I am back part 1!

And no I did not fall off a cliff!

Sorry..I abandoned my blog! Hopefully there is someone still out there who will read this post :) I never intended to abandoned my blog. One week just turned into one month and so on! What can I say I have 4 kids, one with medical needs and sometimes I just run out of time, feel like I am exhausted or just get into a rut with managing my time. All three have applied since my last posting.

The past few months Lauran has blossomed quite a bit. She rarely has tantrums and is speaking sentences...which is probably why she is not been having as many tantrum's! Communication has definitely improved. Her and Megan play (most of the time) very nicely together! She has been eating us out of house and home. She does have a few dislikes but I tell people that most of the time she eats more like a grown man than a 3 year old...chili, steak, ribs. Unfortunately, a high meat diet, because of the iron, is not the best with her disorder. I was told at this point, it would be too difficult to try and control it so not too give it too much worry!

Her transfusions the past few months ....until last weeks(more on that later), have been going like clock work. She is completely compliant, she even gives the nurse her hand for the IV, she plays, she eats, has no complications and we go home! Her iron levels are starting to get too high so we are in the process of starting meds to reduce her iron. Iron overload is the main side effect to frequent transfusions. If the iron is not removed she can have liver and eventually heart damage.

The other issue we are dealing with is her dental problems. She has an estimated 14 cavities! It is suggested, because of the amount of work needed, to do it in a hospital setting and put her under anesthesia..but our med. insurance denied coverage for the hospital portion of the bill...so long story short we had a second opinion and are trying to appeal.

Overall though things with Lauran are going well. She is super independent, loves to copy everything Megan does, has the cutest belly laugh, and tolerates all she goes through medically with a lot of courage. We feel blessed to have her in our family and even though she has only been with us 6 months, it really does feel like she has always been in our family! Thank you Lord!

Stay tuned for part 2 : I will be back with more on Lauran's last transfusion, and updates on the rest of us...oh and some pictures too! Let just say this past week consisted of hives, a transfusion appt. that lasted almost 8 hours and H1N1!!

Support a GREAT Cause!!

Wild Olive is a wonderful company that sells T-Shirts that showcase God's word in a a very creative way! This month they have launched a new Children's line for boys and girls! They have also chosen to donate 25% of the proceeds from the sale of the children's t-shirt called chosen to a wonderful charity called Love without Boundaries.

LWB mission: "Love Without Boundaries Foundation is a worldwide group of volunteers dedicated to improving the lives of orphaned and impoverished children in China.They provide humanitarian aid in six key areas-medical, education, nutrition, special assistance, healing homes and foster care-enabling children to receive a family through adoption or to become self-sustaining members of their communities."

(click HERE to find out more about this charity).

This organization is obviously close to my heart!! So click here to check out their shop or click on either of the new buttons I added on my sidebar and make a difference in the life of an orphan!!

A great tranfusion...if there is such a thing :)

In the world of transfusions...everything went really well. Lauran was in a great mood and really cooperative for the exam that the Nurse Practitioner usually "tries" to perform on her. She even answered some questions...like "where are Lauran's ears?" Usually it is all crying and/or screaming!

Her hemoglobin wasn't any lower than usual which surprised me...she was so tired the 2 days leading up to her transfusion that I really thought it would have been lower. Also her iron levels have stayed very stable so far and are still slightly under the cut off of needing to give her medication to reduce her iron. At some point they still need to do a liver biopsy or MRI to check iron level in her liver but we are not at the point of needing to do that yet....which is good!!

So here is a little she said, I said for y'all.....not that I am southern or anything.....just wanted to say that :) The nurse taking care of us this month asked at one point how it is going (health wise) now that Lauran has been transfused a few months. I said "good...she just doesn't feel good the week leading up to the transfusion". Then she said..."Oh will she need this long term, like for the rest of her life?"Then I said ...."yes, the only cure is a bone marrow transplant." Then she said "Wow, that is heavy" and I thought to myself...it sort of is a little bit when you use the words "the rest of her life" So even though it is starting to become a normal routine for us, I still have moments that make me ponder all the many medical things that Lauran will deal with routinely, throughout her life. Yes they will be a routine, but I am sure at times it will seem like a lot still for her. Watching her deal with so much fatigue this month made me think too about the future....when she has to deal with school, activities and so forth. I also thought about her life in China, when they were transfusing her every 6 weeks and how she must have felt for those 2 weeks when her hemoglobin went down below 10. She has gone through a lot and she is a very brave little girl!!!

And finally we did fit in some makeover fun, but I haven't uploaded the photos yet. When we did it she was starting to get really tired so it didn't last long....she just wanted to lay and watch TV. She never did quite fall asleep though ...the place was really loud this month. The infusion clinic is just a big room with recliner chairs and curtain dividers. A few patients decided to have loud TV's. Anyways...all went smoothly and hopefully I will get a couple pictures posted soon....even though they are not the greatest pictures....the lighting was not too great and she was tired. Oh well!

Misc. Thoughts

This week is Lauran's transfusion and I am very interested to see what her Hemoglobin is at prior to transfusing. She has followed her usual pattern the week leading up to her transfusion. She has gotten lethargic this week, has had less of an appetite and is more picky about food, and at times is very moody. She has had a couple of extreme tantrums too. She was doing a lot better this month with the tantrums so she is I am thinking she is just more easily set off due to not feeling well. This afternoon she came home from her hearing test(which she passed with flying colors) and she crawled through the door into the house. She would not stand up. She looked so worn out...and that is with a 2 hour nap today. She actually asked for a nap the pass few days! Her energy seem worse than last month so I am curious if maybe she is lower at the 4 week mark than last month. We will see!

We are planning on trying out some new fun to keep Lauran busy at the hospital this month! A cyber friend of mine who has a little boy from China with Thalassemia gave me a great idea. She suggested I do manicure/makeover stuff ...and I wonder why I hadn't thought of it myself. Lauran LOVES that sort of thing!! So hopefully she will have fun!! So check back for some "princessy" (OK...I don't think that is a really a word....but you get the point!) photos to be posted soon. I tried out the dress up stuff with the girls last week...so I have posted a preview! I will get a close up next time so you can see the makeup better... they have lip gloss and eye shadow on :)

Lauran received some new dress up clothes for her b-day from her aunt Kristi.....that she even shared...and tried out with the makeup :)

On the brighter side ...my sweetie is picking up words like crazy! She uses English now to ask for things ...which helps a lot! Ironically, even though we use the word dog all the time...even prior to getting the puppy...she still uses the Chinese name for dog(gou-gou). And she still refers to herself as Tian -Tian. I almost feel bad that I changed her name. She responds to Lauran but calls herself Tian! Anyways...my favorite is still..I LUB YOU! Which she learned right away in China and says about 20 times at bed time!

As far as the puppy goes....I plead temporary insanity!! Just kidding :) House training, however...... well it stinks....literally!! Luckily it is nice out and we are outside, so we keep her out a lot. We have had more than enough accident indoors though! The kids(minus Ryan) love her though. She is a very playful and cuddly dog too! I know in the long run it will be great for them. Ryan does tolerate her pretty well.....considering all he is dealing with in his mouth:(

Doctors and Dentists and Driving...Oh My....

......and now add a vet to the list :) More on that in a minute!

My summer thus far can be summed up with those three words! Trips to the doctor, the dentist and more time driving in the van than I ever thought I could do in a few months. The doctor visits are obviously mostly Lauran. She has had several transfusions, blood draws, an EKG and Echo, an eye exam and will soon have a hearing test. Recently though, she has had her 1st dentist appt. I definitely had concern about her teeth from the get go. The 1st brushing in China was not pretty. So last week she had her first dental exam. She was not interested in letting them in her mouth. I am sure she thought they were going to do something painful and horrible....and really they just wanted to look around. They managed to get in there long enough to determine she has at least 12 cavities and some are so decayed they may need capping. In order to evaluate her completely, and do all the work with out traumatizing her, they are going to send her to Children's to go under. They will do all the x-rays and the work all at once. It will probably wait till the fall...they have to coordinate everything with Insurance first.

Pretty soon she will have pearly whites to match her beautiful bright smile.....that she was so kind to show off for me on my birthday yesterday :)

Other Dentist visits are for Ryan, who got his 1st set of braces on his top teeth today. He also needed something called a crib...which almost looks like a metal gate hanging from the roof of his mouth. The crib is to correct something called tongue thrusting. He apparently has to wear it with the braces for 12 months. It really impairs his ability to talk and chew and I am having a hard time figuring out how he will get used to it(which they say he will). He is not too thrilled to say the least and is very worried about the kids teasing him....once school starts. You can definitely see it and he is very aware that his speech sounds very different. He will have to have another full set at some point, once these are off too..poor guy! He has a pretty complicated mouth.....with some major bite issues that could actually need surgery when he is older. I feel so bad for him.

But he did let me get a cute picture of him sporting his red and blue braces...and said yes I can put it on my blog:)




As far as the vet goes...well we got a puppy today! Unfortunately that made Ryan's day even worse..since he really doesn't like dogs at all...and is pretty scared of bigger dogs(due to some bad incidents when he was younger. This one should only get to about 15lbs. and is so laid back and completely mellow though....I told him God knew what kind of dog he needed, so we will see...hopefully he will learn to like her...cuz she is so cute and she really is sweet. The other 3 are thrilled though!! She sort of came along unexpected and Nathan has really been wanting a dog!! I said what the heck...the house is already a zoo what can one little dog do :)

Megan came up with her name. She named her after a Backyardigan character from Nick JR TV :)
So here is Tasha..the newest member of the family!














She is 4 months old...and crawls right up to Nate to cuddle!! She is Lhasa apso and Bishon mix!

And the driving of course come along with all the appts. and activities. It is way more crazy busy this summer than I had imagined. I struggle to keep things balanced..but who doesn't..right! God has been teaching me a lot about cherishing the moment in front of me with my kids. I have watched all 3 kids really bond with Lauran and it is amazing to see that happen. The boys are great big brothers to both girls and Megan has started to come out of her shell this summer. Lauran has become a Daddy's girl ...which is not only adorable, but very helpful to have her want to go to Todd. She still calls him Ba Ba....which is Chinese for Daddy. Anyways...that sums up my summer thus far. Doctors, Dentists and Driving...Oh My! Oh and now vets!

Lauran's Reality

The week leading up to Lauran's transfusion I really thought about her reality in regards to her blood disorder. I think because it seems as though we have gotten a firmer pattern on how often her transfusions will be needed and I can see more clearly how that will effect her life! I do not want to over dramatize it...I know there are SO many children with illnesses or disorders that are so much more debilitating than Lauran's. Hers takes a lot of maintenance and monitoring but is not life threatening. There are medical issues that need to be closely monitored...such as her iron overload, which at some point can threaten her health. However, to stay in good health she is completely dependant on getting blood every 4 weeks. Although she can't process the scope of that, I have begun to learn how close to the front of her mind the process of getting a transfusion truly is for her. She plays the process out almost every day...something I saw even more this weekend( more on that in a minute)! She will always deal with days of not feeling great due to being anemic. She will visit many doctors and have many tests through out her life that most children never will. Anyways, my point is just that Lauran's reality is different than other kids and I guess my mind sort of fixated on that for a few days. I am so thankful God chose us to walk this journey with her!



So I thought I would try and take pictures of Lauran's day at the hospital on Thursday....if she allowed me to do so. It is a part of her life so I wanted to get some pictures of it. Last month she really was unhappy most of the time. She refused to eat and really wanted nothing to do with her toys or the TV. She just wanted me to hold her so I scrapped the picture idea. This month she did so well. They had to try 3 times for a vein..and she only fussed a little bit!! I couldn't believe it! They still rewarded her with a new Barbie ..which thrilled Lauran :) She also played (she loved bringing her new backpack and Polly pockets)and ate and SMILED! Her first smile during a transfusion! She still had her moments..but who wouldn't! It was a 6 hour day at the hospital...and almost 4 hours of being hooked up to the IV.



OK...so back to her having her transfusions on her mind. On the 4th of July we went to a local park for fireworks. Lauran loved them...but about 8-10 minutes into them she starts to get a little bored ....you know, shes seen one fireworks, shes seen them all, attitude! She starts being a little silly and playing with her glow stick we bought for each child. Nathan is laying by her on his back on the blanket watching the beautiful and loud fireworks. I look over and Lauran has turned away from the fireworks, towards Nathan, and starts going through the entire process of getting poked with a needle on his ankle.....including tapping his leg hard to find the vein. Then pretends to screw on the glow stick(I am assuming that was supposed to be the tubing they use for the transfusion). This is something she does with all the kids at home all the time....minus the glow stick. I guess I was just shocked and saddened a little that she was thinking about it when we are in the middle of a fun activity. Maybe it just seemed odd that is what she picked to do during the fireworks when she was bored. Not get up and run around or fling the glow stick in the air or maybe goof around with Nathan...but she decides to give him a transfusion. Most kids saw the glow stick as a necklace, bracelet or a Frisbee......Lauran saw it as medical tubing. THAT, is her reality!! Maybe she just thinks it is fun to re-enact it.....I really have no clue. From my vantage point, it just seems like she thinks about it an awful lot!!

Ok ...so here are the pictures from Lauran's day at the hospital...in slide form again! It is so much easier to do a lot of pictures that way!

4 week transfusion schedule is a keeper

Lauran will be having her transfusion this week. Her hemoglobin was in the high 9's early this week so we kept the appt. we had scheduled for tomorrow. We were hoping maybe we may be able to stretch it to 5 weeks. In addition to checking her hemoglobin each week they also do another test ....which at the moment I can't remember the name ....which checks how hard her bone marrow is working to make new blood cells. As her blood gets lower that number gets higher. When your bone marrow works too hard it begins to stretch out your bones and can cause them to become brittle. So they want to transfuse at a point where her bone marrow doesn't go into overdrive for too long. That test and her hemoglobin test were both in the range on Monday that they feel she should stay on a 4 week transfusion schedule. The good news is that we will no longer be doing the weekly blood test. I believe we may need to do one blood draw in between transfusions but I need to double check that for sure. She is doing so much better with getting the needle pokes though!! She barely fused this week when we had to do the blood draw! A huge answer to prayer!!

So tomorrow is another long day at Children's!! Lauran has definitely been showing signs over the last week of being anemic. She has had less of an appetite and definitely more sleepy. Last month she was very restless during the transfusion. I am hoping our recent purchase with birthday money of a new video and polly pockets will help!! I can only hope:)

FYI

My post below I added a slide show with music.....the music plays automatically and doesn't stop on it's own. There is a volume control on the slide show where you can mute it if you want it to stop. Just thought I would let you know in case you do not want to listen to the same song over and over.

Looking back at June!

So as I mentioned, if you read my last post, Lauran turned 3 on the 24th. We mostly celebrated on Father's Day. It was a last minute decision to do it on Sunday. I knew I just wanted to have a quiet one with just us but I was hoping to be more organized about it. Saturday night it had dawned on us that the week was super busy and on the evening of her birthday Ryan had a baseball playoff game. So Sunday we went out to lunch after church. We were then going to go to a beach but it had clouded over and the kids actually wanted to stay home and try out the new pool we set up. It is just one of those smaller quick set pools with a filter but they were thrilled. It is big enough for the 4 of them to have fun and splash around....and it fits on the patio...which was priority # 1 for Todd :) Anyways so that was it and then Lauran opened her presents and had frosting...I mean cake! She seemed to really get into the whole singing "Happy Birthday" to her and blowing out the candles. She knew just what to do! I have no idea if they celebrated birthday's in the orphanage or not...but she seemed to "get it"!

So our summer has had busy start with many activities. Ryan's Baseball just ended last week..they lost their 2nd playoff game:( This past month he did a week of baseball camp and a week of basketball camp. He also does basketball 3 days a week in the morning all summer. Nathan is trying tennis this summer and so far he likes it (he doesn't really like sports much). He also is involved in an outdoor hiking program. They learn about camping and roughing it in the woods. Megan is in a summer preschool program twice a week through park and rec. and evening gymnastics. The boys will also have golf lessons later this summer! And Lauran just hangs with me and is 100% alright with that! OK....I know that it sounds like A LOT. I really wanted them busy. The alternative is me nagging them to get off electronics and go out side. Most of it is in the morning so we still have time in the afternoon to do the pool or just hang out. Amazingly, all the activities are spaced out pretty good. They are all enjoying them too!

Because of our recent trip to China, finances and time do not allow us to do a family vacation this summer....other than a trip we will be taking in Aug. to see family in MN. So we decided to try and do as many things around the area this summer on the weekends as possible. So far in June we have managed to fit in a visit to the zoo, go strawberry picking, take a trip to the Discovery Museum, we celebrated Nathan finishing Elementary school, Father's Day and Lauran's Birthday. Megan and Lauran have worked on learning to be friends, the boys are learning to be helpers and more independent. Todd and I are learning to be patient, enjoy are kids while they are little, and to remember to count our many blessings everyday! It was a crazy busy month, but as I look back at the pictures I realized how much fun it was and I hope in July I can enjoy it more "in the Moment" and not let the stressful moments get to me!

I had so many cute pictures from the past month that I did not have time to post, that I decided to try my hand at a slide show!! So here it is a month's worth of pictures all at once :) Enjoy!

No more finger pricking :(

Once again we went in for a blood draw this week and the lab tech pricked her finger. She insured me she knew (better than the last tech) how to do this without it clotting(which is what it did last week). Well it clotted again :( So back I go to have blood drawn with a needle! I pray it goes as well as last week! They found a vein right away so her fussing didn't escalate to screaming and kicking. I feel so bad because now when we get there she immediately points her finger for them to prick her! Well. off to doctor and dentist visits...it is a crazy summer here..that's for sure!

Oh and sweetie Lauran turned 3 yesterday!! I will post more about that and some pictures a little later!!

Sorry- I am behind!!

So if you haven't noticed finding time to blog has been a struggle! I still trying to figure out a routine...and now the boys are home so I scrapped the routine I was working on and decided my new routine is to have no routine!!

Things are so busy with 4 kids I can't believe it! We are still having a lot of challenges with Lauran. She is still as cute and lovable as can be, but when she doesn't get her way..OH MY GOSH... stand back and GET the ear plugs! She sometimes will go on and on for over an hour. I think there are many factors that play into it all, lack of verbal skill, strong willed, She IS 2(almost 3), and everything is still new. Some days are so hard though. Added to that, Megan still has many moments of her not wanting to share me, toys, etc. But the moments when everyone is happy they are all so much fun!! Listening to Lauran say new words and watch her devour food she likes is so cute! She ate a full 1/3 lb hamburger on Sunday! She is a meat girl!! Todd is already wanting to bring her to a steak house! The boys love to play with the girls and are really helpful with them. And when the girls have moments of playing together I can see glimpses of the distant future when they will be BFF's. Did you hear me girls? You WILL be BFF'S :)

On the medical front we are still doing weekly blood draws to see if we can determine a pattern with her hemoglobin. When we brought her in for her 2nd transfusion her blood had not dropped from week 3 to week 4. It was still at 10. They still did the transfusion though! Anyways, it could mean we may be able to go 5 weeks. So we will see! The blood draw they did last week unfortunately did not work with the finger pricking. It had clotted...which is a problem with doing it that way. So we repeated it this week the old fashioned way and it went amazingly well! She cried but it went in right away and it was less than 30 seconds of crying! I felt so bad though because when sat down in the chair she immediately put out her finger for them to prick her!!

Medical update

Today I talked with the hematology nurse to go over Lauran's recent hemoglobin results. As expected she has continued to drop each week. She drops almost one point a week. One week after the transfusion she was 11.8. Normal is 12-14 for her age. Last Fridays result was 10.5. This Friday she will most likely be in the 9's. Next week she is scheduled for her transfusion and she will most likely be in The 8's by then. The question on my mind was what is the number they are looking for? What is the lowest they want to see it go? The nurse said the hematologist does not want it to go below 9. Then the body absorbs iron quicker(which is not good in Lauran's case) and also the bone marrow begins to work too hard. The next question was if she is in the 9's by week 3 will they possibly move her to a 3 week schedule of transfusions rather than wait 4 weeks. The answer was yes. I will find out more next week if that will happen, but I am preparing myself for that possibility. Sad news for Lauran!

Please be praying for her transfusion next week ...that they find a vein quickly and it is not tramatic for her!

Thanks so much!

Figuring it all out!

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I can't believe we have had Lauran over a month. Last week began some struggles with Lauran. I am having a hard time figuring out what she is wanting. She seems fussy a lot and I am desperately trying to figure out what the fussing means. I know...with little kids you can never figure it all out. I also know once you think you have them figured out, they go and change what you thought you already had figured out. Go figure!!??? Yes...pun intended :)

Anyways, the past couple weeks have been a challenge. Her sleeping and eating have both been very difficult. Eating in particular has been completely confusing. I have to keep reminding myself that all of it is new to her. But there are foods she seemed to love that she ate a few times and now completely refuses. She was eating better the week following her transfusion and even though she may not be at the point of needing one, I wonder if the eating is tied to her anemia. One of my many questions I have regarding her blood disorder. She seems to be back on her meat kick again. It is really all she wants. Meat and eggs. She will eat a little bit of some other things here and there but not much. There have been several occasions were she broke out in tears when she saw the meal I put in front of her.

There are some days where she just seems very whiny all the time. A lot of it seems like it is when she is hungry but then she doesn't want to eat anything I offer her. I know there are communication gaps happening still. She is understanding more of what I say and does repeat English but rarely will use an English word to ask for something or to communicate with us. She is also sharing more of her 2 yr old behavior...having very loud tantrums when she doesn't get what she wants.

Aside from the challenges though she is still very lovable, cuddly and funny! She loves to be a helper and put things away. I have seen many more cute moments with her and Megan where they genuinely interact and play together. We feel blessed, but it is a hard transition right now. Things have definitely been challenging at our house. There are days when I do not feel equipped to handle all of it. I know eventually it will get better as I figure out her medical issues and as she learns English and communication improves...but it is hard. God keeps reminding me when I feel like I am going off the deep end and sometimes after I go off the deep end, that He will be the strength to get me through it. His power will work through me to get through the struggle. This verse came to mind:

1Corinthians 12: 9-10
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

So today, I boast(rather than be frustrated) in the fact that I am going through a difficult time and that I am not equipped to handle it all. I am definitely feeling weak!! But thankfully Christ, whom I serve and love promises to be my strength! I am so glad that God allows me to be honest about my difficulties. That I do not have to pretend I have it all together. He gave me a heart for orphans and has called our family to adopt. He knew we were not perfect parents and as we go through the process I want to keep pointing to the ONE who provides for us daily and works through our family daily. It is because of Christ and the grace he has shed on us and the work he does through us that we are able to do any of this!

Please continue to pray we lean on HIM and continue to pray for Lauran's health as we process all the details and medical care!

appointments, appointments appointments!

Yesterdays cardio appts. went really well. They were pretty short and the only time Lauran fussed was when they did the EKG and were attaching all the cords to the little "stickers". I know there is probably an official name for the stickers...but I can only retain so much medical info at a time :) Hey, I am just glad I can pronounce the word Thalassemia now! Anyways...once the cords were hooked up it did sort of look like attack of the octopus...so I don't blame her for fussing. But she held still enough for the test to go quickly.

Today was another story! She had a lab appt. to do her weekly blood draw and guess what ? They couldn't find a vein. Then they tried the other arm and by this time she is screaming and fighting us. Then they just get the needle in her arm and Lauran's foot broke loose and it hit the nurses hand and the needle came out :( So....try again they say! Then the nurse had an idea, she decided to call (not sure who) and see if it was OK to get the blood via a finger prick....and it was, as long as they could keep the blood flowing to get enough blood. So she did that and it worked! She had to prick the finger twice to get enough blood but Lauran didn't cry either time. The nurse said we will try it this way first from now on rather than the needle. What a relief! This is a weekly event for us and I can't imagine her going through this all the time. Who knows how many pokes this girl has had in the past and how many times they had trouble finding a vein! UUHHG! Hopefully now she will just have to endure the needle only for the transfusion!

Things at home are going better sleep wise. Things around here are still completely disorganized. The girls though, are starting to get along better and even play together. Sometimes they are so sweet together! Lauran still loves playing with the boys too and has gotten into the daily routine of watching for them to come home on the bus! It is crazy around here when everyone is home. Crazy and loud! A lot of times it is just a fun, playing loud! And sometimes it is ....everyone is needy and melting down....loud!! That's a house with 4 kids! Noises of blessing:) At least that is what I going to start reminding myself when I am ready to go pull my hair out....which usually happens daily between 4:30 - 6:00. I am on the search for some ideas to make this time of day go better...ideas anyone?

I thought I would leave you with a couple cute pictures of Lauran from last week. I found her sitting at the computer desk. We have learned since adopting her that she is a genius and has been working on some important medical research on how to poke all the nurses back after she gets poked. No offense to any nurses out there .... Lauran wants you to know you will definately get a sticker afterwards!! You can see by her big smile that this research is exciting and VERY rewarding!

EKG and Echo on Wed.

Tomorrow(Wed) afternoon Lauran goes in for her cardiology appts. Please pray she will be calm and not scared. They told me she is old enough that she doesn't need to be sedated...I am hoping they are right. These appt. are to make sure she doesn't have any problems due to too much iron. Also, as I mentioned before, she will be going in for weekly blood draws. I am praying these pokes become a little less traumatic over time. She will have that on Thursday. Also, pray that her blood tests do not show that she needs a transfusion any sooner than the 4 week schedule we are on already!

Thanks for your continues prayers and support!

Taking time to lick the spoon!

So I took a break last week from working on my atrocious house...which looks like a tornado went through it ...but just happened to leave everything in categorized piles. Piles of laundry, piles of dishes, piles pf paperwork, piles of shoes, toys, ..... Anyways, somehow I ended up with 3 bags of marshmallows in my pantry AND since food has been falling out of the pantry every time I open the doors, due to un-named little people throwing food back into the pantry in a very disorderly fashion, as if there is a tiny elf in there ready to organize it. So I decided to use up some marshmallows and make some Rice Krispie treats! Plus, I find it interesting to watch Lauran try new foods. She LIKES to eat(when she is not anemic)! She joins Nathan in that club. She does have her preferences though ...but she is at least willing to put almost anything in her mouth! If she doesn't like something she spits it out after a couple chews. Really gross...especially for Nathan who gags at the sight of anything mushy(he still won't put milk on his cereal). The Rice Krispie treats were a hit. Megan helped me make them and was very proud! I thought it was funny when I handed the big spoons to the girls to lick...Lauran knew just what to do with it! No instructions needed. So I went a little picture crazy!

I promise I did let the marshmallow cool...It only looks like I forced her to lick a sweltering hot spoon!

"not...quite...sure...if...I...can...get...my...whole...mouth ...around...this...spoon!"

Best sisters...sharing food, sharing toys.....Ok the toys thing ain't happenin quite yet! And Megan is only being permitted to touch Lauran while she is eating because Megan has her own spoon...Just for the record!

Lauran's 1st transfusion

Lauran had her 1st visit at Children's hospital on Thursday and her 1st transfusion her in the U.S. It was a long day! I was there by 8:00 am and home at 3:30. Getting her IV inserted proved again to be stressful. They had trouble getting it in the the vein on the 1st arm they tried. I have never witnessed a nurse poking around to find the vein :( Then they saw a spot on her hand that looked like she had been poked before so they tried that...and thankfully it worked because she was screeching!!

The appt consisted of blood draws first, then waiting for blood tests to return, then the transfusion. Lauran also had an exam with the nurse practitioner from the hematology clinic and at the end of all that we saw the hematologist. The main conclusion right now is that she will need monthly transfusions for now. She will have to have weekly blood draws to monitor her hemoglobin. As they monitor that, and as she has her transfusions, they will hopefully be able to see a pattern and have a better idea of how often she needs the transfusion...most likely every 3-6 weeks. She is also having her iron monitored closely. Having too much iron is a side effect of having frequent transfusions. She will need a medication to reduce her iron at some point in the near future. She has basically been classified though, as having Thalassemia major. The more severe form of Thalassemia. Basically her body doesn't make one of the chains of hemoglobin efficiently. We still do not know which chain..alpha or beta... What ever the exact chain is the result is the same..... with out transfusions she becomes anemic. She will need transfusions for the the rest of her life with close monitoring of her iron....unless we pursue the cure which is a bonemarrow tranplant. That is a whole other subject and I will go into that later. Right now we will concentrate on transfusions and try to avoid complications. Most of the complications of this disorder result from over load of iron which build up in the liver and then the heart and cause damage. To help monitor this, she needs to have an EKG and Echo Cardiogram so we can get a baseline. I am assuming then these will need to be repeated every so often to make sure she is not having any problems due to iron.

The one other complication of her disorder is an enlarged spleen. Hers is already enlarged and they said they will have to watch that closely. Some patients have to have it removed. They try and wait as long as possible though because the spleen protects against infection. It is not good for a young child to have it removed.

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With ALL that said, we know this will not be easy. It will take some adjusting. We know that God chose us to care for Lauran. We feel blessed to have her in our family and she has already blessed us beyond words! We feel confidant that He orchestrated all of it and will work out the details. Most of all, we rest in His strength not our own! We are so thankful!

P.S. I posted pictures from the last few days or our trip (ran out of time in china) below in another post...so check those out too!

Pictures from Guangzhou

The following pictures are from our stay in Guangzhou. This was the last part of out trip. This is the city where the American Consulte is...everyone who adopts from China will stay here to finalize the adoption with the U.S.

This is a common site in China...laundry out to dry. This ia a dinner boat ride down the pearl river. I missed it :( I had some horrible stomach issues..that lasted through the next day when we flew home. I feel bad Merry missed because of me too. Long story! Todd and the three below went!

We had a day at the zoo too...look in the background, in the cage, and you will see a panda

One day ws good for swimming...the girls were napping at the time. It was a nice pool...too bad we didn't have nicer weather to swim.




Starbucks in China...nothin' is finer !!!!!!!

These are pictures inside the White Swan Hotel where we stayed for the last leg of our trip. It has an indoor waterfall and a little bridge that is over a pond filled with goldfish.

She did this all on her own!! No posing from me at all!! Too cute!

Megan..posing. Her words before every picture is "strike a pose"

looking at goldfish

Todd thought this was funny...The old bike carring a big screen TV

A park near the hotel

This is a giant ship carved from Jade...this is inside the White Swan hotel

another jade carving

This is Laurans medical exam...a very basic medical exam! Basically..height, weight and make sure they do not have a fever!

This is an area outside a mall we went shopping at. Megan is walking with our guide!

In side the mall..It is 6 or 7 levels high

Bath time and a smile!!

Lauran started out giving Todd rasberries on his cheek...and it turned into kisses and cuddles!! SOOOO cute!

oh...and laughs too!

At least someone in our family has learned to stop and smell the roses along the way!