Olivia's 3 now!!

I can't believe its been 2009 sine I last blogged!! Wow time flies!! Olivia is 3- we just celebrated her third birthday 12/31- AND her SECOND GOTCHA day on 2/17!!

ITS SO HARD TO BELIEVE!!

What's even more amazing is that God has laid it on our hearts to expand our little family again!! SO after much prayer- we've decided to adopt again- this time from Ethiopia!! We truly will have a "rainbow" as I like to say then! :)

We are at the VERY EARLY stages- so I promise I we keep everyone updated as we get further along!!

First day of school

Abbey & Isabella had their first day of school @ Zion Christian Academy last Week. (We start early here in TN- I still haven't got used to that yet! August is supposed to be the end of summer- not the beginning of school! :) They wanted to wear matching dresses- but Belle did NOT want a picture taken with Abbey for some reason that morning. She only conceded if Abbey didn't touch her. Her loyalities have definately shifted toward Olivia now.



She loves having a backpack of her own for school.



I just love their Chapel attire. They only have to wear a "uniform" on Wednesday for Chapel day. It must be something to see a sea of elementary children in burgandy singing praises to God!! Olivia won't be going to K-3 there for 2 more years since she has a December birthday. I wonder how long before she cries when Abbey & Belle are dropped off and she has to go home?? Belle fussed all last year because of it.

Mother's day Miracle

I apologize to my friends who have commented on my not blogging. It has been so crazy lately!! On Mother's day we had a miracle- Olivia finally started eating!! YEAH!!!! She just started eating at my Mother's day outing!! We didn't do anything different- she just decided to start eating. We were amazed because she ate a plate of pasta & asked for more and she has't stopped since! She even eats with a spoon- although she still prefers to hold the spoon and eat with her hand. It gets really messy with things like yogurt- but it sure is a joy to see her finally eating!!





I am so not used to straight hair after taking care of Abbey & Belle's curly locks!! The first few attempts made Olivia look like Alfalfa with a spike coming out of her head. The 2 pony tails seem to be cute but not too weird.



Abbey is growing into a talented young lady. She took piano lessons this year and had her first recital. She was so scared because she had to memorize her song. Despite her protests "I can never memorize it mom" she did a wonderful job. We were so proud or her!! Its hard to believe she will starting the third grade in August. Blink ;-)when did she get so big??





Belle has really taken to Olivia. She is jealous of anyone- even Abbey- doing things with her because that is HER sister. When Olivia had to get another round of shots recently- I think she cried louder than Oliva did! "Don't hurt my sister" she kept screaming at us. We tried to explain it was to keep Olivia from getting sick but she was mad at us.



Belle has finally decided to potty train. She goes 80-90% of the time on the potty right now. (Thank God!! One more to go!!:) She even amazed me that she has gone at the restaurant a few times. (Abbey used to shudder at public potties and it took forever for her to go on them :)

Easter pictures!

Firstly- Olivia is going great. All her studies- VCUG/Renal U/S & repeat urine tests are completely normal! We are praising God that everything now seems normal.

We braved a hail storm/tornado warning and got family pictures taken at Portrait Innovations before Easter. The girls were great for pictures- despite having to wait for an hour for our appointment. I always thought getting 2 kids to smile & cooperate for the pictures was bad- but three is much worse!! :) As you can see- we some how managed to get a few good ones.

We are amazed that is has been 2 months since Olivia joined our forever family. She has been a true blessing to us! She is so developing so quickly- she now practically runs everywhere. Her favorite things to get into are the dog's food/water & the toilet. Both very disgusting to us when we find her gleefully playing with them! She has over 15 words in her vocabulary- Abbey & Belle are especially proud she says their names now. Abbey & Belle adore Olivia & the feeling seems to be mutual. Belle goes around chanting "I Love you 'Livia" and gives her great big hugs all the time (Imagine a child hugging a squirming kitty & you can just about imagine how it looks!!

Her eating is SLOWLY improving- but we'll take anything we can get. She eats all kinds of hard foods- even a few bananas now. Still a no-go on any spoon-worthy foods- but we will keep trying.

Here's the pictures- enjoy!!

Olivia update-pictures to come- sorry:)

I know many have been asking how Olivia is doing. She is much improved- her fever has resolved- her appetite is back and she is her happy self. Unfortunately her urine is still abnormal- despite 2 negative cultures- and antibiotics-her urine is still positive for WBC 's -but thankfully negative for blood & crystals. It was disappointing to see any WBC when she is obviously feeling so well. Hopefully it will not be significant!

The VCUG test was normal but we had to reschedule the renal ultrasound to this Friday- since we missed our appointment last week for bad traffic in Nashville. I just found out the urine results tonight so I will be calling the docotor to see how to proceed tomorrow. It is only mildly abnormal- so hopefulllythat means we are out of the woods!! :)

The rest of her labs have been good- besides some anemia- everything else has been normal. She has no immunity to any of the vaccines they gave her so we will have to start all over from scratch. Poor Olivia!! She has been such a trooper with all this testing!

She is making great strides though- she now is walking everywhere- something she didn't do 2 weeks ago! She does what I call the monkey walk- that cute - broadbased gait with her arms up for balance- very sweet!! She is also eating better- as long as it is finger foods. Still no spoon feeding- but she can now do Cheerios & graham crackers very well and even chews them.

Olivia is sick-please pray! Possible Melamine poisoning!

Olivia had her big adoption exam yesterday - very informative for me- 10 vials of blood drawn from Olivia! Olivia had had a mild stomach bug over the weekend- we told the doctor she had had some mild diarrhea & vomiting. By the time we left she was still running a low grade fever. I went to work late & Mike called later that Olivia had spiked a high fever- up to 103. After running some tests in the office- we found out she had strep- so she got a Rocephin shot ( A strong antibiotic) and I thought we would be OK.

At 0900 her adoption specialist called- concerned for Olivias labs. At first I thought it was strep related figuring her WBC count would be high- then she told me her U/A was also very abnormal & her kidney function tests were very alarming high. :-O They are concerned she may have Melamine poisoning! China had a scare of tainted formula that causes kidney stones, UTI, renal failure and even death if left untreated!!! How could someone have poisoned my precious little girl for a mere profit!!!??????

We repeated her labs and urine- thankfully the kidney function was improved some today- but the urine still shows a lot of blood & protein - both indicators of possible melamine exposure! She got another shot since she is still running a fever up to 101. She will have more studies- an ultrasound to look for kidney stones & a VCUG ( to test for urinary reflux- fluid backing up her ureters) on Friday at Vanderbilt.

I am grateful to have discovered this so soon- but please pray God will heal her of any permanent damage this may have caused her kidneys.

Home 2 weeks already!

Tomorrow will mark the 2 week mark for being home-its seems like Olivia has been a part of our family forever instead of just 2 weeks! :)

She has been a little trooper & fitting in well with her sisiters & adjusting to life here in TN. Thankfully she was sleeping through the night within 3 days of being home. She is also now in her crib in the room with Belle. Belle was quite upset "Livia" wasn't in her room at first. She know reminds us at bedtime that "Livia" is in her room now! She isn't completely jealous free- check out mommy having to give her "her bottle" while I was feeding Olivia,



Olivia really seems comfortable & is blossoming. She readily says Momma & Dadda. Abbey is working on getting her to say sissy or Abbey but nothing yet -much to her chagrin.



It is so very cute when I come home from work because whenever she hears my voice she will start chanting Momma and make a crawling dash to get me & want picked up no matter where she is in the house. Ahhhhhh..........

Our little girl who would whine if she crawled a few feet in China is now crawling fastly- everywhere! She cruises readily and can even take up to 4 steps before she will plop down and crawl the rest of the way!

Her pincer grasp has really come a long way- she is no longer raking things with her fist but cutely working very hard to pick them up with her thumb & 1st finger.




Eating is still an issue- outside of the puffs (that she shovels in nonstop-Praise God!) we haven't gotten more than a few bitefuls in each day, sigh.........its very frustrating. It is progress to see her chow the puffs though! :) Cheerios or anything harder are a no go- but any little step is progress, right?


Mike is optimistic but unless I see real change soon I think therapy is in our future. We just now have seen her start to mouth a few toys- so definite progress is being made-just very slowly!

Next Monday is her big day at the International Adoption clinic at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital in Nashville. She will be tested for numerous issues common among international adoptees & start her re-vaccination process. I've been content to be mom & not doctor for a few weeks to allow her to adjust before we started all the poking & prodding!

Grandma Vi has returned to New york. We really appreciated eveything she did for us while she was here. She is so great with "her girls". We really miss having her close by.