5 weeks home

Busy, is a understatement.  This last week has been super crazy. Elle is doing great. We have gone to the PT, speech, vision, hearing, and genetics. All this last week well finishing up a crazy spring sports season. To be honest I hit my wall, yes we are doing great but this momma is tired.  There is a season for everything and this sports season is ending. I love watching my kids do things they love but the endless running is , well its almost over. I am not complaining just explaining :) I feel more rested today, my sweet hubby surprised me with a date night. He knew just what I needed, I do love him. <3

Back to Elle, with all the testing she is rounding out to be right about 5 months developmentally,  in some things  she is closer to 12 months others she test closer to 3 months.  Nothing has surprised us. We mostly just wanted a base line to see where we are starting.  And to see how far we can go. Her hearing showed moderate hearing loss, constant with untreated ear infections. This could be temporary hearing loss or permanent.  Time will tell, we are waiting to hear from our pediatrician to see if he wants farther testing or to put tubes in. She can hear just not much below a normal conversation level. This can sometimes affect how she is understanding what we are saying.

She is starting PT, OT and speech once a week. Which is busy but they are back to back appointments,  making it about a 2 hours once a week. Not so bad.  We see the nutritionist next week, I am excited to see him. I want a base to start off .

Elle drank her first bottle outside the house,  we were super excited about this. We watched a football game in the stands and she did great. I was worried the noise would be to much but she didn't mind. Of course we stayed on the far end and kept to ourselves,  just to keep things calm.

Elle's likes

Her siblings
Her mom and dad
The vacuum
Looking at her reflection in the fridge
Pushing buttons in the microwave
Licking everything
We have gotten her to lick some food off a fork, pasta! Of course she only licked about 1 calorie off it but its a start. We keep offering and every once and awhile she will try it.
Hats, everyone else's hats but her own ;)

Elle's dislikes

Doctor offices
Strange PEOPLE
touching water
Crinkled paper
Water bottles
Bathtime
Having her nails clipped
Different bottles, she will only drink out of a tommy tippee bottle
Spray sunscreens

Each day is a new adventure with her, we love watching her soak up the world around her. The kids are all still doing great with her. She gets lots of loving every day.  We are getting nap time down and bedtime. Nap time is doing better then bedtime.  Nap time is getting closer to the same time every day.  Bedtime not so much, we keep trying but she is all over the place with it.
Bonding is going really well, when we came home from our date night. She heard my voice and giggled and crawled right to me. With a big old smile and wanted to just sit with me. Then everytime she would look up at me she would giggle. Just love this little girl.

One month home

Wow,  one month home with our busy little girl . I tried to get a photo of her for the update and took 25, these 5 are the closest we could get. She never stops moving,  her new name is blurr ;)
We are doing well. Trying to finish up our crazy spring sports. Elle has been a great trooper going to all the games and practices.  I am looking forward to next week, 2 less sports.
We have gone to a few of the many doctor and therapy appointments, we have lined up. Finding out a little more about where to start.
We are trying to work out the schedule so we only have one crazy day a week but with two in 4 different therapies , well its turning to be kinda hard. We had our first speech yesterday,  she test mostly about a 3 month old and in somethings a 5 month old. I wasn't surprised. This one will take time, and we plan to put it towards the bottom of our list. OT is on the top along with nutritionist.
She is still making great progress.  She has now taking 10 steps at one time!! She is not always to happy to try walking but if you catch her in the right mood, she takes off.
She is exploring the whole upstairs now. Crawling down to the bedrooms and into the kitchen.  She loves doors, she giggles each time she pushes on it and it swings open.
We still can't get her to sit in her highchair. We have started putting random soft foods on the coffèe table to let her explore them. On father's day, we did a donut. She would grab it and crumble it up and then lick up the crumbs. She seem quite proud of herself. She is still a celebrity in our house, everyone still loves to play with her. Fighting over who gets to watch her, we are loving having a baby around.

Our biggest progress this week- for the last two days she has let me hold her well she drinks her bottle !! This is huge for us, 6 weeks ago on gottcha day we couldn't even touch her bottle let only her. Each day we make baby steps forward,  not alot of set backs so far. Her attachment and bonding is going great. She allows us to hold her for long periods at a time. She loves climbing all over us when we are watching TV. She is full of giggles. Her favorite thing is zipper pajamas,  not sure why but whenever you un zip or zipper them up it sends her into a giggle fit. And yes she is still licking everything. 

We went to the eye specialist last week. Found out she can see clearly about 2 feet in front of her. Which is better then we thought, she gets her glasses in a few weeks. They said with them she will be able to see clearly about 5 feet. We will go back in 6 months and see him again. Hopefully she will be a little more agreeable then. He felt comfortable with he saw but didnt get all he had wanted done. But with a girl how never sits still and is scared of strangers.  I think we did pretty good.

We are noticing her relax more and more.  She doesn't stress out as easy as she did. We have also noticed a big change in her swaying/rocking, she still does it but it seems to be less and less.

She is growing leap and bonds.  We didnt get her weight this week but last week she had gained 5lbs since we got home. This week are noticing her pants are all getting short on her. I can't to go in a couple weeks to the doctor to see how much she has grown. She looks chubber and chubber each day.

She is starting to use her hands more, she doesn't reach for much but we are working on it. OT will be very helpful with this. 

Elle's likes

To be home, its so cute she squeals And giggles when we turn onto our gravel road to go home.

Her mommy and daddy,  she seems to prefer us over anyone, love, love this

Her crib

Her hands

Her stroller and car seat

Sugar, this girl has a major sweet tooth. 

Doors, she can't reach the knob but if they are not latched she pushes them open

Licking, This one is getting hard because we have been going to doctor office after doctor office.  Its super gross to lick public floors. Hoping getting her glasses will help

Elle's dislikes

Her highchair

Anyone with a lab coat or scurbs 

To loud of music

Announcers

Fast bright lights

Big crowds

3 weeks home

I can't believe that it has only been 3 weeks, if feels like she has always been a part of our family. Elle, is doing great. We went to the doctor on Monday. She gain another pound! That means in a month she has gained 5 pounds. We were thrilled,  I have been stressing about how many bottle she gets each day. I guess I can relax alittle. She is doing great. We are meeting with a nutritionist next week, I want a little guidance on what we should be giving her. Only taking a bottle at 3 is hard. Although we are getting close to right amount of calories she should get at 3, I want to make she is getting the right calories. We have been to lots of appointments,  we drove to spokane to meet with a genetics doctor.  But as we were walking up to the door of the office they called and canceled. So we reschedule for the 24th. On Friday we drive back up to spokane to see a eye specialist.  I am excited to see him,  we have a idea of what she see but it will be really nice to know how much.
So far she still show interest in walking. She is up to 7 steps at a time.
Her climbing skills have gotten scary good. She loves to climb up and sit on the couch but this week she has decided that sitting on the back of the couch is fun, crazy baby.
We found that for nap time if we lay her in the play pen in the middle of the living room and turn the radio on she sleeps :) a big victory for us. She is in a much better mood when she gets a nap. We have tried it a few times at bedtime and it has worked the last two days.
Elle's likes-
Giggling,  this girl laughs all the time
Taking steps
Climbing on everything
Pulling hair
Her piano she got from grandma
The window by the front door
Licking shoes (super gross, now when we catch her with a shoe we say no, no, no. She thinks its funny and says no, no back. I think she think the shoes are called no, no's)
She still only says mama and no, no
Licking, one good thing is she will lick foods not many but she will try some
Her car seat
Her stroller
Buckles

Elle's dislikes
Loud crowds
Strange people touching her
Doctor offices
Her highchair
The walker
Bathtime
Sticking anything in her mouth
Drinking anything non sweet
Not being allowed to sit on the vacuum well we are vacuuming the rugs
The door in the van

She is expanding her territory.  She now crawls into the kitchen but only on her terms. She loves crawling down to my bedroom. Her crib is in there and she loves her crib.
We feel like a got a cheat card with this adoption. She is transitioning so well. Our kids are all transitioning so well. They can't help but pick her up , talk to her, play with her every time they walk through the room. She is showing great signs of bonding. She prefers her mommy and daddy. She turns to us when strangers try to touch her. She is starting to cry when I leave the room or crawl after me saying mama. So cute. She shows signs of recognizing when we get home. As soon as we turn on our gravel road she starts to giggle.
Today is the last day of school for all the kids. She is going to love having them home all day.
We had been watching most games from the car but recently have been sitting in the outfield in the shade and grass. The crowd doesn't seem to bother her from there. The announcer from the last game she didn't like. I guess she spoke to loud or maybe he had a annoying voice ;)
Over all she is great, she still gets nervous very easy. The littest thing throws her off and still when she gets to stressed she stops eating.  This is a hard one because we have lots of doctors appointments and she greatly dislikes them. But I am she over time we will work this out.

Week 2 home

Sweet Elle is doing much better. We went in for a recheck on her ears, they said they look better. We were happy , at lest we know we are getting better. She now weights 22lbs and is 33 inches tall. Phew, growing like a weed. She is eating better and better each day.
Today we go back into the doctor's office to work on referrals to eye specialist and what not. I am excited to see where she will go with OP therapy and physical therapy.  She has came so far so fast already.
Elle's likes
Her piano toy from grandma
Walking along furniture
Her siblings
Ace, the dog
Grass, it was so fun to watch her discover the grass. The first few times we sat her in the grass she was not a fan. She wanted up right away but third time was a charm. She pulled it and found it came out, you should have seen her face, so cute. Another first for her.
Elle's dislikes
Doctor offices
Strange people
To bright of rooms
Medicine
Sleeping,  we are working trying to find what works best to help her fall asleep. The car works great but she wont stay sleep when moving her into the house. Rocking, she thinks is to fun. Her crib she loves, which in turns doesn't work.  She giggles and climbs all over in there. She has fallen asleep in daddy's arms a few nights. Thank goodness she not crabby crawling around playing till midnight.  She is just not sleeping.  We will get it down at some point. Nap time is no  different,  we have laid her in her playpen in the living room a few times and that seems to work, sometimes.
Each day brings new firsts.  She crawled into the kitchen two days this week. She was so proud of herself. The second time she found the kitchen table and was thrilled that she could walk around it.
She said her second word, no, no...no surprise there. We have been saying it alot, trying to teach her to not lick shoes and other harmful items.
She still doesn't like her highchair,  maybe she feels like it's to high. She learn how to get back off the couch,  she can turn around and slide down . Another first :)
We are having a blast just watching her discover this big new world.

Urgent care

Ya, we ended up in urgent care.  Well the ER because she is special needs and just got in country. I figured she had a ear infection. So hard to read a child that you have only had for a few weeks. But I was right double ear infection.  Poor baby, she was so stressed out going in the ER. It was hard to get anything done.  Everything they did we had to pin her down.  She didn't want her temperature taken or any vitals at all. Looking in her ears was really hard. They had to pull out a ton of wax out. Poor baby screamed so hard she broke blood vessels in her face again. She has a rash covering her body, they think its non related to the ear infection. Who knows....my heart broke watching her stress like that but I knew we had to find out if she had a ear infection.  Every day she has been eating less and less. I knew we were getting close to dehydration, I was right :( She is dehydrated, they said if she doesn't drink her bottle this morning we have go get fluids. Her food aversions hard , she won't put anything in her mouth. So meds are a challenge, they gave her , her first dose by shoot. We are going to try sneak the rest in her first bottle each morning and if that doesn't work we have to go back to the ER for shoots again.
My heart and my head are overwhelmed with the whole thing. A ear infection by its self is not that bad but for Elle, its is. When you take nothing but a bottle, and you are in pain ever time you drink it,  you just stop eating and drinking. Dehydration is not something to mess with. I am praying she take the bottle this morning and we get headed on the right track. We go to our pediatrician this week....lots more medical stuff down the road for us.