Time to Catch Up!

Today is Wednesday, October 28, 2009, and it has been brought to my attention (thank you, Anne) that our blog needs serious updating, so here goes! Our last post was in July, at Talia's first post-operative visit. Lydia first . . . since that time, Lydia finished her Chinese Summer Camp program, and just loved it. She was with a friend from preschool, and met many new friends over the summer. She's come so far in her Chinese now, and is writing characters and learning many new songs and vocabulary words. Miss Penny, our Saturday Chinese teacher seemed quite pleased with Lydia's characters, and gave her a few pointers last week. Updating all about Lydia, kindergarten began on August 25, 2009. From the get go, we knew that her local public school was not going to be the best place for Lydia, and we quickly began looking at other options. Big clues: there were not enough chairs for all the children to sit on and the first week's goal was "recognizing their name." On day three, we withdrew Lydia from her public school and enrolled her at Montessori Community School, just 1.8 miles from Donna's office. Although we had not planned to pursue private school, this has been a fabulous fit for Lydia. The instruction is all individualized, the classroom is very stimulating with learning materials, there are four playgrounds--with a zip line on one (Lydia's most favorite thing) and a curriculum that emphasizes including the outdoors and nature as well as all things peaceful into their instruction. The children are cooking in their attached kitchen, and Lydia is one of four "elders" who mentor the four and fives not yet in kindergarten in her multi-age classroom. Lydia has learned to finger knit, is learning pre-division and pre-multiplication concepts, she has weekly Art, Spanish, Music and PE and has grown up so much in these first eight weeks. At our conference on 10-01-09, we also learned that Lydia is reading! She said she didn't tell us, as she didn't actually realize that she had made the transition to an independent reader already. There were a whole basket full of books that her teachers, Mari and Trish told us that Lydia could read independently--we were quite surprised by this. Lydia now reads to us each night, before we read to her. The teachers had no goals for her, other than to keep her going. They have been amazed at her beautiful transition into a class that has already been together for three years now. We're continuing her in her After School Chinese Program, and she is excitedly looking forward to being "Sleeping Beauty" for Halloween. She'll trick-or-treat with her very best friend Charlotte on Saturday, and is quite looking forward to this new experience. Montessori Community School is quite the fundraising machine--so thanks to all who purchased gift wrap and chocolates from our girl.

Now about Talia. Our baby continues to grow. She had her first haircut at the end of September, as her wispy bangs had grown so long. She's still shy of 22 pounds (21 pounds and 13 ounces at last check up) but looks robust and healthy. She eats everything, and new favorites this week have been cantaloupe, fresh ruby red grapefruit and fresh pineapple. She has no dietary restrictions and loves to try everything. She has been in full-time daycare with Christine Wang, a local home-based day care, since September. Christine speaks Mandarin, so we are excited that Talia will continue to be exposed daily to Mandarin Chinese. She knows most of her body parts in both English and Chinese, and understands much more language than she can communicate verbally. She's quite the clever girl and uses real and her own sign language to communicate when she needs things. We can understand a few of her words: "mo" for "more", "gen" for "again", "Lia" for "Lydia", "uh oh!", "uh" for "up" and a couple of others. She has clear sounds for her friends in daycare, and we can tell which friend she's referring to by her intonation of their name. "Mama" is her default word for Donna, and any other word that she's trying to say. She loves to copy her big sister, and is currently very good at cutting with primary scissors and "writing" mostly circles with pen or pencil. We are beginning a developmental screening for her in November, that will likely lead to in-home speech and either occupational or physical therapy to both promote more speech and strengthen her big muscles. Talia charms most everyone she meets with her exuberant blowing of kisses. The August 27, 2009 follow-up with her surgeon and an ENT to check her ear tubes was very positive, and they were both pleased with her healing and progress. She has her next full Craniofacial Team meeting on Thursday 11-5-2009. She'll again be seen by the surgeon, ENT, speech and language, audiology, social work and psychology for a complete update. Talia doesn't know it yet, but she will be a bumble bee for Halloween, and will help her little friend Ruby hand out treats while Lydia and Charlotte do the door-to-door trick or treating.

Mom and Dad (Donna and Art) are trying to hang in there, with two full time jobs, two children in school and all of the assorted activities and appointments. We'll be spending Thanksgiving with Donna's parents and sister in Hillsborough, NC. Early Christmas with Art's family in New York will be the first weekend in December, followed by actual Christmas at Donna's sister's house in Charlotte--then off to Florida for two well-earned weeks of rest and relaxation, hopefully at the beach, weather permitting. The adventure continues and its all good. As we look through pictures . . . soon . . . we'll try to post more.

Talia's First Post-Op Visit

Thursday 7-23-09 was Talia's first visit back to the hospital after her surgery on 7-7-09. Let's just say she wasn't thrilled to be back. The nice resident said that while she was screaming, it was a good time to look in her mouth. The good news is that her palate is healing well, and the surgeon used dissolving stitches that won't need to be removed; they'll fully dissolve in about 6 weeks. Even with the "applesauce consistency diet" or Stage 2 baby foods, our girl has gained 13 ounces in the last 3 weeks, and now weighs an impressive 21 pounds, holding fast at the 5th to 6th percentile for weight for her age. Talia will be 18 months old next week on Wednesday. Happily for Talia, the surgeon came in to the last few minutes of her appointment and gave the ok for soft foods "just no pretzels or potato chips"--as if! We took Talia to lunch and she enjoyed lo mein, tofu and vegetable fried rice, her first textured foods since surgery. She appeared delighted with the new diet. She go back in one month, which will be just a few days after big sister Lydia starts kindergarten. Lydia is immensely enjoying her Chinese Summer Camp experience, completing her second week today. Her Chinese just sounds so much better already. We also received the exciting news this week that Lydia was accepted into a Chinese Afterschool Program, where she'll be picked up from her elementary school and will attend afterschool until mom or dad gets out of work to pick her up. She'll now have about 3 hours a day of Chinese, in addition to our one hour family class each Saturday. We're thrilled and she's promised to teacher us what she learns so we won't fall behind. We'll look for more pictures to add. We've donated Talia's "no-no's" back to UNC Hospital, where they'll be used for children in other countries where doctors volunteer their services. "Houdini Talia" wouldn't stay in them and we were glad to see them go!

Almost One Week Post Surgery

Here it is on Monday and the weekend is gone already. Art is back to work today and Talia and I have the day together. The weekend was great. Art and I took Talia back to Elmo's for breakfast and more egg, grits and applesauce, then a short trip to the Farmer's Market. In the afternoon, I picked Lydia up at a mid-way point between Charlotte and Chapel Hill. She was filled with happy stories of her time with Aunt Laura, and seemed also happy to be home. The girls were so happy to see each other and there were big hugs and kisses. Lydia did tell soooo many stories, that Talia put her finger to her lips to sign "hush." Lydia did NOT like that! Sunday was a trip to see where Lydia's new summer camp was and out to check on Nai Nai and Ye Ye's house while they are in Florida. Lydia and I got a little alone time Sunday afternoon and stocked up for summer camp with a Nihao Kai Lan back pack and lunch bag set.

Talia and I took Lydia to the first day of Chinese Summer Camp, where she'll be for 5 weeks this summer. We couldn't leave until Lydia's good friend Claire arrived, then we were practically pushed out the door. Talia charmed the Chinese-speaking staff when she could point to her hair, eyes, ears, nose, mouth and tummy all when asked to in Chinese. Then she clapped her hands and blew kisses. Talia and I then went and registered Lydia for after school care at her Elementary School, assuming we'll still be here.

Talia had a little morning car nap, then home to a jar of food and two yogurts. Her appetite has been wonderful, and she's tolerating the "applesauce consistency diet" better now. We've finished the antibiotic ear drops and today's the last day of her oral antibiotic. We're using Tylenol for pain, and no oxycodone for several days now. We see her surgeon at two weeks after surgery. It wasn't a fluke--she sat in her highchair again today, signed "dirty" and "diaper" and held her nose! And she was right! and made me laugh. Oh, the joys of a 17-month-old. With any luck, Talia will sleep some this afternoon and I can do a little work in preparation for being in the office on Tuesday and Thursday this week.

The pictures are of us on the Staten Island Ferry, going past the Statue of Liberty on the 4th of July and one just of a sister hug :)

It Feels Like a New Day

We're not writing until 8:40 pm, because it's like a usual busy Friday for us. Talia has slept through the night each night. A funny story from this morning, which will embarrass Talia to no end when she gets older. She has for some time been signing "dirty" and "diaper" to let us know when she needs to be changed. Unfortunately, the surgery and all the meds have created no "dirty" diapers this week at all, until this morning. Talia signed "dirty" and "diaper" and then she held her nose, Mama's signal for "peeyeew", which cracked us up to no end. Later in the morning when I mentioned that incident, she signed "sorry" which was funny all over again. She seems cheerful and happy in the mornings--so much so, that today, we went to the Harris Teeter like usual. She seemed to enjoy the outing and waved and blew kisses to all. She did get pretty tuckered out, and fell asleep in the car as we arrived home at 11:30 am. She had a great two-hour nap and playtime with Baba while Mama got a little time off.
While Mama was out, Talia kept Baba company while he tried to nap. She was having no parts of a second nap, but she did sweetly put her head on my chest momentarily a few times. Tao Tao was intently watching Baba's mouth when he was making sounds like "la la la" and "ba ba ba". Then she produced a general imitation of these new sounds, which delighted Baba to no end.
She was in such great spirits that we decided to go to our regular Friday night dinner spot--Elmo's in Carrboro. Our girl did us proud! She ate an entire soft scrambled egg, a dish of buttered grits and 1/2 a dish of applesauce, saving room of course for some chocolate frozen custard at Rita's across the way. And you should have seen her flirting with the very cute 3-year-old Henry, whose parents announced that he was smitten and had found his future wife! She was pretty tired out as we got home, but strangely now seems to actually like the stinky antibiotic that we have to give her three times a day. Wish we could say the same for the five drops in each ear, but she is more tolerant of those, too. It's an odd sight when she holds out her little arms so you can strap on her no-no's to go to bed. Those are the things she hates the most, but will still compliantly hold her arms out so they can be velcroed on.
We're thinking about the Farmer's Market for tomorrow. It really seems like we're back to normal, with the exception of keeping track of her multiple meds (Art has created a grid so we can log in the various meds and time administered) and making sure she keeps her hands out of her mouth. Oh yeah, and the soft foods, but she has even seemed more tolerant of those, she who had previously really enjoyed textured foods. And who can forget about Lydia? She's coming back tomorrow, we think. When I asked her tonight if she was ready to come home tomorrow, there was a long pause (of course I thought our phone lost connectivity!). When I asked if she was still there, could she hear me, her answer was, "I'm thinking." Sheesh, let a girl go to camp Aunt Laura and you're not even sure you'll get her back! (Just kidding, Aunt Laura). We have loved the daily cards with narrated photos that Lydia and Aunt Laura have sent us to keep us up to date with all of the fun. We got to see Monkey Joe's and Lydia climbing the faux rock wall and sliding down a giant slide, as well as Lydia and Jennifer the swim instructor. Rumor has it that there's even a photo of Lydia at "the nail shop" getting her first ever professional pedicure with her Aunt Laura--mama is doomed to maintaining her in the diva lifestyle she'd like to have, I fear.

The pictures are of Talia in her "no-no's", the girls at a playground in Chinatown, NY on the 4th of July, Lydia and Talia enjoying a sister kiss recently and Talia imitating Curious George by holding her bottle with her hands--and her feet!

Day Two Post Surgery

Our Talia is amazing! She slept through the night, from 6:45 pm to 5:00 am on one dose of Tylenol only, given at 6:30 last night. We ended up having to call the doctor on call at UNC, as she was running a 101.2 fever last night. Luckily, the Tylenol really works for her, and apparently the fever is not uncommon. Little "Houdini" as she is known, did manage to get out of her "no-no's" last night. That nickname came well before surgery, as she is quite adept at getting out of highchair restraints and other buckles. She's already had a whole mashed banana, two bowls of oatmeal, milk and water and is down for a nap--and it isn't even 9:00 am yet! She's asking for more water than usual, probably all the medicine and the tube that was in her throat. We've kept the no-no's off so she can sign and play while we monitor her closely. She seems to understand about not putting things in her mouth. For this morning's nap, we've threaded the no-no strap under her PJ top, to see if that helps it to stay on. They had advised taking the strap off, due to a strangulation risk at night, so that's what we did last night. We'll monitor her for naps, and see how it goes.
I've made a big bowl of bread pudding, my mom's wonderful recipe, for when Tao wakes up. We had great naps ourselves yesterday, and a good night of sleep last night--one more nap and I may feel back to normal.
She continues to not like the medicine regimen--ear drops twice a day, antibiotic (that smells like moldy socks!) three times a day, and oxycodone as needed. We gave her oxycodone again this morning, as she had already had Tylenol and still appeared to be in some pain. But, she's playing, smiling, interacting and kissing--all good signs that she's on the mend. I so do not look forward to any future surgeries in this little one's life--bone grafting and further lip repair are probable. It's a terrible thing sending your little one off to surgery, and then seeing them in pain, even if we know it's needed for her overall growth and development.
On the jie jie (big sister) front--we're getting multiple update calls from Charlotte, NC each day. The swim instructor isn't even sure she needs lessons (after lesson 2!) as she jumps in to the deep end and swims with real strokes to the instructor. Who knew? Last week she was excitedly just doggy-paddling in the shallow end. They've also been on a play date to the mall--to buy jewelry of course :), shopping at Costco, and to Monkey Joe's, a large indoor playground of inflatable "moon walk" type structures. Of course our girl wanted to climb the highest faux rock wall, about 20 feet per Aunt Laura, and did it successfully. They've also baked sugar cookies, eaten pizza, been bike-riding and gone to Aunt Laura's gym. Lydia has thrown a bit of a wrench into Aunt Laura's carefully planned menus, as she has recently decided that she's a vegetarian. Someone at school told her where meat came from, and she has decided that she doesn't want to eat animals. In the first week, she made an exception for bacon and pepperoni, but now, even that is off the table, so to speak. As Art and I were vegetarian for many years, we'll pull out our old recipes and adapt the daily meals to accommodate our big girl's wishes.
The Sears guy is here repairing the washer and the neighbor boy is mowing the lawn, so life is pretty good. We'll aim for pictures later--no pun intended! and try to post when Tao sleeps. Thanks for all the good thoughts and wishes, and for the checking-in-on-us phone calls.

We're Home!!

We left UNC-CH hospital around 9:30 am, and after loading up all of our stuff and picking up prescriptions--antibiotics and that godsend, oxycodone, we arrived home around 10:30 am. Talia seemed happy to see her toys and had a bit of a playtime. She then pointed to her baby oatmeal box, so we mixed up a bowl of that with lots of warm organic milk and she ate the whole bowl, along with a bit of yogurt drink in the one sippy cup she's supposed to use. Thank goodness we didn't bring her preferred Pigeon bottle to NY, which helped us wean off of that bottle. Note to self--hide Pigeon bottle where she won't find it.
Art started a storybook in the rocking chair after lunch, but by page 3 she pointed to her crib. He put her in the crib without a peep and she napped for almost 3 hours. She doesn't like the ear drops that have to go in twice a day, nor the taste of the antibiotic or oxycodone, but all will help her heal and rest. Speaking of which, we also got much needed naps, after only dozing on and off while holding her all of last night.
I had the strangest dream last night. We keep telling Lydia that after Talia's palate surgery, she'll be able to make more sounds and begin talking to us. In my dream, I asked her what she wanted to drink after she woke up from surgery. She looked at me and said "juice!" She then began speaking in full clear sentences in my dream, and I thought, "this is great!" No clear words or sentences yet today, but Talia seems more like her "usually self" as Lydia would say. She's played, eaten and had her sippy cup, given us wet kisses and a few smiles.
The hospital staff was completely charmed as we were leaving the short-term stay unit. Talia graciously blew kisses and waved bye-bye enthusiastically. While the staff thought she was being sweet, we knew she was saying, "we're outta here people!" So we are home, happy to be here, and will try more updates in the coming days, hopefully with pictures. You have to see her in these "no-nos." Also--tomorrow Sears is coming to fix the washing machine--three loads have piled up and the post-surgical drool is creating piles of laundry as we speak. Gotta love the timing of appliances.

We've Survived Surgery!

Wow, what a night. Talia's surgery began at 2 pm and ended just before 5 pm. I was finally able to go in to Recovery at almost 5:30; it was supposed to be for 15 to 30 minutes, before transfer to a short-term stay unit. Well, it was almost 7:30 before we were out of Recovery, as the staff was having a hard time managing Talia's pain. She had codeine, tylenol, fentanyl, morphine, and finally oxycodone, seemingly without relief. They then decided that she had enough pain coverage, but was agitated over all the tubes--IV line, chest monitors, oxygen monitor on her toe, the many strangers and medical personnel fussing over her and the no-no restraints, and gave her clonidine, an anti-anxiety medication to calm her. I announced that either she was getting the clonidine or I was, but someone needed it. The nursing staff was excellent--we had one-on-one nursing in Recovery and one-on-one nursing in the short-stay unit. We were very lucky that there were only 3 patients in short-stay, a unit divided by curtains. Our nurse, Julie, was so good to Tao and us--she got Art and I each a chair that opened flat to a bed and pointed us to a stacked pantry and fridge for whatever we wanted. Talia ended up never sleeping in her crib at all. We were unable to put her in the crib even in Recovery, and she had to be transported in a wheelchair in mama's lap to short-term care. She spent the night alternately on my chest or Art's chest as we cat-napped in the chair beds. She was able to sleep for up to 4 hours at a time, then vitals were checked and she was given more pain meds. I was amazed that even in the Recovery Room she wanted her Nuby sippy cup in her mouth--maybe so no one could do anythng else in there. We asked her in Chinese at 4am if she wanted to eat, and we got a laugh from her. Poor baby hasn't had solid food since Monday night. She had 1/2 a carton of applesauce at 4am, and ate a healthy portion of steamed egg and had milk in her bottle around 7am. It's just after 8am now and we're waiting to check out of here. She seemed especially happy when most of the tubes and wires were taken off her body. Then she was able to wriggle out of the no-nos, which was really exciting to her. She seems like her "old" self, our happy, wonderful little girl. She's playing with a musical toy right now. With the exception of the initial delay for surgery--no one's fault, the surgery before us just ran long, it's been as good an experience as it could be for our baby's surgery. We can't wait to be home, take showers, and get maybe a real nap in. We'll try to post later.