***It is now March 27, and I just never posted this blog. We've had a busy week and a half, and I'll post more about that later. Just wanted to get this out there with some updated pictures. We'd had several people asking about an update, so here it is up until March 18. It means so much to us to know that so many people are so interested in our daughter and want to keep up with her progress.***
It has been a busy 2 weeks since we last posted. Bethany's tube surgery went so well. Her ENT said afterwards that he was very happy that we made the decision to go ahead with tubes because her ear drums were very thick (apparently, that's a bad thing). Anyway, he said we definitely made the right decision, and we agree. We could tell the night of the surgery that she can hear much better. Things she didn't respond to before, she could hear after surgery. We can already tell a difference in her speech too. She's imitating a lot more sounds and trying to say more. She started "Mooing" like the cow Friday. J She did wake up with an ear infection this past Thursday morning in one ear, which was a little disheartening, but the ENT said the infections should be less frequent. She's using ear drops now that will clear it up. Children's Hospital in New Orleans is just awesome. They were so good with her – and with us – we just can't say enough good things about them and our experiences so far. It makes us more comfortable about her palette surgery coming up.
Thursday morning, we took her for her first haircut, as much as we hated to. She had never had a real haircut, and she had a lot of little "scraggly" pieces that were uneven. We think her last "haircut" was when they shaved her head, sometime around when she was 14 months. So, it was time to get all of the scragglies cleaned up; we're hoping that her hair will grow out fast now that it's been trimmed. Her hair has thickened so much since we got her in January. She was so malnourished when we got her that her hair was incredibly thin. Now that she's taking vitamins and eating better, her hair is growing more and thickening up.
Friday afternoon, she had her 2 year well child visit. Her pediatrician's office also does ear piercings, so while we were there, we got her ear's pierced. Poor little thing can't catch a break with her ears – we just won't leave them alone. J Todd says she's going to develop a complex, between us constantly putting drops in her ears and now getting them pierced. She really does hate having her ears fooled with. J She looks adorable though – not that she wasn't already adorable. She loves her earrings; she'll point at hers and then want to play with mine. She's a little girly girl – she loves having on jewelry and is so prissy. Anyway, she had a good checkup. Her pediatrician said that she's doing really well and that she's progressed and doing a lot of things that a 24 month old should be doing. We knew we had seen so much progress in her development in the last 2 months, but it was good to see "on paper" that she really has made such huge strides. She's still behind in some things, especially related to speech, but we've come a long way in 2 months so there's no reason to think that she won't continue to progress – especially after palette surgery. The one thing we were disappointed with was her weight. Before when she's been weighed, it was fully clothed. At this visit, they did a "nekkid" (as our friend Christy likes to say) weight measurement and she was only 19 pounds. We know she's gained about 5 pounds since we've had her, so that puts her weight when we got her around 15 pounds. We knew she was pretty malnourished – literally nothing but skin and bones. We thought she was around 17 pounds when we got her and that she was 21 pounds now, but we wrong. Amazing how much of a difference clothes, a diaper, and shoes make. We've got to get her fattened up so that she can at least get on the growth chart for her weight. Her height is at least on the growth chart – 5th percentile – but her weight is still too low. Everything else was good news, but we were discouraged about her weight. And for those of you who know me well and my lack of cooking abilities, yes, I do cook for her, in case you're wondering. J She gets to eat all kinds of things that Todd and I can't have – real butter, whole milk, etc. She gets all kinds of high calorie food that are off limits for us. We eat Kashi cereal and she gets to eat Froot Loops as an after dinner snack. J
Speaking of Bethany's progression and all that she's accomplished in the last 2 months, Todd and I made the decision that I won't be returning to work. As I've mentioned, she has come so far since we got her on January 8, and we can't set her back by me leaving her. More than anything, she needs stability, and she's used to me taking care of her and always being with her. I'm amazed on Monday mornings how she wakes up looking for Todd after waking up and him being here Friday thru Sunday. She gets used to that after 3 short days and is unsettled when she can't find him in the house. She does fine after a little while, but it always throws her off. On top of that, I really don't want to leave her; missing 2 years of her life is so eye opening in the sense that for all of the money in the world, we can't buy back those years. We missed everything for 22 months of her life, and I don't want to miss any more minutes. So, it was a hard decision to come to - my job with CNMOC was the best and most enjoyable job I've had, but, we love Bethany so much more and her well being is priceless to us. So for all of my Stennis friends reading this, I will miss you. PLEASE keep in contact – you can always call or come for a visit – consider this an open invitation. We're home most of the time and would love to have visits whenever you can come see us. We're planning to make visits at Stennis too, so we'll try to catch up at lunchtime.
I guess that's all of our big news. Thanks for your interest in Bethany!
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