10 months old :)

We got pictures :) We had gotten an update about sweet Katie and it was said to have pictures but they weren't there. Here is my lovely girl at 10 months old. Those eyes are just drawing me in and that look. Man oh many we are in trouble. It looks like I will have two strong willed, sassy girls on my hands.

In the update we also learned that Katie, has 2 teeth. She is eating porridge and rice. She takes 2 naps per day and sleeps through the night from about 11pm to 7:30am.

We also learned that she is crawling and pulling herself up to a stand. She walks if you hold both hands and is a very content and happy child. She weighs 18lbs and is over 28 inches long.

I can't wait to hold her. We did just get our provisional I600 approval from USCIS. We are still waiting on the Korean government to grant Katie her emigration permission and thus granting us travel approval. We are hoping it won't take until September but it could. Some time this year I get to hold my daughter and I carry that hope with me. I know she is doing well and that helps.

Hope and Hugs

Today was cast #6 for Kiya. Kind of hard to believe but they we were ready for our normal to come back to us. Cast off is sadly not our normal anymore.

We showed up bright an early and honestly I didn't have a whole lot of hope. You see we have never really gotten good news on cast day. So I was expecting the to hear pretty much the same thing we had heard for the last 5 casts. The one thing I was super excited for was being able to hug my friends.

I have said this before but I am so very blessed to share this journey with some amazing women and two of them and their kiddos shared cast day again with us. I have shared so many cast dates with Catie and Sarah that it just doesn't seem right if we aren't together for a new cast.  We were all surprised when Chrissy showed up for moral support and some super great hugs. We were definitely wishing our friend Kelli among others could have been there too but that just wasn't doable this time.

Okay back to the story...We typically are 3rd to go back to surgery on cast day. They tend to take the kids in order from youngest to oldest so 3rd has been our place, we get it. We accept it. Well to our surprise we got bumped to 1st. One other little cast kid was sick and couldn't make it so they bumped Kiya up.  We have been first only once and that was on cast number 1. We were thrilled and a little out of practice with the faster flow of the day but we figured it out. Gwen as always was there to save the day. Gwen is truly an angel and we are so grateful for all she does. I am so glad she was there today. She was missing for cast 5.

So we headed to x-ray with our favorite x-ray tech. Tom is a shining star. He is so great with the kids and the kids all know that once they are done with the x-ray the get a stuffed toy and stickers. We then went to pre-op with Ruby. Ruby is one of a kind and really sweet. She helped finally get Kiya to take her versed and was so patient while Kiya screamed.

5 minutes to 8am Kiya went back to surgery to get her new purple cast on. And then we waited. We ate some breakfast, had some coffee and waited for the lights to flash on our pager. It seemed like it took awhile but the lights finally went off.

I went to the door and waited for it to open. I was met by our amazing advocate Linda. She is just awesome. We chatted about Kiya, her heart murmur, her casting, it was nice. We were both just waiting for Dr. H. She finally went back to get him.

Dr. H came out and in true stoic form, started with the "well we are about where we have been, she is about 46 now. We would really like to see her straighter out of cast." Hold the phone....did he say 46? She was around 60 degrees, 12 weeks ago. This was seriously the best news we have ever heard on cast day. I then asked if she was basically straight in cast to which he replied yes. He seemed shocked by reaction. I was over the moon to finally have hope again. To know that the decision to cast in order to try and correct her curve was starting to finally work. It may not next time and it may take a few more before we get good news again but it doesn't matter. We finally know that good news is possible.

For perspective at 1st cast Kiya was 52 degrees. Then we had to take a long break due to the nasty sore. At 2nd cast she was 64. 3rd cast she went down to 62 so basically the same. 4th cast she went up to 66 and at 5th cast she was 60 ish. So our path has been filled with not so great numbers. Today restored my hope. Hope that we may see straight.

I was glad my friends were there to share in our joy today. Casting is not easy. It just plain stinks really and we have all had good cast days, okay cast days and really horrible cast days. Together we stand strong and hug and get each other through. I know that we are never alone. These cast moms have picked me up on our horrible days and celebrated with us on our good day today. I can only hope to do the same for them. I will shout from the mountains when there is good news and be there with a hug, support and anything else I can offer when not so good news comes.

With hope and hugs, friendship and love.

3 years ago....

January 6, 2009 will always be a day I remember. I saw this sweet face for the very first time. I can hardly believe it has been three years. She was so tiny, so scared and yet so tough. You can see the fight in her eyes. She still makes this exact grumpy face. I love it. She never hesitates to let you know what is on her mind.

I pause today to also think about Mama Zinash. She is the reason I saw this face and I will never forget that. As Miss Kiya gets older she is looking more and more like her mom. Her eye brows, her eyes, her nose look just like her mom.

She was 5 1/2 weeks old in the above picture and weighed a mere 6lbs and was just so little. She is still tiny but very tall. We will find out soon just how much she weighs again but likely about 31 lbs and probably close to 40 inches tall.

That concerned little girl pictured above is now my feisty, sassy, smart, compassionate big girl. She has come so far. Her journey hasn't been easy but it definitely could be worse and while scoliosis still sucks, I am grateful that is all we are dealing with.

I am thankful for this little girl. She is my shining star and I am so very blessed to be her mom.