Just Because...

She is growing and changing way too fast...

And there's so, so much I want to remember and capture and keep and hold on to...  

And because I know I can't keep her little, though she says that's what she wants.

And I want to remember that every time I say, "You're growing up so fast!" She says, "No, Mama!  Shaw-yotte stay yiddle fo'ebah.  Mama can wock an' cah-wee Shaw-yotte fo'ebah and ebah."

And even though she promises me these things, she also tells me that she and Flora Lin will take me to the grocery store when I am old in their matching red cars.  

And that they will both be leg doctors together.

And that they will live at home with Mama and Papa in "'dis house."

And that she tells me Flora Lin will have spikey hair.  In rainbow colors.  That I painted... (And that I actually believe that might happen!). And her hair will be brown and she will have it down (which I also believe!).

And that she used to say "sehben, elehben and sehbenteee" instead of seven, eleven and seventeen.

And she used to call her sister "Fo'Yin" instead of the newer "Fo'la Lin."  

And that she regularly translates for her sister when we just can't understand.  And they have these hilarious conversations while they both sit on the potty and I have no idea  what they are saying, but they can't stop laughing.

And when I tell her she can take a break from therapy for her left hand, she says, "No, fank you, Mama.   I want it get stwongah and stwongah.  I do it."

And as she rocks her Dolly she tells me, "Shaw-yotte is Mama.  Dah-yee is Baby Shaw-yotte."  And she repeats all the things I say to her to try to comfort her, convince her that I will never leave her and how wonderful and precious she is to me.  And then she turns to me and says, "I a good mama for babies, Mama?"

And when I carry her, she twists her little fingers into my ponytail for comfort.

And that every now and then, she tucks her little arms under mine and wraps herself around me and says, "Hug me tight, tight, Mama!"

And that every new step she takes and every time she grows, she is all the more precious to me.  

And that she always will be.

And I'll tell you every night for as long as you let me tuck you in:

Happy or sad, glad or mad, I will always love you.

Whether you make good choices or bad, I will still love you.

Kind or mean, I will still love you.

Even if you run far, far, far away, I will still love you.

There's nothing you could ever do to make me stop loving you.

Love you, Pie-Pie.  Love you just for being you.

Scoot Your Boots!

Charlotte had been in physical therapy for a little over a month now.  The therapy center that we attend is fabulous and allows/requires any family members in attendance to be involved in the entire therapy session.  This is great because BOTH of our girls are getting therapy each week for the cost of one!  FL doesn't really need it except for some low muscle tone, which is, in part, because she doesn't enjoy physical exertion.  She'd rather sit and draw,etc. and that's ok, too. : ).   In the therapy sessions, they've been using a three wheeled scooter that they both enjoy and can do fairly easily.  The scooter is helping with building muscle in the hips, which C really needs.  My parents graciously offered to get the girls each a scooter (yes, they raised two children and know that one scooter would cause great sadness and turmoil!) so that we could do some therapy at home.

The girls were very excited and immediately set to riding the scooters around the inside of my parents' house!  C named her scooter "Rose" and FL named hers "Red Cupcake."   So appropriate for both of their personalities!

C took off!  PT and OT have really made a difference physically and in her confidence.

Ok, Pie-Pie, I don't think that's the recommended way to use it...

Here comes our Little Brown Bear and The Red Cupcake!

Watch out, world!  She's got wheels!

I caught her sizing up my dad's trailer to see if there was any mischief she could get into...  I think almost every single thought in her head begins with, "let's see what would happen if I ...."   She's going to keep us on our toes in the years to come!

I was the same way whe I was little, though.  I think I might still be!

Only a cute little girl on a pink scooter could make a SIL and FIL hold hands (even if it was to make a tunnel)!

Two heads are better at coming up with silliness than one!  I'm going to have to ask our physical therapist if this is an approved way to ride!

Riding off into the sunset...  So glad they are our daughters and so glad they have each other for a sister!

Thanks for the scooters, Chicka and Boom Boom!

Harvest Week

This week was harvest week!  I was a little stumped on how to introduce this concept to the girls, as cattle are the main "crop" that is harvested in our immediate area, and that's not a harvest I'm ready to talk about!   We focused on corn, hay, acorns, etc. instead and we had lots of fun!

The week started off with a bang (or pop, if you will!) as the girls got to pop and eat some corn in our electric popcorn popper!  They weren't so sure at first (their hands on their hips is cracking me up!)...

But before long they were laughing, jumping and making up a popcorn dance!

Snacks are always more fun whe you get to help "make" them.

We have a great need for hay in our area and there are many open fields (and small ones) used just for that purpose.  Right now, some of those fields are being cut and harvested.  

The girls and I found a good paint brush stick and pulled some hay from a hay bale at our barn and make our own paintbrushes.

They enjoyed smearing, swirling and painting (and, yes, ou sweet dog, Ella, is quietly in the middle of everything these days!).

This girl likes to paint with a brush.

This girl wanted hers to stay neat and clean.  She was upset she got paint on the brush and just wanted to use her hands!

It didn't take them long at all, but they had fun.

Our second, and very time consuming, craft was also a favorite.  It was all about corn!  This craft had many stages and parts (probably a little too much, but they did fine) that we broke down over the week.

First we decoupaged tissue paper onto corn husks.

Then we finger painted corn cobs using smearing and dabbing.

The girls worked so hard!  "I yike big cwafts, Mama!" says Charlotte.

After everything was painted and decoupaged, the girls got some cutting practice with their corn cobs and husks.  They also got practice gluing and placing the parts of the corn.  

Then we added bubble wrap for texture and pop corn seeds to our corn.

They came out sooo cute!  

It also helped them mentally link that corn, pop corn and corn cobs go together.  We even ate corn for dinner a couple of nights.

There's not a lot of harvesting corn in our area, but my parents do have persimmon trees, so we went over to harvest persimmons!

We didn't have enough ripe, unblemished persimmons to make muffins or bread, but we will pick again soon.

But, we were able to enjoy harvesting the few we got!

And we were outside in the beautiful Fall sunshine.

And the girls were cute.  : )

While we were outside, a friend who is also from China came to harvest the persimmons as well!  It was fun to talk to her about the girls and their birth country.  She gave the girls a sweet gift of some ceramic animals from a trip to China.  They have enjoyed playing with these special, breakable big girl toys.  : )

We may not have been able to harvest a lot of food this week, but we harvested lots of fun, learning and memories!

Happy Harvest!

Dental Day and Post-op Check Up

Recently, Flora Lin went under general anesthesia for the placement of three full crowns and the treatment of over seven cavities.   Though we weren't expecting any complications, it's never easy to hand over your little one to strangers and wait.

Unless, of course, you're the sister and you get to pretend you are drinking coffee and have both parents all to yourself.  ; )

I went back with FL during the wait and was able to convince them to give her the "versed" to relax her.  She kept telling me she was scared (this was her fourth time being put under - she knew what was going on).  When they came to get her, she didn't kick and scream (she 'accepts' the separation so sadly), but kept saying, "want Mama" over and over with her signs and blurry words only her family can understand.  Every child does this I'm sure, but I know to her there is the added feeling of knowing what it is like to be forever separated from your family, times two.   I wish the medical community would be more aware and sensitive to this fear.  I'm certain they have good reasons, but it is hard for our little ones.

She is so sweet and snuggley after sedation.  That's the silver lining in all of it!

Poor thing kept asking to eat and drink.  She drank two grape juice containers, a glass of water, an applesauce squeezy, some bread and convinced the nurse to have me give her some of my coffee.  She was also named model patient of the day by the recovery nurses.  ; )

In a little over a week later, we went back for a check up.  We had nothing but progress to report.  However, there was some pain post op due to them holding her mouth open as much as possible (jaw soreness and cracking of the skin on the lips and at the corners of the mouth) as well as the removal of skin where the crowns were placed.  The anesthesiologist placed the airway tube through her throat rather than through her nose due to previous surgery on those areas.  Having to work around this in a little mouth probably resulted in more throat soreness as it was shifted and pushed out of the way, I would imagine.  The dentist said all of this was normal and everything looked good.  FL was easy to work with and proud to show off her new teeth!

Over all, it was a good experience.  We are at Baptist East for so many different things and we have always had kind and caring people working with us and a positive experience. 

 We had to take a picture to commemorate, though the sun was so bright!

Pretty good marketing scheme, don't you think?! ; )

After that appointment, we moved on to occupational therapy and physical therapy for C!

We stay busy!

But it is a very blessed kind of busy!  

Thankful I get to walk these two sweethearts through all of this as their mama!

6 Month Neurology Checkup

Hard to believe it has been six months since C first saw the neurologist, but it has!  

Since then she has had a CT scan that revealed a possible stroke either in utero or shortly after birth.

Since being presented with that information I have fought for PT and OT services for my sweet girl... Despite the neurologist saying that she was doing fine where she was and not to pursue it further.

But that neurologist just doesn't know me or my quietly determined girl very well.  : )

We have been in both PT and OT (eventhough we were told that she didn't need PT at first.  Mama kept asking/praying).

With all of the appointments we have, I am thankful C is so patient.  But after waiting an hour...

Or over an hour for the doctor...

The same old book gets a little boring...

And I was not going to let her look at Ripley's Believe it or Not...

So you get creative with your reading

And re reading

Of the one book that you do have!

You gotta think outside the box sometimes!

And jump in with both feet!

But before a somersault was attempted, the doctor finally came!

She was very impressed with C's progress, but told me not to expect her left hand to gain much more if any function.  I was disappointed to hear that (but my OT completely disagreed!; )) but I am not going to stop doing what we are doing.  We all see progress and my Lottie Pie is determined to keep on trying!

We are scheduling an EEG for Charlotte later this month to check on her after a possible seizure.   We are not too worried, but C has had a hard couple of months and we want to be sure we are doing all we can for her.  We would really appreciate your prayers.

If everything is normal, we will have one more six month check up then yearly after that if everything goes well.

Thanks for praying for our sweet girl - she's definitely worth all that and more, including super long wait times and numerous doctor appointments!