Maui

We took all of our children and then some (Lilly, Lizzy's BFF and Minghui our exchange student) to Maui for the Thanksgiving Break.  We, of course, had an amazing time.  Maddie and Mia just had so much fun in the sun and on the beach.  Here are some pics of my beauties enjoying Maui....

Aloha!

Qualities

With having grown children it is very easy to articulate their qualities and personality.  They have grown up and I have helped guide them through various seasons in life until they have forged who they are.  With Maddie, I see some amazing qualities about her in just 6 years of life.

Maddie has been faced with some challenges over the past 18 months.  She has had to step off her throne and share the spotlight with Mia, which she struggled with but has come to embrace her little sister and become a great big sister.  I have seen her face her fears head on - starting soccer and being apprehensive about it and realizing that she has a gift and turned into the star of the field!  In school, she has struggled this year in Kindergarten.  Her teacher confirmed some of our fears, she has some dyslexia tendencies and started falling behind.  Maddie is tenacious and determined to overcome!  She works hard - harder than any child in her class at mastering her lessons.  She never fails to do her homework and pushes me daily to help her.  She will go over and over her lessons, never tiring.  She inspires me!  She inspires me to never quit because something is hard, inspires me to be a better mom, a better person!  I know that she has a lot to overcome but I know that she can do it!  I love her - my tenacious, strong willed, determined, bright and beautiful little girl!

Check up's

In November, Maddie and Mia both had check up's at Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston with the entire craniofacial team of physicians.  My dad came with me to try and help me wrangle both kids through parking, waiting and getting examined.  The day proved to be just as challenging as I thought it would be and was glad he came to help - 4 adult hands were just not enough to handle my 2 little chicklets.

Mia's check up went very well.  The doctors raved over how beautiful her lip closure was and they were in awe that it was actually performed in China.  Her palate is beautifully healed and functioning appropriately - yeah!  Her vocabulary is expanding and her speech is coming along beautifully.  I think she will still need some speech therapy but she has come along way.  She will have a full speech evaluation in March.  The tubes in her ears look great too!

I expected that Maddie's check up be as routine as Mia's.  Wrong.  Unexpectedly, the physician (who had not seen her before, as her physician that followed her from the time she came home passed away from cancer), was immediately concerned about her lip and nose.  He felt that they needed to be surgically corrected soon, as her face is pulled to one side as she is growing AND her nose has many issues - it was not reconstructed correctly initially.  But it got worse.  Her palate was not corrected properly either and the muscles aren't functioning correctly and may need to be redone.  Whoa!  Not at all what I expected to hear.  Maddie has had several obstacles to overcome here lately at school and this is just adding to the list.  I have been so burdened for her recently and pray daily that GOD gives me the tools to be a good enough as a mother to help her overcome.

Once I got over the emotional side of my baby having to have surgery, the practical planning side of me kicked in.  If we are going to do the lip and nose surgery we need to have a plan and schedule it for the end of school so that she doesn't miss any critical material that she needs to move on to 1st grade.  We will go for a surgical evaluation on January 6th.  Hopefully we can put a plan of action together.  As for the palate surgery, we will wait until March and see how she fairs in the Speech Evaluation.

Medical Challenges

Since coming home Mia has had some recurring respiratory issues.  We initially thought it was her adjusting to the humidity and allergens in the air in Southwest Louisiana.  Then we thought it was just a reaction to when she had some other sort of cold or infection.  Then I thought it might be an allergy to the dog.  After several trips to the ER and many breathing treatments, it reached a level that I felt that we needed to go a step further and see what is truly going on.

Our pediatrician referred us to an Allergy specialist in Lafayette.  Thankfully Mia is not allergic to anything, including the dog.  The outcome was that the physician thought that since she was sick 2 weeks before we picked her up in china with pneumonia that her lungs had really not fully recovered from that illness and felt that with proper medication over the next few months her lungs might heal properly.  The breathing treatments will continue on a nightly basis with different medication for now.  

I am happy to report that after only 1 week of treatment Mia is much improved already!!!  

Soccer

Maddie had her first soccer game.  She was very excited and even more so when she scored a goal!  This morning she was still basking in the glory of that goal!!!!  I'm so proud of her for overcoming her fear of the "new" and stretching herself to try something outside of her comfort zone.

Here are some picks of my sweet girl!!!

She's having so much fun and making new friends!

Hurdles and Milestones...

Maddie is growing up so quickly and looking back at pictures of her confirms just how fast time is flying.  She started Kindergarten this August and I can't believe it.  She was ready on the big day with her back pack and all her supplies.  Now with a few weeks under her belt, she is a confident Kindergarten student and learning sooo much.  Some days I even think she has more homework than Lizzy who is a junior in High School.

It has been a long 1st year for Maddie adjusting to having Mia as part of our family.  Historically, Maddie does very well in an environment where she is the center of attention, which we were guilty of promoting when she initially came home.  With the addition of Mia she has had to share the spotlight and has struggled to find her place as well as how to deal with a younger sibling.  Sometimes things just take time to work themselves out and this was one of them.  No amount of parenting or disciplining can help what only time will work out.  Lately, I have noticed Maddie and Mia playing nicely together, Maddie helping Mia get dressed and even comforting her when she is upset - just like a big sister would do.  I'm so proud of the big sister she is becoming.

Maddie has many gifts that GOD has blessed her with.  One is being extremely athletic and is a gifted swimmer, fast runner and by admission of her PE teacher a great potential soccer player.  In an effort to try and develop her swimming skills, I had taken her for a try out for the local competitive swimming team.  She was extremely uncertain and nervous and wouldn't even swim for the coach trying to evaluate her.  That was a bust.  So when the PE teacher brought it to my attention how good her soccer skills were, I had a flashback of the swim tryout.  So for a whole year Maddie and I have been talking about playing soccer.  Her response was always "once I turn 6 I will play soccer".  Well the time has come and her birthday is approaching in October.  I was skeptical how Maddie would react to a new situation with new people she had not met.  First soccer practice was touch and go - I even had to call in the calvary and have my mom and dad come to the soccer practice and cheer her on.  After that initial practice, she was hooked.   She is doing great and will play her first game this weekend.  I am so proud of her for overcoming her fears to do something she is really good at.  Can't wait to see what this soccer season holds for her.  GOOOOOO  MADDIE!!!!!!!!

  

Mia

As promised, here is a new post.  Earlier this year Mia had surgery to close her palate.  It was successfully closed but the true test was to wait and see if it functioned and allowed her to make the appropriate sounds and eventually begin speaking.  Well, I am happy to report that we have achieved success!  Mia's vocabulary grows everyday.  She began with Mama, of course but now can name all of her family members and is speaking in small sentences.  She will let you know what she wants and what she doesn't want.  We will be have a visit soon with her Speech Therapist in Houston to evaluate her progress and make recommendations on future speech therapy needed if any.

Mia turned 2 in April and we celebrated with a large gathering of family and friends.  We delayed the party until Christopher was home from college - I wanted all the kids there to celebrate this special day with her.  She had such a good time!  I must say I was a little sad to see her turn 2 - She is the caboose of the family and I wanted to savor the baby in her.

Another big hurdle Mia is working to overcome is potty training!!!!  She can communicate well enough  now so it was time to leave the diapers behind.  We have spent several weeks in pull ups and are doing quite well.  She is rewarded with Candy each time she potties as well as she can wear her Dora panties over her pull up as a reward.  Panties and Candy - works for her!

Her hair is finally growing and required a small trim.  My neighbor kindly trimmed it for her.  Now it is just enough for her to wear a small pony tail, like her sisters.

She is still sweet as ever and loving.  Her personality has flourished over the last year.  We have come to realize that she likes to pick and joke.  Her crinkled nose laugh after she does something funny is infectious.  More in love with her each day that goes by....