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Monday, February 27, 2012
Feb 27 - A few more bday pics
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February 27 - More pics
She got a Red Retro Radio Flyer trike from my parents - she loves it! :)
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February 27 - Monday
What a great weekend we had! We had Bethany's birthday party Saturday afternoon. It was a "2" Princess party, because she is of course, a little princess, and she looked the part. She was so cute and she just really enjoyed herself. As I mentioned earlier, we kept it VERY small with just a few family and friends so that she wouldn't feel overwhelmed. She did so well – we were worried about how she would sleep after such a "stimulating" day, but she did fine. We relaxed the rules around here just a little since it was her b-day weekend – she stayed up til 10:00 Saturday night playing with her new toys and she only ate cheese puffs and cake for lunch and dinner Saturday. Cheese puffs are her favorite food – hands down – so we decided to let her eat cheese puffs until she couldn't eat anymore. And she did. J Since Sunday was her birthday, we kept it kind of quiet with just the 3 of us Sunday afternoon – definitely lots more cheese puffs, since it was officially her birthday. We did finally make it to church Sunday. It was so good to be back! We enjoyed getting to see close friends and letting Bethany meet them. She was so good in church. We were prepared to have to get up and take her out after a few minutes of being there, but we all stayed the whole time. She got a little rowdy a few times, but we got her calmed down with her snacks. We thought she did so well to have never been in a situation like that. We didn't know how she would sleep Sunday night after such a big weekend, but again, she was fine. We are so relieved – we can finally start getting out and about a little more and seeing new people. New to her anyway. We think she's finally starting to feel a little more settled and safe, and that's a wonderful thing. She's meeting my aunts and uncles on my Dad's side of the family tomorrow. We're going to my parents, and we'll stay as long as she is okay. I'm looking forward to seeing all of them and hope we get to stay for awhile. Back to her party, she got all kinds of new toys and things, and we'll post some extra pictures of her playing with her new toys.
To anyone reading who has met Bethany, or who will meet Bethany soon, please understand that she doesn't intend to be ugly when she doesn't want to be touched or held. She really is not a mean or bratty child; she's just been through so much and she's getting adjusted to meeting new people. When we first got her, she would go to anybody – a perfect stranger on the street she was fine with. She has been passed around so much, so she was used to going to anyone. She literally would have gone to a stranger on the street and not blinked an eye. Even after we got home, she went to strangers (strangers to her, family and friends to us) way too easily. Now that she has adjusted to having the same "caretakers" consistently, she doesn't want to be touched or held by anyone she doesn't know. She eventually warms up and will go to family and friends, but it just takes her a little while. And we don't rush her, because she needs to be comfortable. Anyway, we don't want anyone to think that she's being bratty because she is an incredibly sweet child – she's just been through more than any of us can imagine, so please give her a little time. She'll love you eventually. She finally loves us. J Just wanted to offer an explanation in case you see us out and she won't have anything to do with you.
Something I just learned: we have "Comments" on our blog. I didn't know this until last night, so for all of you who have commented and not received a reply from me, SORRY! I didn't know they were there. I did stay up late last night and read everyone one of them going all the way back to when we were in China.
Gonna run for now. A certain little girl took a very short nap today, and she is getting more contrary by the minute. Thanks to all for reading and a reminder that we have tube surgery next Monday, so we appreciate your prayers for our little sugar baby!
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Thursday, February 23, 2012
February 24 - More pictures
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February 23 - Thursday
We've had a good week this week. I'm pretty much over pink eye – no more pinkness, so I guess it's gone, and Bethany didn't get it. That was an answer to prayer!
Monday, Todd was off for President's Day, so we took Bethany and went to Biloxi. I had read about a children's walking parade that didn't have floats, so thought it sounded tame enough to take her and get her out of the house and outside for a little bit. We knew she would love it, and she did. First of all, she loves watching other children, and second, she loves to be outside. It was a pretty but windy day, so we bundled her, and she had a blast. As a little extra, I got to see my co-worker, Melissa, and her little boy, Asa, that was actually in the parade. She had fixed up his wagon for him to walk/ride. It was cute. All of the kids were cute, but it was fun to see someone we know. It was really nice to be out of the house too. I was getting cabin fever.
Tuesday afternoon, I met my parents at the park here in town, and we let Bethany play. She ended up playing for 3 and ½ hours - she had so much fun swinging and sliding, and again, being outside. We finally had to go when the sun was going down and it was getting a little chilly. She is definitely an outside girl.
Our "big" plans for the weekend are to have a very small birthday party since Sunday the 26th is Bethany's 2nd birthday! We would love to do a big "blowout", but she's not ready for that yet, so we're settling for a small "Princess" party. We're throwing it together at the last minute and hoping everything we ordered gets here in time. I am not usually a last minute person, but we've been so busy with everything else going on, her birthday snuck up on us. Anyway, we'll post pics of the big day. She loves balloons, so there are going to be LOTS of balloons at the Rayburn residence for awhile. We would love to have all of our friends and family here, but know that her #3 is going to be a VERY big party. I'm going to start planning it on February 27. J
Bethany has started doing the cutest little thing. Whenever I sneeze, she runs and finds a Kleenex or napkin and brings to me wipe my nose – whether I need it or not. J I guess because we wipe her nose when she sneezes, she thinks I need mine wiped too. J One time, she couldn't find one after running around, so she came back and pulled my t-shirt out to me and kind of held it up to my nose. We DO NOT do that around here, so I'm guessing she learned that at the orphanage. Ugh. But it's still really funny, nonetheless. Today, she started walking around the house in my slippers – she thinks she's big stuff. J We think she's funny stuff. Our lives were so boring before we got her, and we didn't even know it. No time for boredom now – she makes sure of that.
Talked to the sweetest family last night from Illinois. They're using the same agency we did, and they just got their referral for their little girl. She's almost 3 (in May) and they are hoping to be able to travel in May to get her and bring her home. She has a cleft lip and palette like Bethany, with her lip being repaired. She is just beautiful, and we are so excited for them. They are naming her Nevaeh (Heaven spelled backwards). Pray for them that things will go smoothly and they will get to bring Nevaeh home quickly. The waiting is so hard – we remember all too well! Also, Ray's family (that I posted about a week or so ago) is coming home from China today! We are so happy for them too and can't wait to meet Ray in person. I think he and Bethany are using the same Cleft Team at Children's, so we'll probably be seeing them a good bit.
All for now. Will post pics of her party this weekend. Love from The RayburnsHawaiian Jewelry and Gifts with Fast Free Shipping - http://www.hawaiicity.com/
Saturday, February 18, 2012
February 18 - more pics
The first 2 pics are Bethany with some of her things from the NAVO shower. As I mentioned earlier, she loves the bags and digging through them. The second pic is of a crocheted alphabet blanket Todd's co-worker's wife did for Bethany. I just had to take a picture of her with it. It's beautiful. The last pic is of my princess after a hard day's play. She is looking wild with that hair everywhere! :) But she had fun, so I guess that's all that matters. She started out with a bow in her hair, but she gave it a chunk pretty early in the day. :)
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Saturday - February 18
It's been a busy week this week. Our last post was Tuesday, so it's been eventful since then. On Wednesday, NAVO gave a shower for Bethany, so we took our first trip to Stennis. She got so many really nice things and everyone was so sweet to come out and see her. She loves being out and about so she really enjoyed the day. We weren't sure how she would do with sleep after meeting so many new people, but she actually did well. I also took her to CNMOC (across the street from where Todd works at Stennis) where I work, and she got to meet a few of my co-workers. Most were in a departmental meeting, so we didn't get to see too many of them. I was looking forward to seeing everyone after having been gone for a month and a half, but we'll have to make another trip out to show her off. She did so well with our Stennis day, so I'm looking forward to trying to get out there again to see my friends soon. We didn't get to see anyone else at Stennis, because it was WAY past her nap time and she needed to get home and get to sleep. So for my friends reading that we missed, we'll make another trip soon and hope to see you then. I'm going to post some pictures of Bethany's things that she got at Wednesday's shower. She loves the bags and paper and her Mama and Daddy love the stuff!
On to Thursday……We received a call Tuesday from her Internat'l Adoption Doctor at UAB that the results were back from her immunization check. She had a lot of immunizations in China, and most were actually good and "took". So the good news is that she doesn't have to be re-immunized for all of those. She did have 1 or 2 that didn't "take", so the recommendation is to have those readministered. She's also due for a few that China didn't give her, so as of right now, she's due about 5 immunizations and 2 additional ones in a couple of months. That brings us to Thursday; so Thursday, we had another appt. with her pediatrician to discuss her immunizations, what was really needed and necessary, and a possible schedule. We didn't want to load her down with too many at one time, so we determined to go ahead and give her 2 – the ear infection one and the pneumonia one. Her doctors really encouraged those because she's already so prone to ear infections, so we agreed to go with those for right now. Also on Thursday, I woke up with my left eye being red and irritated. I thought it was allergies and didn't give it much thought since we were so busy with Bethany's appt. As the day progressed, my eye got redder and really began hurting, so that by Thursday night, I was pretty sure I had pink eye. We got up Friday morning and went to the doctor who then sent me to an ophthalmologist because it was so bad. Sure enough, it's a really bad case of pink eye, and today (Saturday), it has now moved into my right eye. Great. J Of course, it is very contagious, so we are sequestered at home which means no church tomorrow. Again. Too much of a risk to pass on to people who don't need or want this junk. Bethany has been doing better with sleep and we've had her at home as much as possible hoping that we could go to church Sunday. But that's not happening. We're praying that she doesn't get this from me – I've tried to be so careful around her. She does NOT need anything else that will send her to another's doctor's office. We kind of feel like we've been living in doctor's offices, so we want to keep her healthy. As a side note, she had gained weight from our last doctor's visit – 2 pounds. She's almost up to 20 pounds, so we're happy! She's still not on a growth chart with her weight, but she loves chocolate and strawberry milk, so we'll eventually get there if she'll keep drinking those in large quantities! We also finally found another pediatric eye doctor in NO, so we'll be making that trip on March 1st to get that behind us.
Bethany is a little clown, and you can see that from some of the pics I'll post tonight. She is so funny, and we have the most fun just watching her and laughing. And taking lots of pictures, of course. We went by my parents during the week, and the weather was bad, so she couldn't go outside and ride in her wagon. So, her Granddaddy brought her wagon inside the house and rode her in it. She could be a little spoiled. :) We think we have a pretty quiet week this week, so we might get to go to the park and play some if the weather cooperates and nothing big comes up. Bethany LOVES to be outside, so she'll really enjoy a few hours outside at the park. We'll post pics if that works out. That's all for now. Love from the Rayburn 3.
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Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Tuesday - February 14
Today was a sweet Valentine's Day with our little valentine. Her grandparents loaded her down with "stuff", so she had a really good day. :)
We went to the ENT yesterday afternoon and he recommended that we go ahead with tubes now instead of waiting for her palette surgery. Her appt. at the Cleft Clinic with the Cleft Team is April 16, and the ENT said that it would probably be late May to early June before her palette surgery could be done. So, even though it's another anethesia, he said that if it were his child, he would go ahead and get the tubes now. That was confirmation for us, because her Internat'l Adoption Dr. at UAB said the same thing. Her language is already delayed due to the cleft, and it will be even more delayed if we wait because her hearing is impaired due to all of the fluid in her ears. Once the fluid is draining and she can hear well, her language will improve. On a positive note, her hearing was not as impaired as the doctor thought it would be with the amount of fluid that she has. We were thankful for that. Yesterday was our first experience with Children's Hospital, and we were SO impressed. As of now, Bethany has been blessed with very good and very kind doctors - from her local pediatrician, to the staff and UAB and Children's in NO - it makes us feel better that she's being treated by people who care about her. Oh, and her tube surgery is Monday, March 5.
Guess that's about all for tonight - just wanted to send a short post and some pics from the last day or so.
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Sunday, February 12, 2012
Sunday - February 12
The opthalmologist appt. in New Orleans was a fiasco. It was an early morning appt, so we had to wake her up Friday morning which threw off her whole routine, drove all the way to NO, and then they tell us that someone was supposed to call us and tell us that the appt was cancelled. Of course they didn't call, so that was a totally wasted trip. They asked if we wanted to reschedule......Ummmmmm.....NO! We'll find another pediatric opthalmologist. If anyone knows a good one, please let us know because I just found this doctor at Tulane online with no recommendations from anyone. I'll gladly take feedback from anyone that knows a good ped eye doctor.
I finally got Bethany in one of her dresses that we bought for her in China. She HATES to have her clothes changed, so we're doing good to get one set of clothes on her a day....we surely don't just put clothes on to take a few pics in.......Well, I had been wanting to take her picture in this dress, so I finally braved her wrath to put in on her for a few pictures and then took it off to dress her in her normal clothes. She did okay, but as you can tell in the last picture, she is getting outdone with me. :) I put the camera down shortly thereafter. She has her limits, and I had exceeded them. I have another blue dress that I'll eventually put on her and take her pic in - when I'm feeling braver. :) I want to take her and have professional pictures done, but it will probably be in one outfit so she doesn't get too contrary. I have 3 Chinese outfits that I really want professional photos of her in, but we'll have to see how that goes......
There's a family from our local Families with Chinese Children group that is in China now and they actually got their son today. We are so excited for them! His name is Ray, and he's a little cutie. He has a cleft lip/palate like Bethany, and his lip has been repaired also. Most families that adopt from China are adopting special needs kids because the wait is so ridiculously long for a "healthy" child. Everyone is our group from our agency adopted special needs and every family we met in China - which was ALOT - adopted special needs, except one family. She was a single woman, and she waited 7 years for her child. Unreal. We thought our 18 month wait from beginning to end was unbearable. Anyway, we're so excited for this precious family and cannot wait to meet RAY when he gets home and settled. If you think about them, say a prayer for Ray and his adjustment to his new family. It's still so fresh in our minds how hard the first few days are. So heartbreaking for parents when your child is grieving so hard and you can't do anything but hold them and try to show them love. Ray will have plenty of love but the first days are usually rough - ours sure were. But they're so sweet now. :-) China is letting their priceless treasures escape from their country for a small pittance. And this is one family that is so HAPPY for their ignorance! They definitely gave us a wonderful, priceless treasure, and we named her Bethany!!!
All for now - will post more later when we find out what the ENT will do and when. Love from the Rayburn3
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
One Month With Bethany - February 8
Today is one month ago that we got Bethany, so that is a big celebration day for us! :) She is doing really well, but we're still having sleeping problems which is a sign of an underlying issue. We've really scaled back this week on activities and tried to keep her world very small. We didn't make it to church Sunday - her sleeping has been too erratic so we felt like she didn't need any new experiences. It was a last minute decision, but we think the right one to make. We're sure hoping to be able to take her this Sunday, but we'll wait to see how she does. We have trips to New Orleans this Friday and Monday. The Internat'l Adoption Clinic recommended that she see an opthalmologist, just to make sure her vision is fine, so that appt. is this coming Friday morning at Tulane. Then, Monday is her appt. with the ENT at Children's. We really think her vision is fine, but we'll know for sure after Friday.
Todd went back to work Monday, and we can tell people were praying because she really did fine. He's gone when she wakes up, and he calls to talk to her a couple of times a day, but she has done just fine. She is SO happy to see him when he comes home, so he loves that. Todd's mom and I were outside this afternoon with her when he drove up, and she was instantly all smiles and waving at him and saying "Da Da". It was cute. I am loving my time at home with her - especially when it's just she and I. I don't get hardly anything done but we sure do have a good time. When you come to see me, don't expect a clean house because I've pretty much quit cleaning....my baby is much more fun to play with that doing housework. :)
The last pic I'm posting is Bethany watching her new Baby Einstein DVD from my cousin. She was enamoured, as you can tell. Guess that's all for now - or all that my tired brain can remember to type. Thanks again for your interest in and concern for Bethany.
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Sunday, February 5, 2012
More Pics
The 1st picture is of Bethany
The 2nd picture is the same room before we brought her home.
The last picture is of our little bundle of destruction making herself at home.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
more pics
Bethany with her Bitty Baby doll from Mrs. Carol Wise. She loves her baby doll.
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Feb. 4th
It's hard to believe that we left one month ago today on our big adventure to get Bethany home. Time flies....I hope it will slow down some or she'll be grown before we know it. We've had a really busy week. We went to Birmingham to the Internat'l Adoption Clinic, as I think I mentioned in my last post. The doctors, social workers and occupational therapists were pleased with where she is, considering that she's been institutionalized for almost 2 years. She was where she "should" be at this time. They said that normally, children her age are caught up to where they should be within 6 months. Her delay may be a little longer considering that she has a cleft palette and has some intensive surgery and therapy to endure. All in all, it was a good visit. They did tell us that her cleft palette is actually on both sides - it's bilateral - but her lip was only one side - a unilateral cleft. It will make her surgery more "intense" and recovery a little longer. We were surprised - had no idea it was on both sides - but now that we know what we're looking at, we can see it. They also recommended that we go ahead and get her to the ENT at Children's in New Orleans so that he can put tubes in her ears. He's part of the team at the Cleft Clinic in NO that will be her regular ENT doctor. The plan had been to have tubes put in when her palette was repaired - April/May timeframe - but now, we'll go ahead and have tubes put in as soon as possible. She has her first appt. with the ENT on the 13th. We hate to have to put her under anesthesia 2 times so close together, but her hearing is impaired from all of the fluid that can't drain due to the cleft. It's best for her, so that's what we'll do.
We are continuously surprised, thrilled, and entertained every day by Bethany. I know we always say this, but truly, her progress is amazing. She picks up on things so quickly and learns new things everyday. The child who couldn't hold herself up with her arms to even crawl when we got her is now crawling well and even running through the house. Even after we'd had her a week, she could only hold onto furniture and kind of "toddle" along. Now, she's running. :) We love it. She is a bundle of energy and she definitely has her likes and dislikes and does not mind letting you know what those are. She has "No" down really well and knows how to use that too. :) While she is definitely a strong willed child, she has the sweetest little spirit and soul. She wakes up almost consistently with a smile on her face - after we pick her up - and she is a happy baby. She just has the best time playing with us and her grandparents - she totally craves love and attention, and when she's getting those, she's pretty happy. She has the sweetest little giggle we've ever heard, and Todd says if we could bottle it, we'd make a million dollars. :) I have to agree.
We're going to try church tomorrow. Not too sure how long we'll make it, but we want to at least try going. She doesn't sit still long, so we'll see how long she lasts when it gets quiet. Todd is going back to work Monday, so that is something I'm not looking forward to. Bethany is so attached to him; she is crazy about Todd, and I think it's going to be really hard on her when he's gone for so long. She starts getting antsy when he steps out to run to town, so all day will be hard on her. She can't understand that he's not leaving for good and that he'll be back. All she knows is abandonment and change, so pray for her little heart, emotions and mental state to handle Todd being gone. Her night terrors are so much better, and we thank everyone for praying for those. She still has them, but they're less severe and less frequent. We're grateful for that. We just want her little heart and mind to be at peace and know she's loved and safe.
We'll try to do better about keeping up the blog. We are kind of getting into a routine - of course, Todd going back to work is going to upset that little apple cart. But, we'll be okay and get the routine back in place. We wanted to keep the updates coming a little more frequently, but this has been a crazy week with the trip to Birmingham. Anyway, thanks for reading, your interest in our sweet little Bethany, and most of all, your prayers for her. She is a little angel, and we are looking forward to being able to get her out and about a little more to meet our friends and family. As a side note, we tried Thursday night having her around new family members, and while it seemed fine at the time, it was too much for her. With these kids, too much activity or too many new experiences causes sleeping issues - major sleeping issues- and she paid a big price for our excursion. Anyway, I say all of that to say that we're going to be very slow in bringing new people into her life. Believe me, we really miss our friends and family, but we have to be careful not to cause her any additional stress. So if you're wondering about our delay in bringing her out to introduce her, that's the reasoning behind it. All of the adoption experts recommend doing this very slowly, and we've probably done a little too much in our haste to "show her off". We do send out love and thanks to everyone. Todd, Stacey and Bethany
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