Allie's Stories

Allie brought home a few stories she's been working on in school.  I love her writing.

Have you ever wanted a kitten buy your parent's says no?  Well today I will ask my mom.  But let's talk about taking care of it.  You could lcean the kittey-litter. And you could hold it and it cuttle with you and comfert you.  Plus it would help you go to sleep.  You could lean the kittey-litter more.  And you could teach it trick's and com-fert it more.  Plus you could try to keep it away from peop with alege's to.  Theace are the reason's we should get a kitten.

I think we need to work on her apostrophe usage :).

One evening at 7:00 pm Jessica's family was at the house planning Jessica's surprizing party.  It was good that Jessica had to stay at school for a little bit longer.  But she was realy really bord and annoyed by the loude noise.  So they had time to plane the surpring party.  So meanwhile the finally finished planning out the party.  But wen they were all done putting up the decorashtions and done baking the cake and done putting on the icing they had to pick up Jessica from school.  So Jessica's dad went to pick her up.  When they got home dad ran in side the house with the other's.  The family was inside the house and turned off the light.  But when jessica came into the house there was a big "surprise!"  Wow said Jessica this is the best surpringing birthday every and from that day on Jessica had the best surprising birthday ever.  the end.

Breathing Easier

It took 2 1/2 hours of waiting, but I'm still thankful to Dr. M for squeezing Allie in yesterday.  They did a pulmonary function test.  The main numbers were good.  There was one number that was still low, but the doctor said he's not concerned.  She has no wheezing or shortness of breath.  He said to just keep it in the back of our minds as she grows and is involved in sports.  If she does start to have some shortness of breath or any trouble breathing, then we'll need to revisit pulmonary "stuff."  They did draw blood to check her CO2 blood levels, but he didn't think they would be elevated.  We can breath easier with peace of mind knowing that we aren't going to need specialists close by for follow-ups in Missouri.

Bring On the Pulmonologist

It's taken a week and a half, but I finally heard back from Allie's ENT office. The Pediatric Pulmonologist (Dr. M) wants to see Allie before we move to do a pulmonary function test.  The timing is going to be hard.  He's out of town this week and has no appointments available until July.  They are going to try and squeeze us into his Thursday morning clinic hours.  That means either I'll be taking her to Baltimore on the 26th or the 2nd.  That's it.  There are no other Thursdays.  The packers/movers are going to be here the 27th, 31st and 1st. We close on our house and drive out of town on the 3rd.

Oh my!  My life is too insane.  The timing of this and our move have not been good.  And I don't even want to think about negative test results and treatment or monitoring options when we are Lost in the Woods of Missouri.

And to top that, Dan's car is dead as a doornail. 

{tangent - where did that expression come from?  I consulted handy dandy google and here's what I learned "Door-nails are the large-headed studs that were used in earlier times for strength and more recently as decoration. The practice was to hammer the nail through and then bend over the protruding end to secure it. This process, similar to riveting, was called clenching. This may be the source of the 'deadness', as such a nail would be unusable afterwards."}

A tow truck will be visiting this afternoon to take it to the dealership.

Stick a fork in me, I'm done.  The. End.

A L-O-N-G Night at the Sleep Center

Allie had her follow-up sleep study last night.  She knew what to expect this time which made it worse.  She was not at all excited about it, but she willingly let the nurse hook her up to all the tubes and wires.

We turned out the lights about 9:30 and with the help of Melatonin, Allie went to sleep.  She was so restless though.  The nurse had to come in repeatedly to retape wires and rewrap her head.  Allie actually slept through most of it.  I, on the other hand, woke up every time the door opened.  5:15 couldn't have come soon enough.  We were both ready to go home!

We have an appointment with the pediatric ENT in two weeks to get the results.  Our hope and prayer is that the tonsillectomy fixed the high CO2 problem; otherwise, we'll be referred to a pulminologist to do further testing.

Happy Birthday, Allie

Today is Allie's 8th birthday!  Can you believe it?  I can't.  It seems like just yesterday she was a crazy toddler who went full speed ahead without ever looking back.  Funny that her personality hasn't changed a single bit. : )  She chose a day at Busch Gardens for her birthday this year instead of a party.  I love that the kids will pick family trips over big parties with friends.  Anyway, tonight, Allie chose home-made pizza for dinner followed by chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.  She was having a fit to open her presents so we did that before dinner and cake.

 I totally scored on this little wooden doll house.  It was normally $50 at Walmart (which I never would have paid), but I found it clearanced for $15.  Allie LOVED it.

Jaelyn and Allie have amassed quite the critter collection.

There's still one more present hiding somewhere in our house and for the life of me, I can't find.  I accidentally pulled it out and stuck it somewhere so Allie wouldn't see it.  I guess I'll find it when I unpack in Missouri!

Too Much Excitement

I'm not quite sure where to begin. I guess the beginning? Last night about nine Allie started coughing blood. It probably only lasted for about five minutes, but it was a lot of blood to me. Honestly, I was scared half to death and my calm voice of reason, Dan, had duty so he was at work. I immediately called 911, then called a friend to stay with the other two. I had to go through a couple of phone numbers before I finally got the right duty line for Dan. Allie and I rode by ambulance to the nearest ER where Dan met us. From there we were transferred by another ambulance to John Hopkins in Baltimore. Dan followed in his car behind us and I guess I shouldn't leave out the snow, nasty roads and freezing rain. It was not a good night to be out driving.

We stayed in the ER until about three when they finally admitted Allie for observation. She never bled again thankfully. This morning the ENT resident said her throat looks good. He didn't see the clot the doctor had seen the night before when she scared us with the worst case scenario of going back into surgery. We are now waiting on the attending doctor to come take a look. The nurse said if everything looks good, they'll discharge us around dinner time.
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Just What They Meant to Do

Normally when my parents come to visit, we do things.  There's always a breakfast at Ikea.  We spend days shopping and playing.  I normally have a camera filled with proof of the fun times we had.  This time, not so much.  My parents came up here to help us after Allie's surgery and that's exactly what they did.  My mom spent time everyday rocking with Allie.  When she wasn't rocking, she was helping fold laundry, fix food and do dishes. 

Okay, we might have spent a few hours shopping for get well presents : )



We also spent a lot of time learning to play a new game (which needs it's own blog post later so stay tuned.)

We took Baba and Grandpa back to the airport today.  I'm so thankful they were here to help.  I had trouble getting going most mornings after getting up several times in the night to check on Allie and give her medicine.  I'm not quite sure how I did those every two hour feedings when Caden was a newborn.  Of course, I was 6 years younger.

Anyway, Allie is on the mend.  She definitely feels better as she's more active, but her throat is still hurting.  She's unhappy because she's hit the "I'm hungry" point, but her throat hurts too bad to swallow anything more than soup and macaroni and cheese.

Allie's Update

It's been two long days, but thankfully Allie is doing really well.  Allie was calm on the outside but I could tell she was antsy Tuesday morning because she went from one thing to another in my bag of entertaining tricks.  She was excited to open Jessica's present and discover a doll sized hospital gown that matched her own.  Mommy did good.

When the anesthesiologist came to talk with us, he brought Allie an infant sized mask she she could put Jessica to sleep for her tonsillectomy.  Everyone at John Hopkins was truly wonderful.  Allie picked for me to walk with her to the operating room.  They let me stay with her until she was asleep.

It took about an hour and a half before they came and got us.  Allie's surgery went really well.  Her tonsils and her adenoids were enlarged.  The doctor feels like this will solve her CO2 problem, but we still have to follow up with another sleep study in 3 months.  Allie later asked us if we'd brought her tonsils and adenoids home with us for her to see.  Hmmm...forgot to ask that question.  Anyway, we found Allie sleeping peacefully in recovery.  She did great with the anesthesia.  We saw two other kids who were waking up as they were wheeled into recovery.  They were kicking and crying and were totally out of it.  Allie went from sleeping peacefully to awake and talking to us.  It was much easier on her.  The nurses started handing out Popsicles right now.  Allie was up to 6 when they moved us to a pediatric floor around dinner time.  She asked for food and ate 2 bowls of chicken noodle soup and 1 bowl of tomato soup for dinner.  The night in the hospital was hard.  The oxycodone seemed to wire Allie instead of making her sleep.  She was in quite a bit of pain and cried a lot when she was sleeping.  I got two or three hours of sleep, but I think Dan slept all night.  We were glad to see the doctor and discharge papers the next morning.

Allie bounced quite a bit yesterday from lack of sleep and ADHD medicine.  The lortab also has no sleepy effect.  We switched to tylenol and she slept really well last night.  We've already done "home-school" for the day and now Allie's rocking with Baba happy as a clam.  Allie is begging for "crunchy" food so I foresee that as being a problem soon.  Yesterday, she scared me when she ate a cheeze-it out of Caden's snack bowl.

Cleared for Surgery

Allie had her pre-operative physical on Friday.  She's been cleared for surgery.  We have to be there at 8:30 on Tuesday.  Her surgery is scheduled for 10:30.  The kitchen is stocked with jello, ice cream, popscicles and soups and my parents are flying in tomorrow to take care of Jaelyn and Caden for us.  I've wrapped her "hospital present" which is a hospital gown and slippers for her new doll.  I think we are ready.

Our Gotcha Day Tradition

Seven years ago tonight, Dan and I were standing in an orphanage in Samara, Russia waiting to pick up our baby girls.  We had no idea of the adventures and changes our lives were going to go through at the time, but wow, what a ride it has been.  It hasn't always been easy.  As a matter of fact, a lot of it has been down right hard, but God has orchestrated every minute of it.  I am forever thankful that He gave us our girls (and our little man).  The Marriott in Moscow was decorated with beautiful gingerbread houses so every year on Gotcha Day, the kids and I decorate houses.  Dan and my mom joined in tonight and apparently, this is the first Gotcha Day Dan has been home for because he says he's never helped decorate them.  And trust me, I would have enlisted his help if he'd been here.  It's like our wedding anniversary...as long as he was at the main event, the rest is just a bonus (right?).  The kids look forward to this activity every year and this year was no exception.  We had a wonderful time and my Dad was kind enough to play photographer for us.

I dug into my adoption box for the first time and pulled out Russian coloring books and paper dolls to give the kids.  I've been waiting for them to be old enough, but not be too old, to appreciate and enjoy them. 

My Turn to Pull

Dan has pulled out many a tooth, but no one has let me pull one out.  I was started to feel unloved.  Well, Allie's been watching out for me and has been letting me pull on one of her teeth for days.  Her central had dropped down and it was hanging crooked in the center of her mouth.  I couldn't wait to get the snaggletooth out.  Allie let me yank on it Monday night and out it came.  There was a little bleeding and some drama about pain, but it ended quickly.



Allie wanted to take her tooth and tooth fairy money to school to share so she left the tooth fairy this  note.

The tooth fairy left her money (a dollar for the tooth and a quarter bonus for letting someone pull it out) and her tooth.

She was thrilled to get to take it to school to share!

The Tooth Fairy Cometh

Allie has looked like a snaggle tooth for a week or so now. Every night for the last 4-5 nights, she's let me try to pull out her tooth and then let Dan try to pull out her tooth. Tonight was finally the night. Daddy got it out on his first try and it was in there good. Allie cried and cried and it bled quite a bit. Maybe there's something to be said for letting teeth fall out naturally.

My mom gave Allie this watering can treasure box this summer and Allie decided it would be the perfect tooth box. There's a little mouse in the bottom to watch over the tooth and the tooth fairy can fly in the mouse hole on the side!

PS The tooth fairy left a Sacajawea dollar and a Quarter bonus for the gutsy girl that let Daddy pull her tooth!

Curve...What Curve???

Allie was diagnosed with mild scoliosis about 2 1/2 years ago. We started out seeing a pediatric orthopedist every 6 months. This time, we were supposed to go to 9 months, but our doctor moved and it took time to get into see a new one. We trekked downtown today to the big John Hopkins. We only got lost once using the GPS (the interstate exit physically moved from the left to the right and the GPS didn't know it). Kat helped me out and fixed her problem (we named our GPS Kat - What, don't you name inanimate objects???) Anyway, we navigated the crazy construction and even crazier people driving around the parking garage.

We got in pretty quickly. Allie went back for her x-ray and then we had to wait for the doctor. OK, the rest of this is going to sound politically incorrect and I might use the wrong terms, but the kids got very excited when they saw a dwarf in scrubs walking around. I think he was a dwarf - average head and body, but shorter arms and legs. I had to shush the kids and grab pointing fingers quickly. I guess they've never seen a dwarf or a little person before. Turns out our doctor was the dwarf. He was wonderful, talking to each child individually. It was a great learning experience about how God makes each person special and unique. We had a good talk on the way home about people with different disabilities and challenges in general. All we need is hard work and perseverance and we can do anything we set our minds to.

Anyway...the whole point of the story ~ the curve. What curve? We don't see no stinkin' curve!!! It's gone. Allie's spine is within normal limits. Yea God! We don't have to go back to the orthopedic doctors again. Her pediatrician will monitor her at her annual exams and that's it!

The Tooth Is Out

After begging, Allie agreed to let me put ambesol on her tooth so we could pull some more. I was teasing her and asked if she'd let me pull her tooth out with pliers and she said yes. I was being silly and ran downstairs to get the pliers out of my toolbox (don't worry, Mom, I cleaned them first).

I raced upstairs to find Allie in Dan's lap. He told me to stay back, that he almost had it. The next thing I knew, Dan pulled Allie's second bottom central tooth out of her mouth.

The root was kind of long and well attached so it bled a bit. Her lateral is a tiny bit loose so I'm going to start wiggling it and do everything we can to get that tooth in where it belongs!

An Allie Funny

I had a parent teacher conference with Allie's teacher this morning to talk about her progress.  Her behavior has improved drastically.  Mrs. Y says she's more focused and organized.  She still struggles in Math, but I was relieved to hear that Allie is one of about half that class that struggles.  They are working on time and morning and it's just so hard.  She doesn't think we need to talk about any testing.  I'll continue to work with her at home this summer and I'll re-evaluate with her teacher next year.

Now for the funny.  Before I start, I should tell you Mrs. Y has light brown hair with blond highlights.  Mrs. Y said one day after she'd finished teaching a math lesson, Allie raised her hand and said "Mrs. Y, I just don't understand."  Mrs. Y went to her to help her with her math problem.  "What don't you understand, Allie?"  to which Allie responded, "I just don't understand why the front of your hair is blond and the back is brown!"  LOL!  I guess she's still not 100% focused like she should be :p.

Allie Asked Jesus Into Her Heart

The kids read in their beds everynight before lights out. Allie's book of choice has been her kid's Bible lately. It has the story and then songs to go with each story. Most are sung to tunes she already knows so they are easy for her to sing (it gets her in trouble some nights). Last night, she reread the Easter story. I'm always explaining salvation to the kids and asking if they'd like to ask Jesus into their heart. Allie's never been interested in listening or praying with me. Last night she was; so after her story, she prayed and asked Jesus to come live in her heart. I am continually amazed at the innocence and faith of a child. They believe so easily. There's no questioning or wondering. They just trust. I wish I could trust God so easily with everything in my life all the time.

On a diferent note, Caden has been wondering who made God. He knows that God made the world, the birds, the animals, the people, the stars, etc..."but who made God, Mommy???" My answer that God is God, He is and will always be just isn't enough for him. So - can anyone help me? How do I answer "who made God" so a 5 year old will understand?

Happy Birthday, Allie

On Tuesday, Allie turned 7.  How she's 7, I still don't understand, but she is.  It seems like just yesterday that we got the call telling us our travel dates to meet Jaelyn and that a baby girl referral was on the way for us.  Allie is my happy child.  She makes me laugh constantly.  She's smart and funny and and has the sunniest personality.  I can't imagine my life without her and I thank God everyday for giving her to us.  We are the luckiest parents in the world to get to be her Mommy and Daddy!

We baked cupcakes for Allie and Dan got home early just as I was finishing up the icing.  We ate our cupcakes and opened presents in the afternoon and then took Allie to her favorite place, Ruby Tuesdays, for dinner.  It wasn't very busy and the waiter was wonderful.  They apparently don't sing at RT, but they made an exception for Allie.  They sang to her and brought her an ice cream sundae.  BTW, Allie woke up asking for her birthday princess hat that we've had since she turned 3 and she wore it everywhere we went.  She told everyone "Today is my birthday and I'm going to be 7."

Allie took the time to read each of her cards.  She's my first child to do that.  Normally they rip off the paper and totally ignore the cards.

Dan and I bought Allie a Just Like You doll from American Girls.  She was so excited.  Baba and Grandpa got her an outfit so she could match "Sasha." (which is a nickname for Alexandra in Russia and what she was called in the baby home)

Waiting for the Tooth Fairy

We've been wiggling Allie's tooth for over two weeks. On several occasions, she's let me try to pull it, but it wasn't ready...until today. This morning, I showed her how to wiggle it in a circle. Then during breakfast, it was hurting her; so she reached in, pushed it in a big circle and out it came. She screamed and cried a bit, but was very excited about it.

She put her tooth in a special frog box from Baba. We are all ready for the tooth fairy - who is real, by the way. We discussed it the other day. I asked if the tooth fairy was real and all the kids agreed that the tooth fairy and Santa Claus are real while garden fairies and fairy godmothers are make believe.

I'm Brave

Jaelyn has a pretty steady hand. I let her start painting my toenails a few months ago. She also gets to paint her fingernail and toenails in very light colors since she still colors outside the lines a little. The other day, Allie begged to paint my toenails so I let her. Touch up with polish remover was required, but you've got to start learning somewhere, right?!

It Has Finally Happened

Allie will turn 7 in 3 months. She has all of her baby teeth still and she wants desperately to lose her first tooth. By 7, Jaelyn had lost 8 teeth, but Allie was a much later teether than we suspect Jaelyn was. Allie bit into a carrot today and told me her front bottom tooth hurt. I checked it later and sure enough, we have a loose tooth! It's not very loose so it'll be a while, but Allie's excited that the tooth fairy is finally going to start visiting her.