June 12,
2008
Hi Everyone,
It is hard to believe that another month has already come and
gone!
We have had a busy month! Sophia continues to grow and learn new
things each day! She had found a love of books! It warms my
heart to see
her sit down and "read" her favorite books. Her favorite books
are:
Goodnight Moon, Brown Bear, Brown Bear What do you See?, and a
book
about shapes and colors. She will sit and name each animal,
color, and
shape that she sees. She loves the part in Goodnight Moon where
the the
little old lady is whispering "hush"! She puts her finger to her
mouth
when we read this part! Too cute!! We are working on learning
her
body parts. We have only learned the parts on our head so far!
We think Sophia is going to be a talker like her Mommy! She is
always talking or singing. She is always pointing to new things
in her
environment for us to name for her! Once we tell her what the
new thing
is called, she will remember it. We bought her water table to
play
with outside. She really enjoys playing in it! Graham loves it
too!
Sophia is becoming such a big girl! She is able to put herself
to
sleep at naptime each day. She lays on our bed with all of her
books,
her favorite blanket, and of course her monkey! Daddy made that
Monkey for her in October of 2006 to celebrate our paperwork
making it to
China! She is just beginning to put herself to sleep at bedtime.
We are
not sure how the surgery will effect her sleeping habits. We are
keeping our fingers crossed!
We went to a park in West Chester over Memorial Day weekend. She
had so much fun playing with her Daddy and little brother. She
went
down the slide for the first time and tried out the swings too!
She
loved it! We also went to Ducth Wonderland for the first time.
Sophia did
not like any of the rides. She cried on each ride, but she loved
the
water park and had a great time playing with Graham in the
water!
We met with the cleft palate team on May 15th. The team includes
the specialists who will be working with Sophia. Sophia had her
ears
checked and has a mild hearing loss. It is not uncommon for
children
with cleft palate to have fluid in their ears which causes mild
hearing
loss. She will have tubes put in her ears. Sophia's palate
surgery is
scheduled for July! The pediatric dentist at the hospital told
us that
we should have Sophia's teeth cleaned so Sophia made her first
trip to
the dentist. Dr. McKee was great! He cleaned Sophia's teeth and
gave
her a new toothbrush. Sophia loves to brush her teeth! We also
met
with the geneticist who recommended we have a chromosome test
done on
Sophia due to her multiple special needs. This will be done when
the
pre-op testing is done at the hospital.
We called the early intervention specialists from our county to
come and evaluate Sophia. We are hoping that she will receive
speech
therapy as a result of the evaluation. She needs to have a 25%
deficit in
order to qualify! We were happy to find out that Sophia
qualifies for
speech and language therapy! We have one more meeting with the
early
intervention team to discuss and create appropriate goals for
her
speech and language plan.
Sophia went into the hospital June 11th (yesterday)! Her first
procedure was today. She has been a real trooper! She had a tube
placed
in her nose so they could administer the go-lyte to clean out
her
system. She pulled the first one out, so they had to put in
another one!
She didn't like that very much! She also had an IV put in and
during
the night it fell out. They had to put another IV in early this
morning! Neither Sophia or I got much sleep last night. As you
all know,
Sophia is not too fond of a crib with all four sides. The crib
here is
more like a cage than a crib. Therefore, Sophia preferred to
sleep on me
instead of in the crib/cage. The policy here is that children
cannot
sleep in the fold out bed if the parent is asleep so I held her
all
night and stayed awake. This morning at 8:30 AM we headed down
to pre-op.
I meet with the surgeon, anesthesiologist, and nurses. I signed
all
the releases and then they took Sophia away on
the gurney(sp?). It was hard to see her wheeled away, but I knew
she
was in great hands. Dr. Barth put tubes in Sophia's ears. He
said she
had a little fluid behind her ears, but it was clear. That means
there was no infection. I will schedule a follow-up with him in
a few
weeks. Dr. Vinocur finished Sophia's surgery around 11 AM. He
came out to
tell us that Sophia did great! Her colostomy bag was successful!
We
feel very blessed that Dr. Vinocur took such good care of our
Sophia!!!
We are so thankful that we have such a wonderful hospital so
close to
our home that is able to provide Sophia with the medical care
she
needs. We are so proud of how brave our little princess has been
over the
past couple of months!
We feel so blessed to have Sophia in our family! We love and
cherish every minute we spend with her. She truly amazes us! She
is such a
happy and special little girl who brings so much joy to our
family of
four! We love you Sophia! Your smile lights up our home along
with
your little brother's smile! |
My brother and me!
Playing in the park with Daddy!
The Princess and her castle!
Having a dutchwonderful day!
Daddy's team getting ready for the season!
Enjoying our ride together!
All ready for surgery! |
