Just thinking about the past a bit...........

Ok, I'm sentimental somewhat. Yeah, yeah, big deal, right? For normal stuff, yeah, but for your kids? I mean, adopting them from another country? It's a huge thing. I was just going back and rereading every little thing about Matthew's trip this past March. I found myself tearing up at certain parts. Especially seeing his "blank" face look when we got him. And seeing the hints of his mentos that the "Mother" Nanny had given to him to keep him quiet and occupied. (semi laughing)

You wanted some photos? How about of our son's first pictures? These are the FIRST and only photos we ever received about our child when we (or should I say, GOD chose him for us) chose him. Enjoy.......... (In order, Matthew's visa picture, Orphanage photo 1, Orphanage photo 2.) THIS IS OUR BOY! :o)

JUST A WORD OF WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*This blog is under a serious reconstruction and possible name change! Be on the lookout for future OH MY GOODNESSES or jawdropping happenings!*

Rebecca's Results..........

Well, after a very long conversation with one of Rebecca's pediatricians, we know have the results of her tests.

Her bone xrays of her little self came out very well and are ok. They were able to tell us ALOT about her. (and maybe some we didn't want to know about) Her bloodwork was THEE best!!!! All clear there. They were worried about 2 particular chromosonal genetic heredities that could stunt her growth, but they are normal! (thank you Lord)

The end result? Apparently her biological parents are very short. Therefore, Rebecca will be short. They are estimating her total height (from her xrays) to be around 4'6 to 4'10. (possibly even up to 5'0, but that's on the high end) Short is ok! I'm 5'4, so that's ok.

There is one extra thing we were able to find out from her skeletal frame as well. It's something we were fearing, yet wondering about if the information we were given for her, from China, was correct. Her chronological age from her xrays say she could be actually younger than she is. (I WILL NOT get into this unless it's in private emails.) For Rebecca's sake, her birthday is her birthday! SHE IS 4 YEARS OLD! END OF STORY! Dad and I feel VERY, VERY strong (and united) on this! She knows her birthday. She knows what month it's in. She knows what day it is. She knows how old she is! AND THAT'S FINAL!

So, to this, we say, THANK YOU LORD for the tests coming out very well for her! God made short people so we could look after tall people! hehehehehehehehe.....*s*

Matthew's just about over his sinus/ear infection stuff. So glad. Poor guy, he's getting use to the augmentin taste! Ewww......smells like coconuts. Don't ask me to taste it! Yuck!

Just gearing up for Matthew's party and resting from a yucky week of quizzes, homework, classwork, midterm exam, and doing family stuff. Maybe we can relax? naa, not in the vocabulary! Until then?

From the mommy files

A little memory from our last trip to China

Every morning when we were eating breakfast in Chengdu, there was a song playing. I kept trying to find the artist and what the songtitle was but to no avail. The melody of the song was one of those earworms that you never forget. The search was not made any easier by Rebecca who made up her own words to the song. The melody was correct but the words all wrong. She wanted us to get the CD so we could bring it home. After we got home I have had a few search sessions online to find the song and now I have finally found it. So.... Here it is as a karaoke video from YouTube.



By the way..... Rebecca was singin..... Nanee da pee, nanee da poo....

The daddy flies..... I mean files......

A packed day of Pumpkins, Pumpkins, Pumpkins!

Today we took a leisure day. Yesterday the kids went to a friends birthday party and boy did they have FUN! They had the chocolate on their faces and lootbags to prove it! LOL

Today, we took the kids to a farm to pick pumpkins. Just a little place in northern Prince Frederick. The rule for the kids was if they couldn't hold it, they couldn't get it. (I honestly thought that would work!) Little did I know they would put their 2 heads together and test and see just how big of a pumpkin they could hold!!! They started small and went big...........meanwhile Dad and I were just laughing our heads off!!!! These 2 kids were bound and determined to get the "big one"! You had to see it to believe it.

Anyway, they ended up picking 2 pumpkins. Matthew held his for all of 2 seconds and then proceeded on dropping it. Momma to the rescue! I caught it. Matthew wanted it. So Momma held it until we paid for it. Rebecca's pumpkin was slightly bigger and daddy carried hers to the checkout. It was nice. Apple cider, jellies, jams, sauces, homemade stuff, hotdogs, sodas, moonbounce, mums, hay, you name it, it was there. We actually hung around for a bit.

Right now, the pumpkins are outside, cooling in the sun. We will get to carving them sometime soon. Rebecca wants to go ghoully, Matthew wants something with a BIG smile. (one he saw at the farm) Daddy and Mommy will get to carve these bad boys, so stay tuned for pictures. (no pictures from the pumpkin farm though. didn't think about it when we went)

The mommy files

A surprise we didn't know about.................

.......this is about our sweet (yet diva-fied) daughter, Rebecca. Yesterday was her 4 year old checkup with her pediatrician. For the most part everything went well. 4 shots in her little legs though. *plenty of screaming for everyone within a radius of 500 feet to listen to* But what caught us off guard was something like this: We feel there is a concern with Rebecca's growth.

Huh? *they were never really worried about it before*


BREAK: If you need coffee, a soda, by all means, go get it.....this is a little long.


See, back in 2004, when we got Rebecca from China, she was malnourished and quite stunted in growth. (Even to the point that her head, at 15 months, wasn't fully closed up at the top of her head. Like babies have their tops of their heads close by usually 1 year old.........at 15 months, hers was NOT closed up and wasn't truly even together yet.) So we knew that she had some possible growth issues because of not being fed appropriate foods and given formula from the start. Her orphanage did what they could, I'm sure. But.....being as poor as they were, they made due with what they had.

Enter the picture at 2 & 3 years old.........Rebecca's head is fully closed up, she's been on vitamins and mineral supplements........eating well. She grows in a "normal" manner for a Chinese little girl. Mind you, still far below the "average American girl growth charts" but she's ok. (in the <5%) That was ok.

Enter to yesterday, at age 4 years old. She gets measured. (like normal) Her weight is holding at 30 pounds. (same as last time) Her height is still holding at around 35 inches. HUH? Excuse me? Rebecca has truly only grown from last year to this year between 1/4 to 1/2 an inch! That's it! I thought, ok. Our pediatrician said she would be a little shorty. That's ok. Um, apparently it is......but they are erring on the side of caution to be sure. Let me explain..

Rebecca's measurement for the time that she has been with us, were faxed over to Children's Hospital (in Washington, DC) yesterday for an endrocronologist to look at. More information was given to him and he suggested a full work up on her genetics to make sure something wasn't being OVERLOOKED. Her not growing that much could be one of three different things. 1) she's just going to be a late bloomer; no biggie there! 2) there is something genetically wrong; we are being evaluated for that right now. 3) her biological parents were small people, therefore, she will be small; again, no biggie there.

As a result of yesterdays meeting/consultation with her pediatrician and the other doctors (2 from Calvert, one from Children's) they said we should go ahead and rule out anything genetically wise. So that's what we are doing. Rebecca had BATTLE SCARS YESTERDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! We have the "hard of hearing" ears on today to prove it!

Rebecca had a Bone Age Density work up and a (oh my, how was it said) either Cryo work up or Karo work up for Chromosomal makeup. To put it bluntly and in MY terms, they will look at every part of her genetic makeup to see if there is anything wrong or if she's just going to be SHORT!

Poor Becca Boo.......4 shots, 1 drawn out blood test through her hand (couldn't find any veins in her arms worth beans) and some pictures of her BONES! We will also be able to find out what her TRUE chronological age is! Not that we are wondering, mind you, but her birthdate IS estimated! Could be interesting. Hopefully it's boring as all!!!!!!

Pray with us that her tests will come back ok. If she's short, she's short! I'm only 5'4. The pediatrician doesn't see Rebecca over 5'2. (that's a MAX) We will find out the results of all the tests in about 2 weeks. Until then, we wait and pray for her!
We'd appreciate your prayers too!!

Some of you have been asking. YES, Rebecca was from the NON SPECIAL NEEDS (NSN) program in China.

The mommy files

YEAH for Matthew!!!!!!!!!!!

He had another post-op review yesterday with his urologist. Dr. Kalloo is so wonderful! She is so full of energy and has a sense of humor like I don't know. I guess when you are working with uh, well, the lower half of the human anatomy, YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR!

Matthew passed all his stuff yesterday with flying colors! He doesn't have to go back to her ever again, unless he needs to. Other than that, NOPE. He's finished. Mr. Happy is happy, the hernia scar/incision is healing very nicely, and the undescended little booger is right where its suppose to be! YEAH US! (Yeah Matthew.) He's been a real trooper through all of this, I tell ya. The poking, the prodding, the squeezing, the "feeling around for something that suppose to be there, but it's not", etc. He's been good about it. I'm so glad this round is over.

Now.............for the next round. Since Matthew's surgery, he's had a BLAST of consinents coming from his mouth that he's never been able to produce before. (Even dumbfounding his plastic/reconstructive doctor at Children's.) In November, we will head back to Children's for another FULL work up from the Craniofacial team. We are truly hoping that the speech therapist and the hearing folks will work with him and be able to figure out if he needs tubes in his ears and/or speech help. We try very hard to help Matthew pronounciate correctly, but I tell ya, there is only so much you can do as a parent. This isn't our domain. When he just can't hear the first part of a word and misses it totally...........well, what do you do?

This kind of help will be so beneficial for him! So, we head back to Children's on November 20th. All day affair again. Making the rounds from the dental folks, to the ENT's..........(What, about 7 docs all-in-all.) Here's hoping he blows them away with his charm and wit! ;o)

The mommy files

Matthew's first day back .................at daycare.

His day started off peachy! Then he was dropped off........oh boy! I knew he'd start pitching a fit. (Last week, we had to pick up Rebecca early, so we went to Matthew's class to see his little friends and his teacher. Well, crying commenced immediately!! He hugged momma's neck like nobody's business. He didn't want to go back. Well............he did that for daddy.) Daddy said he put up a fuss for about 5 minutes. He's never really done this before. Actually? If you think about it, this is a VERY good thing. He recognizes that Mommy and Daddy are definitely HIS parents and is very attached to us! *good thing*

Matthew said he had a good day yesterday and that he had fun. (and used the potty) YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! He learned how to drink from a straw last Saturday! So quickly after his surgery too!!!! Interesting! It took him awhile to figure it out, but he did. We were in Annapolis. I was teaching him and then Rebecca showed him. About 5 minutes later, as we were driving to the Eastern Shore, we hear, MOMMA? DADDY? Matthew's drinking from a straw! GOOD BOY! hehehehe....*s* Gotta hand it to momma becca. Sure enough, he was drinking from a straw. Gosh it makes life better!!!

NO MORE SIPPY CUPS! They are a thing of the past. Not only because of the sutures in his mouth (which are disappearing), but because he can drink from a straw now. Matthew calls them "baby cups". Can you believe we will celebrate his FIRST birthday here in the states in November!?!?!?! He wants a BACKYARDIGANS birthday party. I thought it would be Spiderman, but nope. 3 years old!!!! WOW!!!!

Next year, Rebecca will go to Kindergarten and the year after, Matthew will go to Kindergarten and Becca will go to first grade! Life is flying by! I tell ya!!!

**Pray for us as our family goes through some major transitions......we need confirmation on several areas of what to do, where to go, etc.** Thank you. Sorry to be so clear as mud, but once things start happening, we'll post it and you'll see what we meant! :o)

The mommy files