Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Lia's Evaluation
Wow! Five posts in one day. Well, this afternoon an "Early On" teacher came out to the house to evaluate Lia. I want to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to get Lia caught up to other children her age. As I expected, her fine motor skills are age appropriate. Also her cognitive skills are level appropriate. She is delayed in gross motor and language. She said that Lia is at 15-18 month level with gross motor and 12-15 month with language, though she seemed quite impressed with Lia's receptive language. She does qualify for weekly playgroups and monthly home visits. In August, she is going to be even further evaluated to see if she will qualify for additional services, but I got the feeling that the teacher believed that in another month she would likely have progressed past the point of needing these additional services. I was worried that Lia might not show the teacher all that she is able to do, but she was quite cooperative and I believe that the assessment was accurate.
Lia's Diagnosis
After the lab work showed that Lia was mildly anemic, the pediatrician ran further tests and determined that she has beta thalassemia minor, a genetic blood disorder. From what I understand right now, this is the least severe type of thalassemia and she should have no chronic problems. Basically, she is a carrier but will never develop beta thalassemia major, because she has only one copy of the thalassemia gene. When she is ready to have children it is advised to have genetic counseling to determine whether her partner has beta thal as well, as it could be passed on to her children. I was unable to talk in much depth to the doctor as Lia was having a major tantrum at the time. I am pretty certain that this diagnosis has nothing to do with her small size.
Speaking about her size, I plotted her weight, height and head circumference on the American growth chart and it seems so out of whack that I suspect the last three measurements that she had in China are inaccurate. The international adoption pediatrician who reviewed her medical reports was so concerned about the last three measurements because her growth seemed to be taking a bit of a nose dive, but her current measurements are right in line with the measurements that we have from her first 12 months. Odd. But if it had been any different, she wouldn't have likely been referred to us.
Here is a picture from the weekend. Cousin Jenna, Caelan, Lia and Aunt Vikki:
Speaking about her size, I plotted her weight, height and head circumference on the American growth chart and it seems so out of whack that I suspect the last three measurements that she had in China are inaccurate. The international adoption pediatrician who reviewed her medical reports was so concerned about the last three measurements because her growth seemed to be taking a bit of a nose dive, but her current measurements are right in line with the measurements that we have from her first 12 months. Odd. But if it had been any different, she wouldn't have likely been referred to us.
Here is a picture from the weekend. Cousin Jenna, Caelan, Lia and Aunt Vikki:
Big Storm
I know that the U.S. seems to be getting hammered with all of these storms, but we had a wild night on Sunday. Bob and I went to bed when all of a sudden it seemed that buckets of rain were being doused on our house. We heard the loudest roaring wind that I have ever heard and ran downstairs. Our bedroom is the only room on the second floor, the kids rooms are downstairs. The power went out, so all we could see was lightning flashing nearly constantly. We have no basement, and while the bathroom is probably the safest room, we also determined that the kids bedrooms and the closet between them were also a good place to go in a storm.
We live on the Saginaw Bay, part of lake Huron, and in our living room we have a wall of door windows looking to the bay, so Bob was looking out the door when he saw the neighbor's pole barn that he has been building, come crashing towards the house. I ran to Lia's room (Caelan is staying with Bob's parents for the week) and Bob went to Garrett's room. The pole barn landed on top of our cherry tree, which is only ten feet from our doors. It took out our fence in a section as well. Once the storm passed, we could see that trees were down, tree limbs were scattered everywhere. The kids toys were blown over and moved. It was scary. Apparently, a funnel cloud did touch down in the bay, so many of the houses along the bay were damaged in the storm.
We live on the Saginaw Bay, part of lake Huron, and in our living room we have a wall of door windows looking to the bay, so Bob was looking out the door when he saw the neighbor's pole barn that he has been building, come crashing towards the house. I ran to Lia's room (Caelan is staying with Bob's parents for the week) and Bob went to Garrett's room. The pole barn landed on top of our cherry tree, which is only ten feet from our doors. It took out our fence in a section as well. Once the storm passed, we could see that trees were down, tree limbs were scattered everywhere. The kids toys were blown over and moved. It was scary. Apparently, a funnel cloud did touch down in the bay, so many of the houses along the bay were damaged in the storm.
Garrett's Big Day
As I have said before, Garrett is a big fan of motor vehicles. He will sit in the car while we drive long distances, looking out the window, saying "Wow I wish I had that truck.." and "Wow I wish I could drive that bulldozer." He is fascinated with mowers, construction trucks, pick up trucks- really anything with wheels. Bob once told Garrett that he saw a truck pulling a trailer with two riding mowers, two push mowers and a John Deer tractor. Garrett's response was "Dad, was it a dream?" Too funny.
Bob's dad works construction and brought Garrett to see some of the trucks that he works with. Garrett was actually able to use the controls on some of them, and they brought many for a ride. Here are some pictures from that day.
Bob's dad works construction and brought Garrett to see some of the trucks that he works with. Garrett was actually able to use the controls on some of them, and they brought many for a ride. Here are some pictures from that day.
Summer
I am going to write a few little posts this morning, as we won't likely have much time over the next six weeks to keep this updated. Last summer, we bought a small cabin near Baldwin, Michigan. By small, I mean 300-400 square feet, consisting of a living room, bathroom and kitchen. We had such a great time up there last year and spent most of July there. Bob is now off until the first part of August and we plan to head over to our cabin on Sunday. Our friend that we met in Alaska, Cory Cook for all of my Alaska friends, is getting married on Saturday night, so we are going to that first. Oddly enough he met a woman from Michigan while teaching in Vermont.
Well, as long as Lia adjusts well to being at the cabin, we will hopefully stay there for the next 5-6 six weeks. Life is so laid back up there, I think she will be fine. My day will consist of waking up, having breakfast and a cup of coffee, going for a walk around the lake (4 miles, and I do it every morning), eating lunch, hanging out at the lake, eating dinner, again more time at the lake, and then bedtime. We will be able to focus all of our attention on the kids.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Happy Second Birthday!
Lia's birthday was on Friday. We got her a little swimming pool, which she spent hours in, and then went out for ice cream. On Saturday, we went to my parent's cottage for the night. I was a bit nervous about going, as I feel that Lia is doing really well and was afraid that an overnight so soon wasn't really the best thing for her- but she did great. I am coming to realize that she is a pretty easy going girl. She enjoyed the hot tub and her cousins. She even got a pretty big kick out of "Uncle Patrick." My brother, Kevin, and his girlfriend Teresa came too along with my sister, Maura and my parents.
We went in for a second round of bloodwork. The doc is trying to determine whether the cause of her anemia is a genetic condition or just lack of iron. Thankfully, this time the blood draw wasn't nearly as stressful. We went back to the hospital and I specifically made sure that "Esther" was the only one who would draw her blood and she got it on the first attempt. I am hoping that we will hear something about the lab tests tomorrow. She also has been found to have a stomach bacterial infection which she is being treated for.
Next week, Lia is being evaluated by the county's early intervention department. She is understandably delayed in her language development, but she has been picking up words pretty quickly. She definately can repeat sounds, and says mom, dada, up, bye-bye, thank you (in a voice only a mommy can understand), cheese (do you think she has had her picture taken a few times?), woof (yes we have a noisy dog) and a few others. Her fine motor skills seem pretty good, but she does struggle with gross motor skills. She walks in that wobbly baby way and can't run. We did go to the playground today and she was able to climb the steps independently pretty well by the time we were ready to leave. But, I do think that it is important that someone else tells me what types of things we should be working on.
Caelan is riding a bike after two summers of trying. She was doing well last summer, but she fell in August and refused to ride again. She got the hang of it again last week and we just ordered her a new bike. Originally I told her that she had to use her own money to pay for it, she has a savings account and hasn't spent a single penny of it. But I have decided that bike will be her payment for being my "personal assistant" this summer. I have found that if Lia is playing and I get up to get anything, she stops playing and will not return. So I have been asking Caelan to help me with things. She even got my coffee this morning and put the perfect amount of cream in- though the coffee pot had been off for an hour, so I knew there was no worry of her burning herself.
As it is the season, Garrett is very busy mowing... Not much else going on with him. For those who know him, he takes mowing pretty seriously and goes out with his bubble popping mower any time a neighbor is also mowing. It was very funny last week, as he kept "mowing" with a toy baby stroller. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was getting too big to push his mowers and he had a hard time reaching the handle. Too funny. I can't wait until he is actually old enough to mow our lawn!
We went in for a second round of bloodwork. The doc is trying to determine whether the cause of her anemia is a genetic condition or just lack of iron. Thankfully, this time the blood draw wasn't nearly as stressful. We went back to the hospital and I specifically made sure that "Esther" was the only one who would draw her blood and she got it on the first attempt. I am hoping that we will hear something about the lab tests tomorrow. She also has been found to have a stomach bacterial infection which she is being treated for.
Next week, Lia is being evaluated by the county's early intervention department. She is understandably delayed in her language development, but she has been picking up words pretty quickly. She definately can repeat sounds, and says mom, dada, up, bye-bye, thank you (in a voice only a mommy can understand), cheese (do you think she has had her picture taken a few times?), woof (yes we have a noisy dog) and a few others. Her fine motor skills seem pretty good, but she does struggle with gross motor skills. She walks in that wobbly baby way and can't run. We did go to the playground today and she was able to climb the steps independently pretty well by the time we were ready to leave. But, I do think that it is important that someone else tells me what types of things we should be working on.
Caelan is riding a bike after two summers of trying. She was doing well last summer, but she fell in August and refused to ride again. She got the hang of it again last week and we just ordered her a new bike. Originally I told her that she had to use her own money to pay for it, she has a savings account and hasn't spent a single penny of it. But I have decided that bike will be her payment for being my "personal assistant" this summer. I have found that if Lia is playing and I get up to get anything, she stops playing and will not return. So I have been asking Caelan to help me with things. She even got my coffee this morning and put the perfect amount of cream in- though the coffee pot had been off for an hour, so I knew there was no worry of her burning herself.
As it is the season, Garrett is very busy mowing... Not much else going on with him. For those who know him, he takes mowing pretty seriously and goes out with his bubble popping mower any time a neighbor is also mowing. It was very funny last week, as he kept "mowing" with a toy baby stroller. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was getting too big to push his mowers and he had a hard time reaching the handle. Too funny. I can't wait until he is actually old enough to mow our lawn!
Wednesday, June 4, 2008
Out of school
Well, it has been a busy week. We took Lia in for her bloodwork last Wednesday and it was a nightmare. The tech was unable to draw any blood successfully. I left with a hysterical baby, and I wasn't feeling much better than she was. That, and I knew we would have to repeat the bloodwork as the tiny bit of blood that she was able to collect clotted. Her arm was badly bruised so I waited until yesterday to bring her back in, this time to the hospital, where the first two tech's were unable to draw even the tiniest bit of blood. Lia gets so nervous that she tenses up and her muscles (apparently) stop the flow of blood to her veins. Finally the third tech was able to draw the necessary blood. We got some of the results back already, and so far everything looks fine, but she is mildly anemic, which did not surprise me.
Otherwise, she is doing pretty good. We had a rough few days over the weekend and the beginning of the week. She was clinging to me and very upset if I had to put her down, like when I took a shower and put the dinner in the oven. She had quite a few tantrums and was hard to console, but the last two days have been wonderful. She has started to play more independently and even wanders in different rooms.
I brought my two girls down to see Patrick's new baby over the weekend. See the picture below:) Abby, my brother's oldest, is only 9 months older than Lia. Look at the size difference! Lia doesn't seem all that small to me until I compare her to other kids her age.
Bob and Garrett went to our little cabin to open it up for the season- we plan to settle there for the summer on the 22nd of June. The kids are now out of school. Bob has to work for the next 2 weeks and then he will have six weeks off.
Otherwise, she is doing pretty good. We had a rough few days over the weekend and the beginning of the week. She was clinging to me and very upset if I had to put her down, like when I took a shower and put the dinner in the oven. She had quite a few tantrums and was hard to console, but the last two days have been wonderful. She has started to play more independently and even wanders in different rooms.
I brought my two girls down to see Patrick's new baby over the weekend. See the picture below:) Abby, my brother's oldest, is only 9 months older than Lia. Look at the size difference! Lia doesn't seem all that small to me until I compare her to other kids her age.
Bob and Garrett went to our little cabin to open it up for the season- we plan to settle there for the summer on the 22nd of June. The kids are now out of school. Bob has to work for the next 2 weeks and then he will have six weeks off.
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