Oh where, oh where have I been??????

you might ask. Well, I guess I'll tell you...I haven't the foggiest! That's the best I can do! The past six weeks have passed by me so quickly. There have been joys, challenges, successes and failures! I'm sure you want more...so here it is; The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and let me tell you...it's been U-G-L-Y at times!


I am happy to report that I can successfully balance two girls on my lap at once. Hopefully this doesn't mean that my lap is getting larger ;-). But I do admit (much to my chagrin), that I haven't been to the gym since I returned from China. I do miss it, but don't feel comfortable taking Amelia to the playroom yet. Yes, I know, I could go at night, but by then, I'm totally exhausted! There are still some power struggles that occur when I'm holding one or the other, but they generally don't fuss too much.
First of all, Amelia is in her fifth and final set of casts. WOW, you say, where did the time go? Beats me...she had four sets of casts on for one week each and then she has this final set on until September 27th. Before this set was put on, she had a minor outpatient procedure to lengthen her Achilles tendon. They performed the procedure under a general anesthetic. I surprised myself at how upset I got when they wheeled her away. Maybe it was because I was there by myself (Steve was at home with Elise). We opted to not drag Elise out of bed at 0'dark thirty to go to the hospital. The doctor took less than 40 minutes and was out in the waiting room talking to me.


I just adored her doctor, Dr. VonStein. Unfortunately, she has moved to Utah and will not be here to do Amelia's follow-up visits. It figures that I would get someone that I really, liked and then lose her. But at least she was able to do the procedure and put her final set of casts on.


These casts are on for three weeks....and then we go into "Denis Browne Braces" or Forest Gump shoes as we have affectionately dubbed them at our house.


I'll be THRILLED to get rid of these casts. First of all, they are HEAVY...about 2 1/2 - 3 pounds. Let's not even go into how bulky and awkward they are when you try to hold her. Whenever they removed the casts at the doctor's office, I would snatch her up and snuggle her without those casts on. She always felt so tiny, but she did weigh about 20 pounds when we were in there about three weeks ago (that's without the casts). Now let's discuss the fiberglass that the casts are made of. Yes, fiberglass! Have you ever wondered what it's like to be dumped into a vat of insulation??? Hold Amelia for about 10 minutes and you'll feel the sensation! I thought I had some sort of strange disease contracted in China before I figured out that all the tingling and itching was from the fiberglass. On to bathing...WHAT BATHING??? You can't bath her with the casts on! She could only have a bath once a week, right before we went to the doctor. I would soak her in the tub for about 30 minutes to soften the casts and then we'd run out the door....dripping the entire way! But at least she got clean!


So let's talk bathing for a second....we are relegated to "sponge" bathes! Well, at our house, it's a "washrag" bath since I don't have any sponges. These bathes are o.k. if your child doesn't have extremely loose stool! Yes, that's right, I'm still battling the diarrhea! I am at my wits end with this. I have changed her formula three times, given her only bananas, applesauce and rice for DAYS and even put her on all baby food. Nothing has made a difference! It's unbelievable. I literally run to her room to try to get her out of the bed before she completely trashes it and I have to strip everything out of it and was it~this has occurred more than once. I finally called the doctor for something and will pick it up tomorrow. So couple the "no getting the casts wet" with diarrhea and you have one smelly little Asian! I do my best, but sometimes it's just not good enough. Amelia is so regular with her morning constitution, that I'm considering sitting her on the potty to try to cut down on the messes! It's an option at this point and a viable one!

Soaking the casts in vinegar water~SMELLYYYY!!!!

Having a cookie while I wait for my next set of casts!

I will say that the casts don't slow her down a bit. She wants to stand so badly right now. Unfortunately, I know that her little legs have NO muscle tone or strength what so ever. I know the physical therapy will help. But the braces she will get can only come off for 1 hour a day for the next three months. Yep, she has to wear them 23 hours a day. Part of that hour is going to have to be bathing too! I can't wait to dump this child into a big ole bubble bath!

Jei-Jei pushing Mei-Mei

As many of you may know, we've had some power struggles over the past six weeks since we have returned. I'll only elaborate on Amelia, the other kids will have to get their time on the family blog. Amelia came to us very spoiled from her home in China. She was blessed to be in a very fine orphanage where she was in Half the Sky's Hugging Granny's program. Amelia was obviously well loved and cared for. But, I don't believe that she was ever allowed to be put down. Because whenever I would sit her down to do something, the screaming would begin. And the tears, she can cry BUCKETS of tears. So many, that I was afraid she may dehydrate! And let me tell you, this child can peel the paint off the wall with her screaming! As soon as I would pick her up, she would completely stop crying and be totally content. Hmmm.....now this isn't going to work for me! So, the "behavior modification" began.

Long and brutal story, very short. Amelia is now a very good napper and sleeper. She goes down without a peep and sleeps all night long and takes about a two hour nap. We were lucky if she slept an hour during nap time and she would wake up and SCREAM until someone came to pick her up. It was the same with bedtime, she would scream as soon as we would walk out of the room. Steve actually put a baseball cap on the corner of her crib one night to quiet her down and he snuck out of the room. It worked too! It's been a difficult few weeks getting her to let go of the screaming and wait calming and patiently for us to come and get her. She's learned that her screaming gets no reaction out of us now and we see very little of it. When we do, it doesn't last very long. We've made great strides with that.

Now we're working on getting her to smile at us when she wakes up from naps and nighttime. She's not a very happy little girl when she gets up. BUT...at least it's not screaming herself hoarse. She just glares at me now. But as soon as I pick her up, she is chattering and pointing and semi-jovial! I try to get her to smile at me and I've made a complete fool of myself with her, but no luck with the smiles until I actually pick her up. I keep praying for it to get better and so are my many Ladybug friends. All the prayers are working, that's for sure!

We are getting into a rather nice routine since school started. Summer was rather icky since it was not a lot of fun for Amelia to get out in the HOT, HOT weather. I was trying to keep her from too much chafing with the casts and I kept her in most of the time. Taking her to the pool seemed rather cruel, although we did venture over occasionally, but not often. The poor little thing wanted to get in so badly. She would lunge forward whenever I would sit on the edge of the pool and try to get in. After a time, I also realized that the water and heat were making the casts even more irritating to me, so I gave up on the pool all together! Now if it would only rain! It hasn't rained here in weeks. It's only rained twice since we returned from China and that wasn't much to speak of. Everything is so dry, it's just horrible. Our rainfall is 12 inches behind normal, if that tells you anything.

Hanging out by the pool, no swimming....

We are going to walks in the stroller now that Elise is in preschool. It's nice and relaxing, I think Amelia really enjoys it. It also helps me to de-stress a little. Now that Philmont is behind me, I'm looking for a new physical challenge. Anyone have any suggestions????? I'm open for them!

It's been a challenging six weeks. I am thrilled to say that we have really turned the corner. I knew it would be difficult this time...Amelia is older and was in a very nice orphanage where I knew she would be very attached to her caregiver. She's had some strongholds to get over, but we are definitely getting there. I remember telling her right after we got home, "Little girl, if you think you're stubborn, you don't know stubborn! I'm the Queen of stubborn, sister!" I think she has finally gotten the message.

She laughs and giggles and says thank you! It's the sweetest thing too. She also has 11 teeth now and she can sign; please, more, milk, cookie, mama, baba, eat, baby and she tries her darnest to sign "Signing Time". She's brilliant, I tell you! Her biggest thing is to blow kisses and she gladly tips her nose up to me when I say, "Chin Chin Mama" (kiss mama). My greatest joy lately has been to watch is her excitement when Baba and GuGu Tucker walks in the door~the pure and simple joy of a child~there's nothing like it! It melts your heart to see it when it finally comes through and then the joy of knowing that the walls are coming down is a true answer to prayer!

It's a crazy life, full of crazy kids and family. But it's my life and I have to say, I do in fact love this life. God firmly planted me right in the middle of it knowing what was best for me! I still stand in awe sometimes when I take a step back and look at all that I have been blessed with.

Our God is an Awesome God with an incredible sense of humor sometimes!

Oh the things we see and feel, when we allow ourselves the chance to do so!