No News Is Good News!

You wonder where I have been the last 5 months? We have been rocking along just fine here in Shreveport. One of my friends said she was still waiting to see if Ian had recovered from his surgery! After a couple of people recently asked me when I was going to return to my blog, I decided to take some time to give a little update, with the goal of doing it at least once a month, if not more.

For starters- Ian did recover from his surgery with flying colors! We just had a checkup at Shriners last week, and everything looked good. School continues to go well, and I'm starting to think about summer school. It's usually 1/2 day for about 6 weeks. We joined a gym in January so Ian can swim year around now. He really loves it, and it's his main form of exercise in the winter. He and Brian swim twice a week while I work out upstairs, and Olivia goes to child care or kid fit, which is her own workout class. It's been so good for Ian, and he LOVES the water. His overall development seems to be about the same, with maybe a little progress. The summer is so much better for us so that he can get some stimulation from outside- swinging on his tire swing, riding his tricycle, swinging on the proch swing, or just listening to the outdoor sounds around him. He starts his horse riding lessons next month, and he really likes that too.


Olivia is doing great. She is getting more social all the time, depending on the setting and who is vying for her attention. Women and kids continue to have the best luck, but she is getting a little less intimidated by men all the time. She loves church and school, and is often carried around by my friends and their kids. Her favorite thing is for her Baba (Daddy) to give her bubbles (gum)! It is the first thing she says when he walks in the door after work. I'm not sure exactly how she got started on bubbles, but I do know her Memi (my mom) was the first one she started going to for it. She also loves to cook! Santa brought her a kitchen, and she cooks rice in her kitchen every day. She also received a mixer, so when I make cookies, she wants to be in the real kitchen with me on the barstool using her mixer to mix her real sugar and flower. It's a test of patience for me! I have told many people about her treats for Santa, but I must include it here too, even though it was 3 months ago. I have had a Christmas plate and cup for years that say "Cookies for Santa" and "Milk for Santa". I decided to get those out this year, and let Olivia leave something for Santa to snack on. She insisted that he wanted rice and chocolate milk! One other thing she loves to do is watch movies. Every day she wants to watch a full scale movie. Although we have a few now and are getting more as gifts all the time, she continues to beg for Happy Feet. I have to admit it is my favorite too, but we have seen it enough times to last a life time!

Brian has been traveling quite a bit lately but thankfully he is planning to be home all this week. Although trucking has really been hit hard, there are some new projects coming along. It's great for business of course, but not so great for me! Luckily, we do have a couple of sitters who are wonderful and can come help me out when he's away. They have been lifesavers!

We just returned last night from visiting Brian's mom in Tahlequah. We finally wisened up and got a DVD player for the car. WOW, the return home was the best we've ever had!! Ian seems to enjoy watching (listening to) movies too. I even got to take a little nap myself!

Well, my free time is up in 15 minutes, when Ian gets off the bus, so I guess that's all I have time for right now. I will try to get some new pictures on tomorrow.

Hope everyone is well! Take care!

Leah

So Far So Good. . . .

Ian is doing great! So far, things have gone really well. He is pretty content during the day and isn't even on pain medicine except for at night, which is partly for him and partly for us so we can all sleep! Brian's mom and aunt left Thursday morning after taking Olivia to school, and we checked out of the hospital that afternoon. My parents arrived late Thursday night. I think the biggest challenge right now is maneuvering Ian from one place to the other and dealing with his weight, it being awkward, and trying to keep his legs elevated. Plus, we're going to be bound to the house for who knows how long. Yikes!! I'm afraid the days are going to get a little long. If he can go to school next week, that would make the next few weeks seem a lot less daunting. We'll see how it goes though. His appointment to remove the casts is November 13th, so we'll be marking each day off the calendar for sure!

Oliva has had a great time with her grandparents and great aunt, so that's been a lifesaver! My parents haven't made a definite plan as to when they'll go home, but they will definitely be here until Tuesday. Also, Brian is going out of town Monday (tomorrow) but he'll be back Tuesday. Several people from church have offered to help out, and that is also a comfort.

I better go check on Ian. He enjoys being outside, so he's out on a lounger next to his Pops. He also got to go out in the wagon today. Hopefully the weather will stay nice this week, although we could sure use some rain.

Hope everybody has a good week! We're praying for one too!

Leah

Drink Ian Drink!

Ian seems to be feeling fairly well today. He's still on all his pain medicine, but we aren't giving him an extra jolt of it as often as we were, so that's good. The main problem we're having is that he won't eat or drink. They cut back the fluids coming through his IV in the hopes that he will start to get thirsty. They also gave him something for nausea in case that's the problem. Hopefully, he will at least start to drink this afternoon. When he does that, they can get rid of the IV, and he can start taking his meds by mouth. So, that's where we are. Brian stayed the night last night, and it went pretty well. He went home to sleep for a couple of hours when I arrived this morning at 6:30, and came back later. We had lunch and are just waiting for Ian to "get thirsty". It's still too early to guess when we will be able to go home. I'm hoping for tomorrow, but it's looking more like Friday.

Olivia is on the shopping trail again today- maybe looking for something to wear in her school picture tomorrow. Brian's mom and aunt leave tomorrow, and my parents should arrive here late tomorrow night.

Will post again when we start eating and drinking.

Leah

Out of Surgery

All has gone well so far today. I stayed the night last night, and things started getting underway about 5:30 this morning. Brian got here about 6:15. The only hiccup was when Ian wouldn't take his morning meds. He fought it all the way, but we ended up getting about half of it down. Apparently it was enough to get him calm and relaxed so that putting in the IV was not too bad. They had some difficulty getting it in but not because he was uncooperative. He did great.

They took him for surgery around 8:00, and he just arrived back in our room a few minutes ago. (It's 11:05.) They put three screws and a plate in each foot. These will be permanent unless there is a problem with them later on down the road. Of course he has the casts on but is still completely out of it. He has plenty of constant pain medication and has a pump if he seems to need additional relief. He awakened only a second or two and then went back to sleep. Anyway, all is going well, and we'll just wait and see as the day goes along. Hopefully he won't be too terribly agitated when he wakes up. So far so good!

Olivia has been having a great time shopping with her grandmother and great aunt. They came up last night for dinner, and then returned home about bedtime. Today is school for her, but they had so much fun shopping yesterday, I think they're back out shopping again instead. They'll probably come again after her nap. She has done great!

Brian is staying the night tonight, which will definitely be a tougher night than last. We still assume we'll be here until Thursday. The'll keep monitoring him, probably try to get him on his feet at some point, and rewrap his legs in a day or two- after the risk of swelling has lessened.

I think that's it. I better get back in there.

Leah

Moving Into Fall

I love this time of year! Sometimes I think it's my favorite season. Although the days are still warm here in Louisiana, it's cool in the evenings. We camped out last weekend, which both kids loved, and the weather was perfect.

Ian's school is moving right along. It seemed to take awhile though. Right after it started, they had a day or two out and then when hurricane Gustav came through, they were out for three days. Anyway, he seems to continue to like it, and he's always ready to jump on the bus every morning. We're now starting to think more about his surgery coming up- a week from today. We check in at Shriners (which coincidentally is just minutes from our house) at 9:00 am on Monday the 6th and he has the procedure at 7:00 am on Tuesday. I don't think I know any more about it than I did since my last post, except they say there tends to be more discomfort where the bone was removed than where they graft it and fuse the tendons. I really don't have any idea what to expect, but we're looking forward to it (well, getting it done and out of the way!) and hopefully all will go smoothly. However, Ian's not a big fan of tubes and such. When his stomach procedure was done in May, they had to resedate him, reinsert the tubes, and put splints on his arms to keep him from jerking them out. That's a little tough to watch, but we just shed a little tear or two and then quickly refocus and look ahead to the final outcome and the great results we're going to achieve. Hopefully, we'll all still be in one piece when it's all said and done! And Ian will have straight ankles! Also, Shriners seems to be a fabulous place. Of course it's kid oriented, and very cheery- great open areas to play inside and out. I'm sure Olivia will enjoy it! However, I must say it used to make me a little sad (teary eyed) when we would go for Ian's appointments- kids with so many challenges everywhere you look- but I haven't felt that way in a long time. What I do notice now is all the tough families from all over the world who are stepping up to the challenges and doing it in a positive way! It's not a "big deal"; it's just what you do. . . and do happily most of the time! We'll keep you posted, and don't forget to put all four of us, but mostly Ian, on your prayer list.

As for Olivia, her little world is also going great! She LOVES "school", and we've started going to the library for story time twice a week. She was so excited to start school. We put the calendar up on the friges to count down the days, and one morning before her first day she evidently thought she was supposed to get on the bus with Ian. The first thing I knew she had her purse and shoes on. It wasn't until we put the door down and went back in the house that she started to get upset and point at the bus- which was way down the street by now. She didn't understand why she didn't get to get on. After all, we had just been talking about it for at least a couple of weeks! Finally, her day came, and of course she wanted to wear her backpack, which is as big as she is. She marched right across the parking lot and into her classroom. She didn't shed a tear or even look back at me! I might as well have been on the moon! It seemed to be more traumatic for me than her! I was thrilled and proud she did so well, but no hug or wave- much less a kiss. As I drove home on that first day, I thought about how far she has come in just 6 months- a little over actually. It's incredible to think about how terrified she was those first few days in Thailand- either crying and looking for her shoes or shutting down completely and sleeping through the transition. But, back to her school experience, even now, once she sees the inside of her room, her attention is zeroed in on what's going on in there, not on what Mom's doing! Maybe I need to be more careful of what I wish for! Actually, it's a great to see her spread her wings! She's been a blessing for sure.

With that said, I think I better get to bed.

Leah

End of Summer Wrap-Up

It's been a great summer! However, I am definitely looking forward to a little bit of down time! Ian started school this morning. He wasn't ready to get up by any means, but by the time the bus came at 7:25 he was ready to roll! Olivia slept through the whole thing, which made it easier too.

We finished up the summer by going to Gulf Shores with my parents, brother and family, and my grandmother. We all had a great time, and it was a wonderful opportunity for us to spend time together! Since our family lives in Oklahoma, we don't see them for extended periods. Also, my parents were celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, so it was a great celebration of their years together.

Olivia is doing great! She will be starting a mother's day out program in a couple of weeks. I don't foresee any problems. She stays with the sitter fine and now goes to Bible class and children's worship by herself. It took awhile for her to stay in Bible class, but one day after we dropped Ian off at his class and asked her if she was ready to go by herself, she said yes and hasn't looked back since! Her speech is coming along- slowly- but in the right direction. She is a big talker, but the majority of what she says we can't understand! I think it must be Thai babble. She does say several English words though and is starting to put two words together with prompting. Another interesting thing she does is when she writes her letters, they still look like the Thai alphabet. I don't think they're really letters of their alphabet, but her scribble letters look distinctly Thai.

The day we left for Gulf Shores Ian had an appointment at Shriners Hospital, which luckily is located about 15 minutes from our house. That morning of the appointment we scheduled him for surgery October 7th. He will be having grafts (with bone being taken from his hip) on the outside of both of his ankles, and they will also fuse ligaments (I think it is ligaments.) on the inside of both ankles. He will be in the hospital the 6th-9th and will come home with casts for 6 weeks. We have known this surgery was coming and were not too surprised to be told we could do it now. We've been waiting for his bones to mature. Of course we hate to have to have the surgery ,but it will be wonderful having this problem fixed. He is such a precious boy and having to watch him go through this will be difficult, no doubt. Hopefully, they will make him as comfortable as possible. I'm sure we will step up the posts as the procedure gets closer.

It looks like someone is getting hungry for breakfast. She has been very patient as I write, which isn't always the case! Have a great day, and I hope the first days of school go well for all our kids. It's an exciting time for them (and us!).

Leah

I'm Now Two Years Old!

Miss Olivia just celebrated a major milestone last weekend- July 5th- by turning two! We honored her big achievement by having a party with our families in Oklahoma the end of June, and then a smaller party on the fifth here in Shreveport. She did great, and although she was more interested in playing with her cousin Jade's cell phone at first, she quickly learned that the gift thing could be pretty good too! It was wonderful to be able to celebrate her second birthday (and the first birthday as a member of our family) alongside her grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!

The summer is moving right along, and it has been a good one for us so far. Ian is in summer school, and has also been taking swimming lessons. He LOVES the water, and is very independent when he's in the pool. Swimming and swinging are his two favorite activities. He is doing great with his new sister despite the fact that he somehow manages to find a fist full of her hair from time to time. I think she must have an especially tough head because she rarely cries when it happens. Back to the swimming- Olivia of course goes to the swimming lessons too, and she does pretty well. On the first day though, I turned around and she had pulled her shorts down in front of everyone and was waiting to put her suit on too! Fortunately, when she realized she wouldn't be swimming, she was okay with it and was willing to sit on the edge of the pool and watch. She's a pretty good girl most of the time!

Today we dropped Ian off at school, and Olivia and I drove on to Brian's office to see him for a minute and let his co-workers see her. Several have followed along through our adoption process and seem to enjoy seeing "the outcome" in person. She did well, and several commented on how much she has come out of her shell since their first time to see her. It is wonderful to see the progress she is making! She will be attending "school"- a mother's day out program- this fall, and I think she will love it. Just last Sunday we were able to leave her in her Sunday school class by herself. She was also able to stay in her class Wednesday night too. She didn't cry either time, so I think we have turned a corner there!

Well, I'm going to try to include few pictures before Olivia wakes up, which could be any minute. As always, I have the best intentions to write again soon, but time gets away from me. It sometimes just takes someone to comment on how long it's been since I've posted, and that spurs me on!

Leah