Friday, September 18, 2009

Update on Cassie's doc visit

Cassie had her 18-month old checkup today -- she'll be 18-months old on Tuesday. She's doing great. She's grown a half of inch and gained 1.8 lbs in the past 3 months. She's now 32.5 inches tall and 21.8 lbs. Still my tiny, little, tall girl -- I know that makes no sense but that's what she is. The doc things she's doing great in all areas. Cassie now knows about 8 English words and still understand Chinese when the doc talks to her. I know it won't be long and she'll forget the Chinese she knows, but I just love that she still remembers it after being home for 4 months.

She also got 3 shots -- she wasn't happy about that. And will be going back in a month for a flu shot. Then we don't go back until she's 2.

I also had our doc look over Chloe's paperwork. The doc things her info looks good. And that her SN is manageable. She just wants us to get her home asap. That's because she knows she needs her family.

Our dossier is on it's way to China as I type this. I'll be hoping and praying the CCAA processes our file quickly. Now we just wait.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

DTC......on Friday the 18th!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our good news came a little bit early. Jessa called this morning at 10:56am to say that she had everything for our dossier (it was shipped from me and from the courier in Chicago) and that it all looked great!!! It's already packaged up to go to China in the mailing on Friday. YEAH!!!! So that means our official DTC (dossier to China) date is 09/18/09.

Our next step in the process is getting our LID (log in date). That's kind of like a FedEx tracking number in a way -- it means that our dossier is in the system to be processed. After that we'll be waiting on our LSC -- which meaning Chloe is officially ours -- that takes anywhere from 30 to 100 days -- on average. One we get our LSC we can post her beautiful little face on the blog.


Here are some stats on our dossier:

We started our dossier on July 20th. From then to the day it is mailed to China is less than 9 weeks.

Our LOI was sent in on August 7th. Our dossier will be mailed to China exactly 6 weeks later.

It didn't take too long -- it was stressful -- but for a short amount of time. Now the hard part -- waiting for our LSC. I'm so grateful that I have Cassie to keep me busy this time with the waiting. It's very easy to get lost in watching her giggle and play all day. I need to focus on that and my deep breathing.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Too cute Tuesday











Not much to say today. The past week has been crazy trying to get our dossier completed. As soon as I have some good news to share about the dossier - I'll post more on it. I'm hoping to post about it on Friday. You know this coming Friday. In 3 more days. The 18th. That Friday.

Until then here's some cute pictures of my little munchkin. The first picture is Cassie getting ready for breakfast. I was frying an egg for her and she went and got a bib out of the bib basket and put the bib and her bottle on my chair -- next to her highchair. She's such a sweet girl and such the helper. When she first came home she'd scream if she smelled food -- I think she had gone without it so many times, then if she smelled food she'd stand at the stove and cry for a bite, then it was stand near the stove and say mmmmmm, and now my baby girl knows she'll get food. She has come such a long ways in 4 short months. Tomorrow will mark the day we have been home with Cassie for 4 months.

Tuesday, September 08, 2009

Outside toys...playing outside...finally



Cassie really didn't want anything to do with being outside when we first came home. She was ok with being in the back yard -- if she was being carried -- which got old for mama really fast. I'd set her down on the deck or grass and she cried to be picked back up. So needless to say we didn't spend much time outside. She liked her world really small -- the inside of the house was about all she could handle. In the last few weeks she now loves being on the deck. She finds leaves and sticks and thinks they are the best toys ever -- until she realizes that she has dirt on her hands -- she doesn't like dirt on her hands. She'll even walk on the grass now. So we figured it was time to get her some toys for outside. A few weeks ago we saw pink baby-toddler swings on clearance for $15. So of course we bought two of them. We wanted to buy one before but we didn't have a tree to hang it from that could support the swing or that had branches low enough. But we did have my nieces old swing set in the side yard. Sonny decided to take the old swings off, clean it up and paint it pink and purple. He finished it up this weekend. Then on Sunday we went and bought this little slide and climber at the toy store. We also found a sandbox / picnic table combo set at Sam's we wanted but needed the trailer to go get it. So yesterday we went and picked that up. It's very cute all except for the sand box cover doesn't really snapping on. But a bungee cord seems to work really well to solve that problem. We haven't bought any sand yet but will this week. Cassie really seems to love all her new toys. And mama is glad we have something to do during the day. The weather is starting to get a little cooler and it's perfect for playing outside. Since the slide works better with long pants anyways.



She wasn't too sure about the slide at first -- but after about 15 minutes she was going down it all by herself.



She is giggling here - not screaming. After about 5 minutes on the swing we took her off. She then protested by squatting down in front of the swing and fake crying -- until we pointed out the slide and the crying stopped. Funny how that works.



This was yesterday right after dada set up the new play set. It came with two shovels and flower pots. Just wait until she has sand to fill them with.



Here's the new play area. It's right off the deck -- the deck is to the left of these pictures. When the girls get bigger and more secure we'll move the play area to the side yard which is huge compared to this little spot.

All that's missing from this picture is Chloe. I can't wait to see my girls playing together. While I have margaritas on the deck with my feet up and the pool boy rubbing them.

Thursday, September 03, 2009

Quick update on Cassie's Dr. appointment

Hi all,

It's been a crazy couple of weeks here but we did have Cassie's appointment with the cleft Dr. on Monday. He believes Cassie's lip muscle was fixed correctly and he didn't see any issues with her palate or gums. Because of this we can hold off a little while longer on her lip revision. She needs to be rechecked in 6 months just to make sure everything still looks good and she's not having any problems with eating or her speech.

We'd like to wait until next fall to have her lip revision since we'd like to focus on Chloe's palate first. Plus, I kind of like her crooked little lip. I will miss it when it's gone. And, add in the fact that Cassie's still on a bottle, not sleeping through the night and will be getting a little sister soon is a lot for my baby girl to be facing. Surgery -- for now -- can wait. The great news is that when she does have surgery it will be outpatient. That makes this mama very happy.

I'm hoping to have more to share about Chloe's paperwork soon.