WE GOT NEW PICTURES!!!
She is pulling herself up to a stand :)
I was so grateful to see these pictures today. I did make me think about the wait. Hopefully the months will pass quickly. I can't wait to hug and squeeze her.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Update on our sweet baby girl :)
She is pulling herself up to a stand :)
I was so grateful to see these pictures today. I did make me think about the wait. Hopefully the months will pass quickly. I can't wait to hug and squeeze her.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Inside look...guest post
I wrote a guest blog post...here it is.
http://www.chicagonow.com/portrait-of-an-adoption/2011/11/i-had-missed-the-call/
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
We are...
I love these kids. I love these women like they are my family. But I still hate scoliosis.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Update on cast life
On October 24, Kiya got cast #5. We have been casting for over a year now. It has taken me a little while to figure out what to write about this topic.
Kiya as always is amazing and bounces back to her self very quickly. It didn't seem to be as quick this time but she was at preschool the next day.
Cast life is what it is. I hate it and yet there is a peace about it. For the most part I don't have to worry about her back when in cast. Cast free weeks are a tad stressful. Her back always looks so great when we first cut her out of her cast and then we spend the week watching and just waiting for it to be curvy again. I hate that part.
Going into cast day, I didn't need an x-ray to tell me what I already knew. We hadn't gotten any correction or if by some miracle we did it was minimal at best. The x-ray did nothing but to confirm that and as if scoliosis was trying to rub it in, the doctor said as much. He said, "well we really aren't getting a change here. Still about 60 out of cast and basically straight in cast." He was frustrated. I was frustrated. Her spine is just so flexible which is good but we really need it to hold. Some, any correction even just a little.
The doctor always told us that it could take 3 or 4 or more casts in a row to really start seeing some change. While this was cast number 5 it is really only cast number 4 in a row. She seemed to stay straighter out of cast for longer this last time so maybe when we take this green cast off she will stay straighter for even longer. Maybe.
So what do we do now? The same thing we have been doing. We know deep down that surgery may be in Kiya's future. We will cross that bridge when we get there. We aren't there yet. We know kids that have had 15 or more casts so we aren't ready to give up. We refuse to.
Cast life is doable. Kiya does great. She understands her cast life. She knows that she takes bubble baths in the laundry room sink. She knows she has to wear pull ups at nap time just in case as her cast can't get wet. She knows that she has to wear a bib while eating meals just to make sure food doesn't fall down her cast.
We left the hospital with a grumpy toddler sporting a green cast. We also left with a new issue. One of the doctor's heard a heart murmur. This has come up exactly twice in Kiya's life. The same doctor heard the murmur two casts ago. Nothing was said last cast and then this cast she heard it and it was confirmed by another doctor. My father in law took a listen and he didn't hear it. It is a bit of a mystery at this point but one we are taking seriously. Kiya has her 3 year check up in a few weeks in which we will address the issue with her primary doctor and ask for a referral to a pediatric cardiologist for an EKG and echocardiogram which may need to wait until cast off week but we shall see.
Kiya is asymptomatic for anything seriously being wrong so there isn't an urgency but regardless we will have in looked into.
That is where we are, in a cast, frustrated but dealing with it. I hate scoliosis but will not stop fighting it.
Kiya as always is amazing and bounces back to her self very quickly. It didn't seem to be as quick this time but she was at preschool the next day.
Cast life is what it is. I hate it and yet there is a peace about it. For the most part I don't have to worry about her back when in cast. Cast free weeks are a tad stressful. Her back always looks so great when we first cut her out of her cast and then we spend the week watching and just waiting for it to be curvy again. I hate that part.
Going into cast day, I didn't need an x-ray to tell me what I already knew. We hadn't gotten any correction or if by some miracle we did it was minimal at best. The x-ray did nothing but to confirm that and as if scoliosis was trying to rub it in, the doctor said as much. He said, "well we really aren't getting a change here. Still about 60 out of cast and basically straight in cast." He was frustrated. I was frustrated. Her spine is just so flexible which is good but we really need it to hold. Some, any correction even just a little.
The doctor always told us that it could take 3 or 4 or more casts in a row to really start seeing some change. While this was cast number 5 it is really only cast number 4 in a row. She seemed to stay straighter out of cast for longer this last time so maybe when we take this green cast off she will stay straighter for even longer. Maybe.
So what do we do now? The same thing we have been doing. We know deep down that surgery may be in Kiya's future. We will cross that bridge when we get there. We aren't there yet. We know kids that have had 15 or more casts so we aren't ready to give up. We refuse to.
Cast life is doable. Kiya does great. She understands her cast life. She knows that she takes bubble baths in the laundry room sink. She knows she has to wear pull ups at nap time just in case as her cast can't get wet. She knows that she has to wear a bib while eating meals just to make sure food doesn't fall down her cast.
We left the hospital with a grumpy toddler sporting a green cast. We also left with a new issue. One of the doctor's heard a heart murmur. This has come up exactly twice in Kiya's life. The same doctor heard the murmur two casts ago. Nothing was said last cast and then this cast she heard it and it was confirmed by another doctor. My father in law took a listen and he didn't hear it. It is a bit of a mystery at this point but one we are taking seriously. Kiya has her 3 year check up in a few weeks in which we will address the issue with her primary doctor and ask for a referral to a pediatric cardiologist for an EKG and echocardiogram which may need to wait until cast off week but we shall see.
Kiya is asymptomatic for anything seriously being wrong so there isn't an urgency but regardless we will have in looked into.
That is where we are, in a cast, frustrated but dealing with it. I hate scoliosis but will not stop fighting it.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Perfectly Perfect
We have a budding perfectionist on our hands. Kiya is a pleaser and she likes to get things right and tends to get more than a little frustrated if she doesn't.
Things are getting better but we run into it a lot at night while we read books. Kiya has memorized a good number of her books and likes to read along with us or do it by herself. Her current favorite is Good Night Moon. She sometimes forgets a word or says the wrong word. When she would get stuck, we would jump in and help her which we soon learned was a BIG mistake. She would get really really mad and refuse to read anymore.
So now we ask her if she wants us to help her and then we help. This perfectionism is also coming along with her new found love of independence. She has to do everything by herself. To her credit she is really good at a lot of it. She can get herself mostly dressed and undressed by herself. Shirts are a little harder with the cast but she is working on it.
Last night when we went trick or treating, she insisted on walking by herself. She didn't even want to hold our hands. She was strutting down the street and kept trying to catch up to the bigger kids.
My little girl is growing up. She is full of ideas, opinions and fun little stories. She is dramatic and creative and silly. She also has become obsessed with the show Olivia. Olivia likes to say perfectly perfect along with a handful of other phrases that Kiya now repeats and mimics.
So we try and tell our budding perfectionist, that perfectly perfect is trying her very best. She is I think starting to get that. She said last night, "Mommy, I did it. Perfectly perfect. I try my best." It was adorable.
Stay tuned for some fall/Halloween pictures for Wordless Wednesday.
Things are getting better but we run into it a lot at night while we read books. Kiya has memorized a good number of her books and likes to read along with us or do it by herself. Her current favorite is Good Night Moon. She sometimes forgets a word or says the wrong word. When she would get stuck, we would jump in and help her which we soon learned was a BIG mistake. She would get really really mad and refuse to read anymore.
So now we ask her if she wants us to help her and then we help. This perfectionism is also coming along with her new found love of independence. She has to do everything by herself. To her credit she is really good at a lot of it. She can get herself mostly dressed and undressed by herself. Shirts are a little harder with the cast but she is working on it.
Last night when we went trick or treating, she insisted on walking by herself. She didn't even want to hold our hands. She was strutting down the street and kept trying to catch up to the bigger kids.
My little girl is growing up. She is full of ideas, opinions and fun little stories. She is dramatic and creative and silly. She also has become obsessed with the show Olivia. Olivia likes to say perfectly perfect along with a handful of other phrases that Kiya now repeats and mimics.
So we try and tell our budding perfectionist, that perfectly perfect is trying her very best. She is I think starting to get that. She said last night, "Mommy, I did it. Perfectly perfect. I try my best." It was adorable.
Stay tuned for some fall/Halloween pictures for Wordless Wednesday.
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