Baptism

We had Leila baptised yesterday. It was our 17th wedding anniversary. Instead of your typical long white flowy dress, we decided to have it done in a red silk dress that we'd bought her in China. (Nothing about getting/having her has been 'typical' so far - why should that be either?) Once she saw the water, it was all over. All she wanted to do from that point on, was play in it.

This is what we looked like 17 years ago. Oh, how we've changed.
And oh my, how different our lives are than what we could have ever imagined back then.

On another note, my computer crashed last week. I lost most of my email addresses. If someone is reading this that I normally email, please send me your address so I'll have it again. Thanks.

Adopted Again

We got our paperwork back in the mail on Friday. Leila is now 'officially' ours in the United States too! Although her adoption was finalized in China back in September, it's generally recommended to re-adopt her here in the States. Well, that was officially completed on January 29. (We didn't even have to go before a judge - which I thought we'd have to do.) We've now adopted her in 2 different countries.

Also, we got a letter yesterday telling us that her surgery has been rescheduled. Instead of March 6, it's now going to be April 3. At this point, I just want to get it over with.

I really don't know why we bother to buy her toys. Her favorite thing is still paper. She's also started getting into the cabinets now. The best cabinet is not the one with canned food or even the one with pots and pans. Noooooo, it's the one with napkins and paper plates.

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year (yesterday)!
2009 is the Year of the Ox.

We celebrated by having dinner at Pizza Hut with our International Adoption group. They're a great group of people, and like always, we had a good time. We had 5 little girls and 1 little boy there. This is the group of kids that came out to celebrate Chinese/Vietnamese New Year together.


We had lots of snow today, and we're getting ice tonight. (No school today or tomorrow.) The boys took Leila sled riding today. She didn't really mind being out in it, but she would NOT let them put her down in the actual snow. That just wasn't going to happen.

Tissues

This was what kept Leila entertained in the hotel while we were getting ready.

Sad News

It's good to be home again. We just spent a week in Cincinnati. David's dad passed away last Monday, so we've been out there. He went into the hospital between Christmas and New Years. Sadly, he did not make it back out. At one point, we thought he was going to get better, but that was not the case.
He leaves behind 5 or 6 children - 16, 20 or 22 grandchildren (depending on who and how you count them) - and 2 great-grandchildren.

Leila is especially glad to be home. She has apparently decided that she has a home, a room, and a bed - and she likes it. She likes to go, but she likes coming home even more. She's a baby that needs a lot of sleep. While we were gone, she just did not get enough. Since we've been back, she's been sleeping 15-16 hours a day. Having enough sleep makes all the difference in the world with her.
As for the rest of us, it seems that the 2 1/2 weeks in China has cured us all of the travel bug for awhile.

We got a letter from Children's Hospital last week. Leila's surgery is scheduled for March 6. I don't know the time, but at least I do know a date now. (That's all we know, but at least we do know that much.)

We have our post-placement adoption visit with the social worker coming up on Feb. 20. We're also in the process of re-adopting her in the US now. And her baptism is going to be Feb 15. It's going to be a busy month.

Christmas Pictures

These pictures are from Christmas. The first is Christmas Sunday. We were ready for church that morning. The next one is putting out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. The last one is of Leila with her stocking on Christmas morning.

Doctor Visit

Christmas went good. Leila liked it, but wasn't overly thrilled. She's getting better, but she still doesn't really know how to play with toys. We think it's because she probably never had any before. She has a few that she likes, but for the most part - she'd still rather play with paper than toys.
We went to Columbus yesterday for her 1st appointment for her mouth. It went much better than I expected, and I feel much better than I did beforehand. I was very impressed with them.
We were only there about 3 hours. (They had said to plan on all day.) One dr would go out and another would come in. It didn't take nearly as long as I thought it would.
They're supposed to call us to set up her surgery.
AND, I don't have to have her off the bottle. I thought I was going to have to take that away before the surgery. It's not that she's so overly attached to it, it's just that with not being able to suck, she would have to have a sippy cup w/o the no-spill thing in it. I think she would make a terrible mess, and I was worried about her getting enough to drink that way. I've tried the cup a few times, and she does NOT like it. But our dr said it didn't matter, the bottle will still be okay. Now, I can wait until after her surgery and then go to a regular sippy cup gradually.
AND, she doesn't have to be on a complete liquid diet afterwards - just soft foods for 2 weeks. He said nothing more than stage 2 baby food. We can do that. She won't be thrilled, but she'll survive. (I'm telling you, this kid LOVES to eat - anything and everything.) If she'd had to go with only liquids, she would have thought she was dying! We may have to hide from her when we eat, but so be it - at least she'll get to eat.
They also mentioned doing a lip revision at some point down the road - not sure when, but sometime in the future. I don't think her mouth looks bad, but they said they could make it look better. That's okay too. I'm sure when she hits those teenage years, she'll be glad.
I asked about the fact that she's not even attempting to talk yet. They said that it may be because she's been doing SO much catching up with her motor skills, that she's not able to totally concentrate on both that and the other at the same time. (Remember she couldn't even sit up when we got her in Sept - now she's walking.) She understands us and all, so now that she's sort of caught up with some of the other, she may start some with the speech. They said that if she isn't trying to talk in the next 3-6 months, we'll look at that again then. Otherwise, not to worry about it yet.
When they do the surgery it will only take about 2 hours. That's just amazes me. She's got a huge hole in her mouth. I mean, almost the whole roof of her mouth isn't there. And they're going to fix all that in 2 hours! Wow! She'll be in the hospital for 1 or 2 nights. Not too bad either.
I do feel better about it all - for now anyway. When they actually get ready to do it, that will probably change though. I know they do these all the time, but it's not MY baby then - this one will be.