One Crazy Summer

No, not the movie ........ we have had the craziest summer around here.  Here's what's been going on (and why I haven't blogged much):

• Right after school ended, we went on vacation.  We visited friends in NC, went to Atlanta, and visited my family in TN.  Overall, it was a great trip.  One of the highlights was the Georgia Aquarium.  It was AMAZING!!!!!  My family got to meet Kenzi for the first time, so that was good.  We learned that Kenzi's limit in the car is about 3 hours.  So, between that, and everyone else having to stop to use the bathroom, or the DVD players not working, the 8 hour trip home turned into 13 hours.
• Jacinda took ballet classes when we got home, and now she is taking gymnastics classes.  At the first gymnastics class, the teacher was using Jacinda to show the other kids how to do the various moves!  So we are looking into a class that's a little more advanced for her.
• Luke and Jacinda took swimming lessons for a few weeks.  They had a great time and did really well for their first swimming lessons ever.
• We got a kitten ... as if our house wasn't crazy enough!  Her name is Fibonacci - we call her Phoebe.  She was about 6 weeks old when we got her a few weeks ago.  We happened to be at the vet with our dog when someone came in with this kitten he found.  So our vet took care of her over the weekend to make sure she was healthy.  They cleaned her up and gave her some shots and we went back and picked her up a few days later.
• Kenzi had her palate repair surgery almost 3 weeks ago now.  Her first 24 hours were a little rough, but her recovery has been great.  She will see her surgeon in a few more weeks to check things out and make sure her palate is healing well.  She has made some huge gains in her speech since her surgery.
• My mom came to visit to help us out after Kenzi's surgery.  She ended up getting sick while she was here and having Pneumonia!!!
• Jacinda started with a new speech therapist and she has also made huge gains.  It's amazing how quickly she has made some major improvements!  It's so exciting to see and this has been a long road for Jacinda (and us).
• Aaron and I both completed a "boot camp" at the YMCA and we have both lost several pounds and inches.
• All 3 kids went to the dentist.  Luke had a small cavity that needed to be filled.  I was so proud of him ..... he sat so still for that and did an amazing job!  The dentist is very impressed with both girls' teeth.  He said that for cleft kids, their teeth are beautiful!  They both have very different teeth and alignment of teeth.  Jacinda is still a few years away from braces and bone grafting.

Whew!  We have 3 weeks left before school starts and we still have some things to do to get ready.

Misleading Title .......

I suppose our blog title is a little misleading these days.  We are done with the adopting part, but adoption will always be a part of our lives.  We will still be blogging updates on our family, but no more major adoption news.  3 kids is it for us!  This is for various reasons ....... hard to fit more therapy appointments into our schedule, Luke is starting 1st grade and has some special "needs" of his own, and we no longer qualify for many countries to adopt from.  Plus, we just finished paying off the last adoption, so we need to rebuild our savings and make some serious progress on retirement and college savings.

We will also be including some things about the new journey we are on, which is for all of us to get healthy.  We just joined our local Y and hubby and I have both joined their "boot camp" class.  They focus on nutrition and exercise, so we are hoping for great results!  I recently completed another "boot camp" and it was wonderful!!!!!!  In 6 weeks, I lost about 10 pounds and several inches.  I'm so glad that we are doing this as a family.

It's funny ...... I know that we are doing exactly what we need to be doing.  When I did the boot camp last month, hubby had band practice on some nights, so we needed to find a babysitter.  Within minutes of asking, I had 2 babysitters available for all the nights!  Then, today in my first class at the Y, the leader paired us up and I ended up with another mama and we have a LOT in common.  Her son and Luke are 3 days apart!  We talked and talked and are excited to have found a new friend.

I hope all of you reading will continue to read about our antics .... seems we always have sort of drama going on!

Summer is Here!

• Luke's last day of Kindergarten was today.  He is very excited about 1st grade!
• Kenzi's palate surgery is scheduled for July 24th.
• This summer, my family will finally get to meet Kenzi.  I'm excited and I know they are, too!
• We have lots of fun stuff planned this summer.  Luke needs structure, so we are working on loosely "planning" each day so that they all know what to expect.
• Jacinda has had some speech therapist developments.
• Her wonderful speech teacher at school will not be returning next year, due to school district budget cuts.  We are very sad, but we hope that the next one will be just what Jacinda needs at that time.
• She hasn't yet started with the private speech therapist.  We are working to get our insurance to approve it.  Our insurance is apparently notorious for being difficult for this type of thing.  Our coverage documents clearly state it is covered, so it's a bit confounding as to why it's taking so long.  Thankfully, the new therapist is very familiar with the process and she is committed to getting it worked out for us.

That's about it from here!

Excellent News!!!!

Cleft Team Rundown:

• Our surgeon was in the ER himself, so we couldn't see him.  We go back on May 29th to see him and schedule Kenzi's palate repair.
• Ears for both girls look great.
• Jacinda had her endoscopy procedure.  It was a little rough, but she hung in there and got it done.  Her palate is PERFECT.  Structurally, there are no issues.  The Cleft Team Speech Pathologist thinks that Jacinda has some bad habits from having her palate open for so long as well as her independent personality.  Some of you know that if Jacinda doesn't want to do something, she won't!!!
• So Jacinda does not need more surgery for her palate at this point.  This is great news!!!!!
• She needs intensive speech therapy in a one-on-one setting.  We will still do the speech therapy at our elementary school.  We also are at the top of the wait list for a private Speech Therapist that has a lot of experience with cleft kiddos.  We have a good friend whose daughter had similar issues, used this speech therapist and has done really well.
• We told Jacinda she could choose a special treat if she said the words and made it through the scope.  Well, I thought she'd choose ice cream or something like that.  Oh no.  She wanted to go to Hello Kitty store at the mall and get a "Hello Kitty Special Treat."  I have NO idea how she remembered that place ..... she has only been there once and that was months ago.  So we went to the Hello Kitty store and let her pick out a few things.

We are so relieved that the procedure is done and that we got the information we needed.  We are thrilled that Jacinda doesn't need another surgery right now!!!!!

Important Cleft Team Appts. Coming Up

Luke is doing great!  He has recovered nicely from his surgery and he is back to normal.  He is getting a little bored in school, but we have only about 5 weeks left, so he's hanging in there.

Tuesday, May 15th is a big day for us, especially Jacinda.  Both girls have appointments with our wonderful Cleft Team (Surgeon, Orthodontist, ENT, and Speech Pathologist).  Here's what will happen for both girls:

Kenzi ~ Her lip looks AMAZING.  I'm sure her surgeon will be thrilled with how it has healed.  He will take a good look at her palate and we will schedule her palate repair surgery.  She acts sometimes like her nose on the cleft side hurts, so I'll be asking the surgeon to see if he can figure that out.  She also may have another hearing test to see if the hearing loss we found last time has resolved with the ear tubes.

Jacinda - She will see the regular cleft team.  But the big deal for her is speech.  There is a wonderful Speech Pathologist that works with the team and she will evaluate Jacinda's speech delay to see if we can figure out what's going on.  Then Jacinda will be seen at the VPI Clinic.  VPI stands for Velopharyngeal Insufficiency, which means that air escapes through the nose during speech.  She will have a scope procedure to see if that is what's happening.  I hear that this procedure is not pleasant ...... they put a scope down her nose to the back of her throat (with no anesthesia) and then have her say certain sounds to see what the back of her palate is doing.  Depending on the results of that procedure, we will discuss our next steps.  Our next step will involve either another surgery, or specific speech therapy with a cleft-specialized   speech therapist.  The surgeries for these issues are fairly complicated and hotly debated in cleft circles.  I'm really hoping we can avoid even going there, honestly.


As you can see, Tuesday will be a big day for us.  We have given Jacinda's speech delay a lot of time to see if it improves and we are ready to get aggressive.  She starts preschool in September and we want her to be as successful as possible.  We had her IEP meeting earlier this week and she has made a lot of progress this year.  She also is clearly very bright, but we aren't seeing her true potential because she can't always express herself clearly.  I think her self-confidence will soar once her speech improves and we'll get a truer picture of her personality.


If you are the praying type, here are some specific things you could pray for:

• That all of us would be healthy for Tuesday's appts.  We had to cancel last time because both girls had strep and Aaron and I were pretty sick as well.
• That Jacinda would cooperate with the scope procedure.  It will not be pleasant, but it's so important.  I may have to promise to buy her a pony!
• That Aaron and I would maintain clear heads so we can discuss the best course of action for both girls.
• That I would remain calm and not overwhelmed throughout the long day.
• That the girls would be generally happy ..... it could be a very long day at the hospital.

I will definitely update once we know more.

This and That

Hmmm ... I should really start keeping a list somewhere of all the things I think of to blog about.  When I finally sit down to write a post, I can't think of a single thing!

Luke ~ He is recovering so well.  He heads back to school tomorrow, but he won't be able to do PE for a few days yet.  He has a follow-up appt. with his surgeon next Tuesday, which is when he'll be cleared for normal activity.  He's been eating burritos like crazy!  At least burritos are soft, and healthy!

He can't wait to be able to play T-ball again!  The season had just started and then he had surgery.  This is his first T-ball experience and he is excited!!!

Kenzi ~ She says more and more every day!  Her sleeping has been an issue.  She sleeps OK if she sleeps in our bed.  We don't mind it that much, but she moves around so much and we only have a Queen size bed.  So we aren't sleeping that great.  We're trying to get her to sleep longer in her bed.  Not to start a cry-it-out debate, but we don't let our kids cry.  Plus, with adopted-as-toddlers kids, we don't want to cause more trauma by not going to her when she cries.  So this is a pretty tricky situation.  The bottom line is that we all need to sleep better and sleep longer.  That's what our goal is.

Jacinda ~ The other night, her face had a run-in with the corner of her dresser.  Thankfully, there wasn't much blood.  Her plastic surgeon has told us to call him any time of the day or night if she needs stitches and he will meet us at the children's hospital.  Before I could get a good look at the cuts, I had it all already planned out in my head that we would call him, head to the hospital, and be there half the night, but thank goodness, we didn't need to do any of that!!!  She has 2 small cuts on her face and I'll treat them with Vitamin E once they fully heal just to minimize the chance of scarring.

Luke's Surgery

A few days ago, Luke had his tonsils and adenoids out.  He's been a real trooper.  He hates the Tylenol w/ Codeine, but he understands that it really does help.  Each day, he seems to feel a little better.  He's having a great time playing computer games, watching TV, and eating ice cream!

His teacher has been wonderful with sending work home for him.  She also had everyone in the class make a get well card for him!  His Report Card was EXCELLENT.  He had sort of a rough start with transitioning to Kindergarten and we're so proud of him for hanging in there and doing so well.

Kenzi ~ She is saying and signing new words every day.  I can't believe she has only been with us for a few months.  I can't really remember when she wasn't here!

Both girls see the Cleft Team on May 15.  Kenzi will have her palate repaired this summer.  Jacinda will have a scope procedure on May 15 to see if her palate is affecting her speech delay.  The results from that procedure will help us determine where we go from here.  There are a couple of different surgical options and a specific type of speech therapy is also an option.  We're so ready to find out our next path for Jacinda.