May 30, 2010

A New Post...Way Over due

Where to begin?? Ethan's Potty Training is going great.....we gave him a big gift of a Dyna City for his cars this morning for how well he has done. I think he is absolutely on board, it's been so long since he has had an accident, and when he does he gets upset with himself. We are so proud of him and extremely happy that we now do not have TWO in Diapers!! GO Ethan!!!

Samara has had some better days with eating, but to be honest she's not the best at eating and is not into food. Not a good thing, but at least she hasn't puked in 5 days....whoohoo...this is a big deal since we were having lots of puking episodes. I have learned her cues a little better...and now know that she just cannot handle much food at one time. Alot less than you would think. She is going to therapy to strengthen her oral muscles and skills. We had her neurology appointment Thursday morning and came away with no new answers, so he just wants to watch and wait to see how much goes away with time. Since all her tests have come back normal he said there isn't any one thing with her that says it's something. He thinks some could be from the orphanage or her sensory problems etc... so I guess we will just wait and see....and do alot of praying!!!!

I have extended my leave and now return back to work on June 21st. It's hard on us financially but Samara really needs the time, and I am thankful that my husband supports this as it means being frugal. Thanks babe.

Tomorrow is Memorial Day and Justin is off work so we are spending time with the family.
Lunch at my mom's and dinner at Justin's mom's. Always busy on the holidays.
I hope everyone has a great holiday!

May 21, 2010

Don't be superstitious!

So, not to jinx anything, but our little man has decided, somewhat like a light switch going off, that he is now going to really begin going on the "big boy potty" and start wearing "big boy underwear". Unfortunately I was at work when this all went down but Ethan has made huge strides since yesterday in his potty training.

Yesterday Leah called me at work to tell me that he woke up with a dry diaper and wanted to go on the potty, and then when Leah took him to her Mom's (with a diaper on) he went on the potty there too without ever using the diaper. So, Leah's Mom put some Star Wars "big boy underwear" on him and throughout the rest of the day he either went on the potty or out in the yard......boys will be boys! :)

I really needed to mow the grass last night when I got home, so Ethan helped me the entire way riding his 4 wheeler and wearing his safety goggles. When it was time to hit the back yard I turned the corner only to find my son in all his glory watering the weeds.........I was SO PROUD! My first thought was "son, what are you doing", but that quickly led to "good job buddy"!

We realize that this process will not be without "accidents", and last night during his bath with his sister one of those moments happened. Funny thing is that he was worried we would be mad at him so he decided to blame his sister..........however the size of said accident really told us otherwise. After a minute or two of asking and prodding him to tell the truth he finally gave in and confessed.......so cute......all we had to do is to let him know that accidents happen and that telling the truth was ok and we wouldn't be mad at him.

We put a diaper on him for bed (of course) hoping that he would wake to another dry diaper.........and he did, so it was "big boy underwear" again. Unfortunately another accident happened, this time in the kitchen and again it was #2.......uh oh! :)

Since then he's been doing great, and as a matter of fact he's been doing great with the peeing, it's just been the poo poo that he's had his mistakes with, but compared to where we were just two days ago we couldn't ask for anything more. In fact, since this morning he's been wearing his cars "big boy underwear" and even took a three hour nap in them with no issues.......hooray for Ethan!!

May 19, 2010

Swallow Test.....Back for more tomorrow

Ok so I am way behind posting about the swallow test...I want to start out by saying wow this procredure was pretty amazing. Samara was sat in this chair and all the food I fed her was mixed with a compound and they were watching it on a video screen right there in front of us while I was feeding her. Her classic gagging and couging on food happened while we were there. Thank God. There is nothing worse than telling your Doc something and then while you are there it doesn't happen.
The good thing is she doesn't have a swallow problem...her problem stems from several things. The really bad way she was fed in the orphanage and her very, very immature oral skills or lack there of. She swallows food immediately....or eats very fast. Which is why she gags. If you think about it even if you eat a soft food like pudding your mouth tongues it and moves it around before you swallow. She doesn't. She just swallows and swallows it all. Now with liquid she does it a little differently. She holds it all in her mouth and then swallows it all at once causing her to gag because she is drowning herself. So sad.....So the speech pathologist Rueben, who by the way was absolutely wonderful is seeing her again tomorrow to figure it what to do. We are back to a completely strict babyfood diet. Only very smooth and pureed diet until we get her oral skills better. She's not the biggest fan of babyfood but I am sprucing it up, or I should say trying to.
I am looking forward to the appointment in the morning. Hoping he finds something that no one else has and comes up with a great fix. LOL....wishful thinking.

May 14, 2010

Our one month appointment at CCH

So all in all Samara is making progress. She has gained a little weight, her head grew 1/2 centimeter and she is 29 1/2" tall. She had four shots and still needs two more, they didn't want to give them all at once. She had a chest x-ray to check again for TB and it was clear!! YEAH!! So she will take medicine once a day for 9 months for TB and she will be fine. She will always test positive but will have a card that states she is not active.
We also saw OT for her feeding and they have reccomended she is seen weekly for her eating issues...gagging, doesn't chew etc.... We know alot of these issues stem from the way she was fed at the orphanage. We have to try and undo a long time of negative experience that has caused these issues and also decipher what may be sensory related and what is caused from the negative feedings. We will get through this and with the help of some OT and also help me grow is coming out today for her first evaluation with them. My hope is that with both of these resources we can turn her feedings into something fun.
She has a swallow study test on Monday....I'll let you all know how that goes as well.
Please say a prayer for her.

May 12, 2010

Needed to post some pictures....

My precious Girl...pointing to her little bird.....It's a song we sing! :)
My Little Man.......I Love that Smile !!!

Her first Pool Experience.....So cute!!


His NEW shades...he is so cool!!!



Hey guys look this way....Mommy wants to take your picture!! LOL


What an Angel.....fast asleep!


Asleep in my swing.

So happy...Smiling at My daddy!! Ethan and Samara taking a bath together for the first time!!! They had so much fun!!

May 10, 2010

A Belated Mother's Day to All the Mother's out there

Yesterday was a long day of running around as usual on a Sunday Holiday. We went to church, then to my mom's for lunch and then to Justin's mom's for dinner.
The food was great, but spending time with the family is what matters most. I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day and took sometime for themselves. I didn't get that yesterday so I am doing that this morning, drinking coffee and posting on this poor blog that I have neglected so bad.
I still cannot believe sometimes that I have two kids. lol :)
Ethan is getting better with his jealousy although I know it may never fully go away. He loves his sister though, even though he can be such a stinker to her sometimes.

Saturday I attended a brunch for CCHIAC (Cincinnati Children's Hospital International Adoption Center) fundraiser event that will take place in November at the Oscar event center. This is close to my heart as we are and will be utilizing so many of these great programs through CCH. They are raising money to fund these programs that wouldn't be possible without support from the community. I am on a couple of committees to gather items for Raffles/silent auctions and then to set up and assemble them on the day of. If anyone has anything they would like to donate no matter how small it will go to a great cause to help all families that come through CCH for IAC help. I am excited to be a part of this, to give a little back.

We have Samara's one month follow up appointment at CCH on Wednesday and then her occupational therapy appointment on the same day as well to figure out her eating issues. Hopefully!!! I'm sure this one appointment will not figure it out. We are going to meet with a swallow specialist and the feeding team as well just don't have those appointments yet. She has some issues with eating, holds food in her mouth for a long time, regurgitates, pukes, won't take a bottle,sippy cup or drink for herself. Feeding time at my house is stressful and she needs the nutrients so my day is filled with trying to get her to eat and drink. I am getting to my wits end with this so I am hopeful they can shed some light on all of this.

Friday was a really nice day and so I got the kiddie pool out for the kids and they played for a little bit. It might have been a bit early but it was so nice out and I made the water warm for them. They had fun, Samara's first experience in a pool.

I will post again after her appointments on Wednesday and let you know what we find out.