she is just not really interested. She has learned to ride her brothers scooter, that is pretty funny. Of course, she only wants to ride it when he is on it!
She is not really speaking very well yet. She will repeat what you say, but does not say a lot on her own. If you tell her to say something, she will repeat it. Hopefully, this will improve with therapy.
We finally got what I think is the right diagnosis for the rash she has had since we received her. Pityriasis rosea, is what Dr. Baldwin says she has. She has been misdiagnosed with allergies and ringworm, which it does look a lot like ringworm. She has the rash all over her back and a little on her arms and legs. She now has some oral meds for itching and we are keeping her well covered with lotion and we are using Selsan Blue as a body wash. This seems to be helping a little. I know she had the rash in the orphanage as she has the scars to prove it.
We gave up on the potty training and we just put her on the potty when she gets up in the morning and after her nap. We also put her on before her bath. She has some major sensory integration issues, expected with her condition, and does not seem to know when she pees. She is excited when she gets off the potty and can see the pee, but does not know until then that she has gone.
We are still working with the rocking. She still does this a lot and we are trying to distract her when we see her doing it. There are some OT techniques to help with this as well.
Luckily one area we do not have any trouble with is sleeping. When we put her to bed at night, she climbs up in her little bed and wants all four of her blankets on her. We tuck her in, and she is usually good for the night. I am not sure why she wants all the blankets as she kicks them all off during the night, but I am happy to put them on her anyway. She has only had one night that she woke up crying. That was right after we came home. I did have to take her night light out of her room. If I turn it on, she will DESTROY her room. I also close her door. If she does happen to wake up at night, she will wander the house.....very quietly. So I close her door for her safety.
She is learning to like many foods. She hated french fries while we were in China. Now she loves them. She still does not care much for cold food, but will eat very hot food with no response if I do not stop her. She loves spaghetti, and basically any type of pasta. She does not like chicken. She would snack all day if I let her. She is always pointing to something and wanting to eat it. She does not horde her food in her mouth anymore.
Well I think I have written a book. Hopefully, I will get back to posting regular and they will not be so long.....
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Time Goes By......
Time goes by way to fast. Seems like we just got home, and we were home a month on Tuesday. Mahli is quickly picking up English words. She can count, mostly from me saying one.....two....three..... She still speaks a lot of Mandarin, but has picked up many English words such as:
Hi
Bye
Cya Later
Night Night
Please.....sounds more like peaaa
Thank You
Yes
No
Jaxxon
Daddy
Drink
Yum Yum.....This when she wants to eat
Diaper
Puppy
Pretty
and she can name most of her body parts.
I do believe that she is left handed as this is the hand she "chooses" to use. We tried to begin potty training and she just was not getting it. Although, she will tell you after she has gone pee. So we have stopped that for the time being...see below for the explanation.
I took her Monday to see a pediatrician in Little Rock who has experience with international adoption. Dr. Baldwin was very nice and spent about two hours with us. She completely checked Mahli out and we spent about 45 minutes trying to get enough blood to run all the tests she wanted to do. She also started her over on her vaccinations. She got two on Monday and will receive more later. Dr. Baldwin felt that she was not ready to be potty trained and recommended that we hold off for another 3 to 6 months. She felt she might regress with all the changes. She scheduled Mahli for an MRI just to see what it shows. She did not feel that anything was wrong, but wanted to see what her diagnosis was all about. Mahli is in the 25th percentile in both height and weight. She is 27 lbs, up 5 pounds from her exam in China!, and 34 inches.
Mahli is still exhibiting some behavior issues, but these seem to be less frequently. She still has a fit when you tell her no, and is still pushing boundaries to see how far she can get, but that is typical for her age. She still hates to have anything on her head or in her hair. She will not wear socks if she does not have her shoes on, and refuses to sleep with covers.
The boys are still loving their little sister. They have all had me bring her to school for different functions. She is still dragging them all over the house. I believe she thinks she is the boss!!
Hi
Bye
Cya Later
Night Night
Please.....sounds more like peaaa
Thank You
Yes
No
Jaxxon
Daddy
Drink
Yum Yum.....This when she wants to eat
Diaper
Puppy
Pretty
and she can name most of her body parts.
I do believe that she is left handed as this is the hand she "chooses" to use. We tried to begin potty training and she just was not getting it. Although, she will tell you after she has gone pee. So we have stopped that for the time being...see below for the explanation.
I took her Monday to see a pediatrician in Little Rock who has experience with international adoption. Dr. Baldwin was very nice and spent about two hours with us. She completely checked Mahli out and we spent about 45 minutes trying to get enough blood to run all the tests she wanted to do. She also started her over on her vaccinations. She got two on Monday and will receive more later. Dr. Baldwin felt that she was not ready to be potty trained and recommended that we hold off for another 3 to 6 months. She felt she might regress with all the changes. She scheduled Mahli for an MRI just to see what it shows. She did not feel that anything was wrong, but wanted to see what her diagnosis was all about. Mahli is in the 25th percentile in both height and weight. She is 27 lbs, up 5 pounds from her exam in China!, and 34 inches.
Mahli is still exhibiting some behavior issues, but these seem to be less frequently. She still has a fit when you tell her no, and is still pushing boundaries to see how far she can get, but that is typical for her age. She still hates to have anything on her head or in her hair. She will not wear socks if she does not have her shoes on, and refuses to sleep with covers.
The boys are still loving their little sister. They have all had me bring her to school for different functions. She is still dragging them all over the house. I believe she thinks she is the boss!!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Settling In
Well the title says it all. We are just settling in. Mahli is doing great and acclimating well. The boys are doing wonderful. She drags them around wherever she wants them to go. We all had fun trick or treating. I have pictures that I promise I will upload today. Pictures of homecoming, Halloween, etc. It is hard to get pictures of my boys in anything but their underwear. As soon as they walk through the door the clothes come off.
Steven went back to work part time this week. Mahli was not too sure about that. She keeps looking for him and goes to his chair, then she yells Daadeeee. I tell her he is at work and will be home soon and she is good for awhile, then we start all over.
I want to ask everyone to please pray for Mahli's friend Susannah's family. Susannah's Papa fell from a ladder and is in the hospital. Also, for Liesl and Steve, they are leaving today to go to Kunming to get their little girl. We were supposed to travel together, but things did not work out. They have had a very stressful six weeks and are going to be gone for 18 days. I thought our trip was long.........
I took Mahli up to the boys school for their fall parties. One of our favorite teachers, the one Indy should have had this year, but our principal decided she would "change things up", asked me to get her more information on adoption!! She wants to adopt a little girl. It makes you feel good to know that you have helped another child find a forever family. It is also good that you can help someone else just starting out and tell them how you would do it, if you had it to do over again. There are definitely things I would do differently.
CHI got referrals yesterday for February 17, 2006. Not sure yet what the cut off date is, but CHI's next log in date is 3/2/06. I just can not imagine what those families are going through. These referral families waited 33 months. Which may not seem that long to some of you who are not in the adoption world, but they were told the wait would be 12 to 14 months. Quite a difference!
Ok I am going to upload pictures now. Hopefully, they will be on here before long.
Steven went back to work part time this week. Mahli was not too sure about that. She keeps looking for him and goes to his chair, then she yells Daadeeee. I tell her he is at work and will be home soon and she is good for awhile, then we start all over.
I want to ask everyone to please pray for Mahli's friend Susannah's family. Susannah's Papa fell from a ladder and is in the hospital. Also, for Liesl and Steve, they are leaving today to go to Kunming to get their little girl. We were supposed to travel together, but things did not work out. They have had a very stressful six weeks and are going to be gone for 18 days. I thought our trip was long.........
I took Mahli up to the boys school for their fall parties. One of our favorite teachers, the one Indy should have had this year, but our principal decided she would "change things up", asked me to get her more information on adoption!! She wants to adopt a little girl. It makes you feel good to know that you have helped another child find a forever family. It is also good that you can help someone else just starting out and tell them how you would do it, if you had it to do over again. There are definitely things I would do differently.
CHI got referrals yesterday for February 17, 2006. Not sure yet what the cut off date is, but CHI's next log in date is 3/2/06. I just can not imagine what those families are going through. These referral families waited 33 months. Which may not seem that long to some of you who are not in the adoption world, but they were told the wait would be 12 to 14 months. Quite a difference!
Ok I am going to upload pictures now. Hopefully, they will be on here before long.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Home Update
Mahli had her first doctor's appointment today. She did not like them taking blood, but other than that she did fine. Everyone in our doctors office, and the other doctors in his practice, had to come and see her. She was blowing kisses left and right. Dr. Kaploe said she looks very healthy. He did take blood to test for all vaccinations, as well as syphilis and kidney function. We should hear back next week on all the blood work.
Mahli is settling in very well. She loves the boys and they can't get enough of her. She is picking up English pretty well and can get her point across. We are all having a bit of trouble getting back on a correct sleeping schedule. We still feel like we should sleep all day and be up all night. She is sleeping two to three hours at a time and then is up for several hours. Hopefully, we can get this corrected in the very near future. She is doing great in her own bed and will go straight in to her room and get in bed when I say it is night-night time. She repeats night-night and rolls over to go to sleep.
She is still stubborn as ever, but is realizing that the rules apply. She is happy as long as she has food, and does not like having it taken away. She is fascinated by the dogs and can stand at the window for hours and watch them. She is losing some of her destructive behavior, I think she has realized that biting herself is not going to get her attention.
I have some more pictures I will go through sometime this week or next and get posted.
Mahli is settling in very well. She loves the boys and they can't get enough of her. She is picking up English pretty well and can get her point across. We are all having a bit of trouble getting back on a correct sleeping schedule. We still feel like we should sleep all day and be up all night. She is sleeping two to three hours at a time and then is up for several hours. Hopefully, we can get this corrected in the very near future. She is doing great in her own bed and will go straight in to her room and get in bed when I say it is night-night time. She repeats night-night and rolls over to go to sleep.
She is still stubborn as ever, but is realizing that the rules apply. She is happy as long as she has food, and does not like having it taken away. She is fascinated by the dogs and can stand at the window for hours and watch them. She is losing some of her destructive behavior, I think she has realized that biting herself is not going to get her attention.
I have some more pictures I will go through sometime this week or next and get posted.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
We are Home
We finally made it home about midnight last night, and got into bed about 2am. Mahli was as excited as the boys. The boys were glad we were home and very excited about Mahli. We are all still very tired and I will post more later.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Last post from China
This is our last post from China. We leave in the morning and will be home about 10pm Saturday night. We have really enjoyed our time here and in a way it is sad to leave Mahli's homeland and all she knows, but we are happy to be going home. We miss the boys and can't wait for them to meet Mahli.
I am praying that we have a peaceful flight. Fifteen hours is a long time for a little girl to be good. I am hopeful that she will take a long nap. We have a four hour layover in Shanghai and a three hour layover in Atlanta. That will at least break up the flights some.
We will post again after we get home.
I am praying that we have a peaceful flight. Fifteen hours is a long time for a little girl to be good. I am hopeful that she will take a long nap. We have a four hour layover in Shanghai and a three hour layover in Atlanta. That will at least break up the flights some.
We will post again after we get home.
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