The Doctor Is in

I meant to post this on Monday...or Tuesday...or yesterday, but it's been one of those weeks.  Let's just say that if you had visited my house yesterday afternoon, you would have found my child watching a full-length movie in the middle of day while I sat on the couch ordering everything that sounded remotely yummy from pizz*hut.com and stuffing my face with Dove chocolate.  Cuz that's how I roll when the dog rips open a bag of hot chocolate in the middle of the kitchen, and my nap-skipping child has a total meltdown on the living room floor (her nineteenth of the day) because I have to divert my attention from her for 47 seconds while I attempt to get chocolate powder out of my rug.

Try not to be jealous of my mad parenting skills.

Don't worry; this post gets happier.  A lot happier, actually.  Monday afternoon, Jeremy and I had an appointment with a pediatric hematologist to discuss Li'l Dude's health needs.  (If you're new to my blog, we are in the process of adopting two little boys from China.  Our younger son has a blood disorder called thalassemia.)  We scheduled this meeting to get a feel for this hematologist and to prepare our potential doctor (and us) for Li'l Dude's arrival in the fall.

I honestly didn't know what to expect going into this meeting.  I've gotten to "know" several moms of children with thalassemia online (because the internet is an amazing place).  Several of them have expressed concern over their doctor's familiarity with thalassemia and its treatment, as it's not very common here in the U.S.  (It occurs much more frequently in people of Asian or Mediterranean decent.)  I have to confess that I figured Podunk, Midwest was not the most promising place to find a doctor who was super comfortable with thalassemia.  I was totally wrong.

Dr. O was wonderful.  His office was welcoming and incredibly kid-friendly.  The nurse who brought us into the office pointed out a huge pile of toys, stopped to chat with a young patient on an IV, and brought us drinks.  Dr. O told us that, due to a large Burmese population, he sees a new thalassemia consult about every two weeks.  Wow.

Li'l Dude's file seems to indicate that he has a less serious type of thalassemia (called thal minor or thal trait).  His lab tests looked pretty good (although they clearly seemed to indicate that he does have thalassemia).  Also, he is growing well: chugging right along at the 3rd percentile on the U.S. growth charts.  (Just FYI...Chinese kiddos have their own charts, and he'd rank a little higher on one of those.) 

If it is truly the case that Li'l Dude has thal minor/trait, he will meet with Dr. O once.  You read that right: once.  Other than his initial check-up, his thalassemia shouldn't affect his life at all.  (At least not until he considers having children, at which time there will be some genetic issues to consider.)

While we're excited to hear that Li'l Dude's medical records look good, we're definitely taking this information in stride.  We're well aware that his medical records could be incomplete or inaccurate.  There's a chance that he has thalassemia major and is receiving blood transfusions.  If this is the case, his lab tests might look good just because they were done after a transfusion.  Which leads us to more good news.

Dr. O's office is set up to handle pretty much everything Li'l Dude might possibly need.  If he needs transfusions, they'll do it there.  (In fact, there was a young lady with thalassemia receiving her transfusion while we were in the office.)  Dr. O is familiar with thalassemia and seemed up-to-speed on the current standards of care.  There's also a hematologist from a big name children's hospital who specializes in thalassemia who visits the office every six months to offer a comprehensive clinic.

In other words, Li'l Dude appears to be doing well.  And, if he ends up having thalassemia major, it looks like he's in good hands.

We <3 Dr. O. 

Oh, and did I mention that he saw us for free?

The Newest Member of Our Family

No, we haven't gone crazy and decided to add kiddo #4 to our family.  (Not that it hasn't crossed my mind a time or two hundred.  How can it not when there are sweet little ones like Sam who wait. and wait. and wait?  And Laura - this girl breaks. my. heart.)

I need to rewind a little before I start telling you today's story.  It actually starts on our trip to California two weeks ago.  When Emma was about a year old, my sister adopted an adorable boxer named Sayher.

(See, she's even cute from behind. ;)  

Emma L.O.V.E.S. Sayher.  She loves feeding her.

Walking her.

Kissing her.

Emma + Sayher = Many happy hours of fun (for Em, at least)

So, two days after coming home from California, I log into Facebook and see this adorable picture.

A couple we know from college had accepted a job out-of-state and was hoping to find a new family for their ten-month-old boxer, Brinley.  One look at that adorable face, and I was pretty much sold.  Jeremy pretended not be sold, but he was.

So...on Monday evening, Brinley joined our family.  We all L.O.V.E. her.  She's sweet and mellow.  In fact, she spends a lot of her time doing this (when she's not being dragged around the house by a certain three-year-old).

You know, it's only fair for Emma to have another girl around since she's going to be surrounded by dirt, dinosaurs, and diggers sometime very soon.  Brinley will have to be that other girl (for now, at least... ;).

My Favorite Things

These are a few of my favorite things...

(Just FYI...there are some pictures you really, really, really want to see at the bottom of this post.)

Sweet girls with painted faces

My family...all in the same state

 

  

Hiking

 

The view from the top

Birthdays (Love you, Dad!)

MICKEY! :)

My hot husband (and the adorable girl on his shoulders)

Waking up to new pictures of our Little Man 

(Thank you, Deb!)

A Step in the Right Direction

I'm totally tempted to write this entire post in REALLY GIGANTIC, bright red, bold font, but I won't be that annoying. :)  Just know that if I could accurately express my current emotional state in a blog post, it would look something like  THIS!!! 

Today our home study arrived from our agency.  That means there is just one piece of paper left to collect before we can send our dossier (a.k.a huge stack of hard-won paperwork) to China (well, one piece of paper + a whole lot of official certificates, stamps, etc. from the Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of State).  The bad news is that one piece of paper is our approval from United States Immigr*tion, and it has been known to take a short eternity seven or eight weeks to arrive.  Please pray that our case would be processed quickly so we can send everything to China and take one giant step closer to our boys.

On that note, I know one big sister who is pretty excited for us to go get her brothers.  I took Li'l Miss shopping today to pick out a lovie for Li'l Dude's birthday.  (Yes, our SoCal trip put us a teeny bit behind on our birthday shopping.)  She insisted on picking out two lovies for her two brothers.  After laying out every boy-friendly lovie at B*bies 'R Us, she decided on these two: a giraffe for Li'l Man and a monkey for Li'l Dude. 

I haven't forgotten about posting vacation pics.  They'll be up by the end of weekend...really! 

I Miss You, Mountains

So when I promised to post pictures from our SoCal trip today, I should have considered the fact that I might have one or two things to do the day after flying home from a nine-day vacation.  (You know, things like dragging my jet-lagged self to Kr*ger at ten o'clock at night so that I could squeeze in a shopping trip to fill our seriously empty 'fridge before this week's specials end at midnight, only to discover as I'm ringing up my second item that I've been looking at the ad that starts tomorrow.  "I'm sorry, Miss Cashier, I won't be purchasing these 17 items."  Oops.)

You'll have to check back tomorrow (or Friday...or Saturday...or sometime really soon, I promise!) to see all my fun pics.  But, I'll share a quick sneak peek tonight.  We took a short hike our last day in SoCal.  Here's the view from the top.   We seriously need a few of these in the Midwest.

 

Happy Birthday, Li'l Dude!

Today is Li'l Dude's first birthday.  I SO wish he were home and I could have spent the last few weeks planning some sort of elaborate birthday celebration.  It makes me sad to think that today was probably just a day like any other in the orphanage.  

No candle.  No messy cake smashing.  No presents.

What hurts even more than the fact that Li'l Dude will miss out on the trappings of a first birthday party is the thought that there is no one special with him to rejoice today.  To gaze at his sweet little face and marvel at the miracle that is him.  To fill the hours with gifts and surprises born out of a heart that knows him and loves him more than words can say.

BUT...I am grateful that this is the very last birthday our son will ever spend away from him family.  Next year we can have a huge birthday bash, and our Li'l Dude will have a big brother and a big sister to fight over presents celebrate with him.  And, hopefully sometime much sooner than March 20, 2013, Li'l Dude will be in our arms and part of our family forever.

This year, our younger son gets two great presents for his birthday.  One is from his big sister.  The girl who absolutely can't survive without her lovie (a.k.a. rabbit-headed silky blanket) is picking out a special lovie for her brother that we'll take to China with us.  His other present was a surprise to all of us.

Our social worker called today to say that our home study is finally finished!!!

Just had to put that in gigantic letters because her call totally made. my. day.  She said she'd put the final copy in the mail tomorrow, so we should be able to have it off to U.S. Immigration on Friday.  

WOOHOO!!!

Alright, I have been up since 4:00 and on a plane all day (stop back tomorrow to see SoCal pics) so I need to go to bed.  I just couldn't let this day pass without wishing this beautiful boy a happy birthday!  I wish he could know how much he is already loved.

Li'l Miss Shortcut

I left the house earlier today with this little girl.

Does anybody recognize the pixie who came home with me?