Stationery card

Flourish Of Frames Christmas Card

Turn your favorite pictures into personalized Christmas cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

All Is Well

I met Lydia in the recovery room and she was wide awake.  She had already had two popsicles by the time I got to her and was starting on her third.  They took us up to a room and the nurses checked her and gave her fluids through her IV.  By that time, she wanted to be "bobo-ed" (Chinese for "hold me"), so we snuggled for a while and watched another episode of Sesame Street.  She spit up a little of her popsicle, but not much.  We were able to leave the hospital at a little after 12pm. 

She stayed awake in the car on the way home and wanted more popsicles when we got home.  She had that and some chicken broth.  I wasn't sure how much I wanted to give her...really I didn't want it to come back up! 

We put her down for a nap at about 2pm and when Brian went to check on her a half-hour later, she was laying in bed wide awake!  She and Baba read for a little bit and then we watched some TV.  She was acting like her "normal" self, so we decided to go to the library for a few DVD's to keep her occupied.  : )

We are just finishing a yummy supper from one of my friends and Lydia is looking a little tired.  I think she might sleep good tonight.  : )

The doctor said that her ring finger wasn't pinking up, so please pray that it will be ok.  We won't know anything until she has her cast removed in about a month.  I'll try to keep you updated!

All Done

Dr. Daley just came to tell us that he is all done with Lydia's surgery.  They were able to separate all of her fingers.  He said that her ring finger that was under her middle finger wasn't doing very well.  When the other fingers were pinking up, that one was turning purple.  He said that he's hoping it's spasms, but there is a possibility that it won't make it.  They had to take a skin graft, but they took it from her arm, under the cast, so all the pain will be in the same place.  He said we'll have to come back in a month to take the cast off and at that time, he'll be able to tell us more.  Because her middle finger has so much bulk, it will need to have another surgery to remove some of that - maybe sometime in January or February.  He said that her hand was about as complicated as it gets.  I'm so thankful that God gave him such wonderful skills.

Surgery Started

Lydia went into the OR at about 8am this morning.  She went through all the preliminary exams very easily.  They had Sesame Street on in the waiting room, so she liked that a lot.  We met the surgeon and anesthesiologist and the OR  nurse.  Everyone was great.  Last night we read a book about going to the hospital and Lydia was so excited about the bed with wheels.  I told her that Mama and Baba weren't going to be able to go with her, but she didn't care.  We prayed with her right before she left and off she went as happy as can be.  : )

Here are some pictures from this morning!

Ready to go to the hospital.

Lydia and the anesthesiologist resident.

Getting checked out!

Lydia and Wong on the bed with wheels with the OR nurse. : )

A New Hand

Tomorrow morning at 7am, we will be arriving at Children's Hospital in Milwaukee for a surgery that will change our daughter's life.  As most of you know, Lydia was born with webbed fingers on her right hand, a condition called syndactyly, caused by amniotic banding syndrome.  We knew this when we adopted her.  At the time, we did not know what would be able to be done for her.  Her doctor, Dr. Phelan, had looked over Lydia's medical records before we adopted her and knew of her condition.  Another of Dr. Phelan's patients had a baby who was born with the same condition.  She did research on the surgeons and recommended that we take her to Dr. Dailey, a surgeon at Froedtert who specializes in hands.  We took her for an exam and he was very optimistic about the possibility of surgery for Lydia.  She has bones in all her fingers and even though they are not fully developed, with separation she will be able to use her right hand more like "normal". 

It took a very long time to get the surgery scheduled, but we finally got word that it would be able to be done on Friday, November 16th.  Now that day is almost here. 

We have Lydia's special bear and blanket packed as well as her headphones and the I-Pod with her new favorite song - Zacchaeus.  She got some special gifts from her grandmas as well as a bag of surprises from my Moms By Design small group.  She is very excited to watch her new movie and eat her snacks.  She already started playing with the toys and wearing the hat that she got from them.

We've talked to her about the surgery, but since she hasn't ever experienced anything like it, she isn't really sure what I'm talking about.  When we were talking about it the only thing that Lydia was worried about was if the doctor was going to give her shots. : )

Please pray for her and us as she has surgery tomorrow.  The surgeon was not sure if he would be able to fix her hand in one surgery or if it will take two surgeries.  Pray that he will be able to take care of her hand in one surgery.  Also pray that there will be enough skin to use on her fingers, so she won't need a skin graft.  Please pray that Lydia's pain will be minimal throughout the healing process.
I will post more tomorrow as we have more details about the surgery.

Here are some pictures...Lydia was having fun taking pictures last night. : ) 

I made a plate with Lydia's "old" handprints.

Having fun with her presents!

California Cousins

Swimming and jumping at in the Palm Desert

Lydia's first view of the ocean

Building sand castles

So Cute!!!

Jumping the "Big Water"

The Petersons on the beach

Carsen, Lydia, and Gracie

We got on a plane on October 15th and headed for sunny California.  We have come a loooonnnnngggg way since our last plane ride.  Lydia was so excited to ride on the plane.  She was dancing down the jetway, singing "I'm riding on the airplane."  She got in her seat and played with her stuffed animals, books and listened to the "talking" on her earphones.  We ended up with an extra hour in Chicago, but she and another little girl made up dances, played and hide and seek and watched for the airplane. 
When we arrived in California, Lydia had her first taste of Del Taco.  By the end of our trip, she was not only pointing out all the McDonald's (she does this all the time when we drive), but also all the Del Tacos! 
A few years back on a trip to California to visit relatives, we discovered that we had "kindred spirits" in my cousin Dwight and his wife Shana.  We spent the week with them and their daughters, Carsen and Gracie.
On Tuesday, we headed out to Palm Springs to visit my aunt and uncle who were vacationing there.  It was nice and hot there.  We enjoyed time by the pool and feeding the fish in the pond.  Lydia warmed up to Carsen and Gracie quickly and got them to jump in the pool with her over and over and over again. 
On Wednesday, we went down to Oceanside and spent a few days at the beach.  My cousins' neighbors had a timeshare that was going to expire and offered it to them.  We were just a few blocks from the beach, right behind the harbor with a view of the ocean sunset.  We were so blessed to have this shared with us! 
Lydia loved the ocean and hated it.  On the first day, she walked along the ocean and picked up shells.  She buried her feet in the sand and tried to bury everyone else's feet too.  She put her feet in the water and thought it was so fun.  On Thursday, though, when she had her swimsuit on, she wanted nothing to do with the water.  She stayed far away from the water and had "Baba" help her build sandcastles.  On Friday, I dragged her into the water and she had so much fun.  She was jumping and called all the waves, "Big Water". 
We were able to see all my other relatives on our trip, Uncle Dwight and Aunt Kelly, Aunt Connie and Uncle John and my cousins Kelly, Paul and David and their families.  Lydia loved all the attention she got.
It only took Lydia a very short time to realize that Gracie would "bobo" (carry) her just about anywhere.  She had Gracie "bobo" her all week.  Carsen and Gracie also helped Lydia get over some of her fear of animals.  By the end of the week, Lydia was petting their cat. 
It was such a blessing to be able to spend the week with Dwight, Shana and the girls.  Lydia really grew to love them like we do. 
Since we got home, Lydia keeps asking to go to "Shana's house".  I tried to explain to her that it was too far, but she doesn't quite understand the distance.  Today she asked to go to Aunt Connie's.  I think we'll have to make sure our relatives get Skype. : )
We're so thankful for our relaxing time in the sun!  We didn't want to leave after our fun week.  Next time, we'll make it 2 weeks. : )  Thanks, Carsen, for giving up your room so we could stay with you. 

Finally...A Blog Post

So all the best intentions in the world don't equate to a blog post.  I keep thinking of things I should write down to remember for the years to come, but it just seems that laundry, cleaning, cooking, writing lesson plans, spending time with Brian and Lydia, etc. seem to get in the way of my blogging plans. 
Lydia is in bed sleeping right now, Brian is at work, the laundry is almost caught up, the house is somewhat clean, supper is in the crockpot and my lesson plans are all ready for tomorrow.  No excuses...time for a post.
I can't believe that it's been over 5 months since we first met and held Lydia.  She has come so far.  Her language development is way beyond what I had imagined it would be.  There's still a lot of times that she has to repeat herself, but luckily she's very stubborn about being understood.  She will repeat something over and over until I finally get it.  Unfortunately there are many word that sound alike when she says them - Patti or potty, Eva or zebra, YaoYao or yellow - you get the idea.  I play the guessing game and try to figure out the context.  : )  She has lost all her Chinese.  One of my former students who is taking Chinese, came to talk to her a few weeks ago.  He said hello in Chinese and she just looked at him like he was crazy.  Her last Chinese word to go is "bobo", which means "pick me up".  Other than that, she's an all English-speaking girl. 
Life has changed so much and yet it's still the same.  I'm still me and Brian is still Brian, but now we have this wonderful extension of our family in Lydia.  We still enjoy all the things we used to, but now with one more person to enjoy them with.
Lydia loves life and is outgoing and talkative, when she wants to be. : )  She loves nature and being outside.  She could live outside and loves walking, going on hikes and especially "sleepy - outside - tent".  She even convinced Brian to brave the allergy season for one last camping trip a few weeks ago.  Reading books has become a new favorite activity.  She even wants to read them herself.  Sometimes she will give each of us a book and then want us to read it while she reads her own book.  She understands the concept of words and is beginning to recognize some of the letters.  She has the LeapFrog fridge phonics letters and the other day she pointed out "X" and told me the name.  She also likes to do the letters and sounds like the kindergarteners do.  She does pretty well with the vowels.  The funniest one is when she does the letter "U".  The word to go with short u is umbrella, but she can't pronounce it right so it goes something like, "u, u, gabrella".  Not exactly right, but the right idea!
We started school a few weeks ago.  I have switched from my beloved 4th grade to teaching kindergarten part-time and gifted and talented.  It's three days a week and I love the schedule.  I must admit though, getting used to kindergarteners has been quite the challenge!  Multi-step directions, using the bathroom only at recess and being responsible to get things done alone is a thing of the past.  It's been really good for me.  I think all teachers should make an effort to move around in the grade levels.  It keeps me on my toes and makes me think.  I could do 4th grade on autopilot, but kindergarten is really stretching me to develop and learn more and more. 
I'm at school three days a week, so Lydia goes with me those days.  She LOVES it.  I was a little nervous about how she was going to respond.  The first day she was a little clingy when I dropped her off, but on the second day she said to me, "By self, Mama" and walked right over to her room.  She has some great teachers who love her and are helping her learn all sorts of new things.  The other kids are great for her too.  She is motivated to try new things while watching others.  Her new found favorite activity is puzzles.  She will put together puzzles up to 100 pieces with guidance.  Her coloring is getting better and the other day, she even wrote "L" for Lydia.  I know that for a three year old, this may not be amazing, but to see her go from not even feeding herself to beginning writing and coloring and other small motor skills, it is amazing to me.  She has truly come a long way in five months. 
We have had the most difficulty with sleeping, but she is getting into the swing of things now.  After visiting Cousin Violet in Iowa, Lydia could not be outdone.  "Nigh-night by self" has been happening for the last few weeks now (for the most part).  Now if she will only learn to stay "nigh-night by self". : )  Oh, well, like Brian says, "It's only been five months.  Give her some time." 
Becoming a parent has been overwhelming, all consuming and wonderful all at the same time.  It is so humbling to realize that God has entrusted us with this wonderful, little life.  I sometimes just lay in bed thinking about how amazing it is that we are now a three-part family.  I have a lot to learn about parenting, but our little "YaoYao" is such a joy to have in our lives.
Here are some pictures I hope you enjoy!!!

Mama and YaoYao on the first day of school.

Lydia and Mrs. Biver on the first day of school.

Sporting our sunglasses!

YaoYao and Baba on a hike

Our family