Update from home

Hi everyone..............we got home last Sunday and things have been a blur since then.

In Russia Isabelle showed me what she learned from the orphanage.........they have them sit on the potty after changing them, so each time I changed her diaper, she would go pee again right afterward.................one day she peed 4 times on me........that's right, on me..........and all her clothes. Boy I must LOVE this child............lol

She stayed in a playpen while we had her in Russia and she was fine with it. The moment we got back, she refused to use a playpen. Gary was up most of the 1st night with her (she'd slept a COUPLE hours on the plane AND had a 10 hour time change). He finally got her to sleep (after waking me up 2-3 times when he tried to put her in the playpen and she'd wake up) about 5 a.m......................

Going from no children to 1 that's on a major time change AND a toddler is hard...........she doesn't sleep as much as the orphanage noted and DEFINITELY less than a newborn.............and needs EVERYTHING!!!!!

Tuesday I took her for her 1st well baby check. After getting 3 shots and having to get blood drawn twice, as well as give a potty sample............she's got to do it all again in another month..............they have to update her shots, do another potty sample (she's got a bug right now), and give some blood again.........I'm not looking forward to the fussiness again.

Monday (yesterday) we went to our 1st cleft dr. appointment. He said that she immediately needs to get off of the bottle (she'll only eat by bottle) and the pacifier before she can have her surgery..............the bottle and pacifier are her only Russian comforts left. I wanted to get her on solid foods, but then I thought about how she's going to have to be on liquids for 3 weeks after surgery............SO, we have to change her diet only to change it back!!!! Add stress so that later we can change that back.........and then back again!!!!!! YUCK!

The cleft dr. said that we should be able to have her surgery in Dec. or Jan.......he also said that we shouldn't do ANY daycare in the meantime..............we need to have it in Decemeber (not just because it's earlier and better for her, but because I have to go back to work soon, esp. if I can't stick her in daycare before surgery).............

Well, his scheduler called today and told me all the details of the surgery........then asked me if I wanted surgery in Dec. or Jan. when I told her Dec., she promptly told me that she didn't have any 3 hour surgeries in December...........she told me to call back later though.

I just called back and got a surgery scheduled for December 4th.........at noon............so we'll have to keep her up on the 3rd til midnight or so.........so that when she wakes up (hopefully around 10 am) she won't be up as long without eating...............but usually she's STARVING when she wakes up.

So, let me recap prayer requests:

1. Transitioning her off the bottle and pacifier
2. Her food eating sensory issues (appointment on this Thurs. afternoon)
3. Ear dr. appointment not scheduled yet(most cleft babies need tubes put in and we
need to see if Isabelle needs this)
4. Surgery on the 4th of December!!!!! and the recovery time (3 weeks, yes, that's
Christmas day!!!)

Thanks for following on our journey with Isabelle.................
Terri for the Casebier's