First Day of First Grade and Pre-Op

Last year..Kindergarten First Day

This year..a First Grader!

Before school Drew Crew Gathering:

Group Hugs:

Walking in:

In the classroom:

After School!

These two were seated next to each other in class. They were separated by noon.

Yes, they would not leave the school. They are sitting here eating someone's lunch together as a snack.

 And Going Home:

 

We met with Teagan's surgeon yesterday. He explained what he will do exactly and we talked some details. Good news- she is allowed to keep using her bottle after surgery! She's up to 3 a day now and I don't think it would go over well to give them up now. This is a big relief.  He thinks he will be done in about 2.5 hours including the ear tubes and exam.  I'll be allowed to put on scrubs and be with her until she is asleep and then they will take her to the operating room. There is about an 85% success rate with this surgery for her kind of CP. Otherwise, you have to redo it or go on to other procedures. Since we are going to be in the 85%, I won't concern myself with what that would entail. My Dad is coming up for a few days to help us out, making sure Catherine can get to school and other things. Teagan will wear arm restraints at night, but he said we could keep them off in the day as long as we can keep our eyes on her all the time.  All in all, he presented a much more balanced view than I had heard before.

I'll post an update after the surgery. Wish Teagan luck.

Updates and Visits

It looks like Teagan will have palate repair surgery on September 9th. We are waiting to hear on ear tubes which are supposed to be scheduled  at the same time.  So, it's not 100% certain yet. Although we thought it would be early Fall, 9/9 is earlier than we thought. I am grateful they could get Teagan in so fast given how much she is working to communicate with us. At the same time I am sad as it means she cannot have a bottle for 6 weeks. She's been taking at least 3 a day and I am am not looking forward to  giving  this peaceful time up for her so soon. She loves to be rocked and have a bottle before bedtime, naptime, and when she 1st wakes  up. No sippy cups either.

It's a two night stay in the hospital and then a long recovery. As in, people have said things like "Well, at Week 3 things start to look up." Some people have said after one week things are much better though. She will be on a liquid diet and then mushy foods for about 6 weeks. We have a pre-op talk coming next week and we will know more then.

Two months after surgery, we will evaluate her speech. And then start speech therapy if needed. It usually is, so I am counting on it.

Step by step!

A great visit with my parents - they met Teagan for the first time! Catherine was especially thrilled to have special Grandparent time. They spent Friday together at the movie, lunch, and ice cream. On Sunday, we went to the Peace Garden together - it's a beautiful park and a special place for us. After Jason's dad died, we all contributed to a peace bridge the next Father's Day in honor of his dad and those who experience violence in their lives. My mom and Catherine made a peace crane together.

 Some other photos from the Peace Garden:

 A trip to Lake Calhoun:

Farm Camp and Updates

Here are Catherine and her very good friend Dahlia on their way to farm camp last week!  I think they had a great week there taking care of animals, cooking, doing crafts and being out in the country. Dahlia's mom will be giving me some more photos to upload this week.

Catherine informed me that she and Dahlia knew how to catch chickens now! LOL! She told me the technique for grabbing the chicken and making sure you have it's wings stabilized.  I think I have seen this demonstration on her stuffed duck so many times that I could also catch a chicken.

In my last post, I think I mentioned they were caring for their own sheep this week. Catherine wonders if she can visit him.

We've had more doctor appointments (kind of the equivalent of paperwork in China in terms of frequency:) and we are making plans towards palate repair.  Let me throw a promotion in here for the International Adoption Clinic at the U. I am so happy we have the International Adoption Clinic here at the U. Our MD there, Cindy Howard and the entire team are amazing people.  Dr. Howard called me twice personally to give me test results in detail and help us navigate and coordinate various medical issues.

It looks like palate surgery will be in September and we have tacked on the ear tubes then instead of August 19th. We are waiting for final confirmation, so I hope it works out to be in September and not later. They would like to do a full ear exam on her and they can't do it when she is awake.  If it is later, the cleft team would recommend we not delay ear tubes.  Let me also promote the cleft team at MOOS.. they have been supportive since the time of our referral, providing us with information and answering questions via email along the way. Even looking at photos!

I think Teagan is really worn out from the number of visits we have head each week, sometimes 2-3, and I would like to minimize an extra procedure if we can. She has started having night terrors, and I hate to see that for her.  We were probably up with her 5 times last night alone patting her back to sleep. I think her cleft lip surgery had a deep and negative effect on her given her total mood change at each Dr. appointment.

This is one of Teagan's new favorite objects !  It's very soft and feels like it is handknit (thank you Kristin!).  One of her other favorites are the magnets on the refrigerator that you can see in the background (and they are on the floor too of course).  You put the letters in the holder and you get a song " A, A!, A says A! Every letter makes a sound, A says A!" She can also press a button and get the alphabet. Although I can now hear this song in my head, every waking moment (not good), and the magnets are a mess, she loves them, and we love that she loves music and letter sounds. Ok, yes, the fact that we can cook in the kitchen with greater ease while she plays with them is also a major bonus!

Today she made a "compound sign"  she did "again + please." Awesome! I've been working on please and was not sure she got it. What was she wanting again?

This bear in a the yellow raincoat! The bear sings "I am singing in the rain" when you press his arm. It was gift for Catherine from my Grandmother Duffy, but Teagan has taken it over it seems and loves to play the song again and again!

More doctors and more photos.

Another busy week here! Catherine has been at farm camp all week with her friend Dahlia. Today is the parent tour and I am sending the camera with Jason to capture the action. I'll post those next time. Catherine has taken care of her own sheep named Chocolate, milked cows, made food, collected eggs and held a chicken this week! It's a great camp - but a long day for 5 days. I'll be happy when it's over so I can see her again!

We had our international adoption clinic appointment this week - about 4 hours. We loved meeting Dr. Howard and the whole team.  Basic report - Teagan is doing really well!

We got some good suggestions and advice from the team such as keeping life  as"boring" as possible at home ("boring is best for baby" -same routine), making sure Jason and I do the primary caretaking for the next 4-6 months and minimizing others holding Teagan and so on. We'll have to to think creatively on how to balance work and child care on this one.  She did have to endure a very sad and long blood draw. The team really tried, but had a hard time getting the vials they needed. I hope they did get enough as I don't want to put her through that again.   We'll have to return in 6 months to check her titers  (another blood draw) for the vaccinations she received in China to see if they need to be redone. Yes, a Hague commentary on my end.

Here she is exploring the slide at the  park.

And down!

We have our palate repair consult next week, and should have a better idea of when that can be done. The IA clinic recommended exploring the option of not doing ear tubes until we do the palate surgery to minimize the stress for her. The cleft clinic said this was an option, but they prefer to move more quickly on ear tubes if a child has fluid or may be in discomfort. After the appointment Wed, I am hoping we can wait and do them together. We have weekly appointments as it is through August and each one is stressful.

I know I keep talking about her signs, but they are really amazing! She has now learned sand,  fish and bird and horse. Last night she repeatedly made all 3 signs at me when I put her to bed and asked me to show her the photos in the book (of fish, birds, and horses) called "It's time for bed." This was instead of drinking her bottle or going to sleep of course!

In the photo above, she is asking me to sit down on the teeter totter seat next to her (they are in a circle). We bounced up and down for awhile making horse noises and she really laughed.

As I write this, Jason is running with one of our travel group friends, Jim who is in MPLS this week (Natalie's Dad). Wish the whole family was here! We hope to see them next June when we go to Colorado for the reunion with Group 615 (Our travel group for Catherine).

This was our first trip to the rose garden here. I hope we can come back here next week when my parents visit and meet Teagan for the first time.