Before I launch into the details of our doctors visits, I thought I would give an update on our daily lives around here. Emalyn continues to adjust well and her personality continues to emerge. We've introduced a lot of firsts this week, especially food firsts. Thanks to our really sweet friends and my parents, we haven't cooked a meal or purchased a meal since we returned home over a week ago. We have probably all gained a few of the pounds we lost in China back with all the yummy meals and deserts and it has given us a great opportunity to allow Emalyn to try things and to see what she likes. Currently, she is not very picky at all. She is a typical toddler, so I imagine that will change with time, but she is willing to try anything and, other than many meats, we haven't found a lot she doesn't like. She loves macaroni and cheese, baked turkey, every fruit we've given her, every type of rice we've given her (fried, of course, Greek, plain, etc.), peanut butter, yogurt, and pretty much any sweet treat. One thing that did surprise me is that she didn't like chocolate milk. We've had a hard time getting her to drink much milk, formula or whole milk, so the pediatrician at the adoption clinic suggested we try adding something to it. Adair loves chocolate milk, so we thought we'd start with that. She was not a fan. She took a sip and then looked at me like, "what in the world is this?".
We have played outside alot since the weather has been so pretty. We live really close to Homewood Park and have walked over a couple of times. She loves to observe the other children playing and to watch Adair on the swing and slides, but isn't ready to play yet. The first time we put her down to walk in the grass she started screaming, but over the last few days she has become more and more familiar with it. Today she was walking in the grass barefooted and crawling in it. We are so proud of her for overcoming that little fear and we keep telling her how much better the "summer grass" will be.
She has also made great strides with bath time this week. Throughout our time in China, she cried most every time we put her in the little inflated bathtub. When we got home, we decided to bath her in the kitchen sink (as we did Adair until about a month ago) since she was used to being bathed in a small basin at the orphanage. That didn't really go over any better the first couple of times, but as the days (and baths) passed, she started playing more and crying less. Last night she didn't cry at all until I started washing her hair, but who can blame her? So, tonight we decided to try bathing her with Adair in the tub upstairs. I was shocked that she didn't cry when I sat her down. She immediately pulled out a few toys and played contently until Hank bathed her and it was time to get out. She did have a minor meltdown when he turned on the faucet to rinse both girls, but we think it was because she anticipated having her hair washed. We had looked forward to when the girls could play in the tub together and it's fun to be at that point.
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First Krispy Kreme donut (thanks, Crabtrees!)
Fun bath hair...between the rinses that lead to crying
First spoonful of peanut butter...big fan!
Rolling around outside in their Chinese dresses.
Silly girl
All smiles
Adair loves to swing like this...thankfully the swing is low to the ground
1, 2, 3...Jump!
Fun in the big bathtub.
Happy to have a bath time playmate.
Yesterday, Emalyn had her first appointment at the International Adoption Clinic. She did so well and we were so proud of her. She cried the most when I had to sit her down to be weighed and lay her down to be measured. She weighs 22 pounds and is 30 inches tall which puts her in the fifth percentile for both weight and height. Dr. Kiser was not at all concerned about her size and said that most internationally adopted children catch up to about 25% within the first year home with appropriate nutrition and interaction. She said she looked great and she didn't see any red flags or cause for concern about her health. Emalyn does have many marks all over her that resemble bug bites and Dr. Kiser thought they might be leftover from her having the chicken pox. They drew seven viles of blood, so they will test to see if she has had the chicken pox. It will be interesting to see if that's what caused the "bites". If so, it will save her one vaccination. We were amazed at how well she did during the blood draw, too. She cried for about 10 seconds when they first started and then she watched with a curious look on her face as they drew tube after tube. Thankfully, the lab tech was great at her job and she only had to stick her once (despite her little veins) and got it over with very quickly. We also met with a counselor at the clinic, Kelly, to discuss attachment and bonding. She was wonderful and such a wealth of information! She had a lot of great advice for being intentional about bonding and preparing her for Myla Grant's arrival. She was also able to answer alot of questions we had about taking Emalyn places, discipline, sleeping, etc. In addition to all of that, she asked us alot of questions about Emalyn and our experience with her thus far and to observe her interacting with us. Through that she was able to assess how she is doing and give us feedback. She was very encouraging and said that Emalyn seems to attaching and bonding well. She is doing a lot of what they look for in a well attached child and seems very comfortable and loving with us (especially me) already. She also said that based on everything she observed and how good Emalyn looks, that she was well cared for (to foster care level) and was certainly loved and favored at her orphanage. That was wonderful to hear since we don't know much at all about her previous life. Hearing that made us all the more thankful for her first caregiver(s). Same as Dr. Kiser, she said she didn't see any red flags or cause for concern as far as attachment goes. We are so thankful that our littlest miss is doing as well as she is! The Lord definitely put our family together just the way He wanted it to be and we are thankful that He never gives us more than we can handle. We left the clinic very encouraged and optimistic about the coming weeks and the progress that can be made before Myla Grant arrives. We also left with a good plan to help prepare Emalyn to be away from me for hours at a time after Myla Grant arrives. We will go back in three weeks for a follow-up visit where we will learn the vaccinations Emalyn will need to be up to date and will also meet with Kelly again. I am thankful we get to bend her ear once more before our next daughter makes her appearance (unless God has a different plan).
It's been the marathon of medical visits this week, so after four hours at the International Adoption Clinic yesterday, we spent four and a half hours at the cleft clinic today. It is such a blessing to be live Birmingham and have such easy access to such great medical care. At the cleft clinic we saw an audiologist for a hearing test, a speech pathologist, a genetics doctor, the plastic surgeon and an ENT. In a lot of places you would have to make five separate appointments all over town to take care of these exams, but the clinic made it so easy. We were there for a long time, but now it's all done! Emalyn got a great report. We learned that her hearing is great (this is a big blessing, because many children with cleft experience a lot of ear infections that can lead to hearing loss and because Asians are prone to ear infections due to the shape of their inner ear...so she had two strikes against her). She will not need tubes, which is very rare. The audiologist actually said that she has never seen an Asian child with cleft not get tubes during their surgery, but the ENT said Emalyn has great ears, so she's an exception to the rule. [One quick aside on God's continued presence: When we were called back to see the audiologist, she introduced herself and I introduced myself. She immediately said, "Ya'll go to Mountain Brook Community, right?". It turns out that we go to church together and she had heard our story through her community group. She immediately said that she and her family had been praying for us. I just thought that was so cool and love the way God continuously shows Himself.] In addition to not needing tubes, Emalyn also has a great pallet. There is a chance with cleft lip kids that their pallet is effected even though we wouldn't notice it, but Emalyn's is fully intact. Her cleft lip is also a very minor, first degree case. All of that to say, her surgery is scheduled for April 2, which just happens to be our anniversary. She will spend about 3 hours in surgery, an hour in recovery and one night at Children's. Dr. Ray was very optimistic about the outcome of her surgery and said he didn't anticipate her needing another one until her baby teeth fall out and the ridge in her gum can be repaired. We were also told that children her age tend to recover well and quickly, in fact, she has to be eating and drinking before we can take her home. Thankfully, all of the stitches will disolve, so she won't have to go through the pain of having them removed. We are happy that we will be able to put this behind us before Myla Grant arrives. In any other situation, we wouldn't have pushed to do it so soon, but we feel like it's best for Emalyn if we go ahead and do it now, then welcome Myla Grant and then settle in completely as a family of five. Otherwise, she would be facing multiple big changes/traumatic experiences over the course of many months and each time would likely set her back.
We are so thankful for your continued support, care, and encouragement. Please pray for Emalyn and for us as we continue to get to know each other and grow more deeply in love with each other. We are all doing well, but we are tired and weary at times. Please pray also for Adair as she continues to love on her sister and learns to share her mommy and daddy. She is an awesome, sweet little girl and has made us so proud during this massive life change for all of us.
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