Mondays

I'm so behind on updating the blog as to what's going on around here. Let's just say that last week was a really LONG week.

So I'll back up a day to Sunday -- Chloe's 2nd birthday -- as you can see from the pictures in the last post, we went to the zoo and then hung out at home with cupcakes, a new water table and a new blowup jumping/climber toy. The girls had a really fun day -- so did Sonny and I. I can't believe I have two 2-year-olds now. WOW. What a difference 4 years makes. Our original LID (log-in-date) with China was June 19, 2006. The day before Chloe's birthday was 4 years since that date. I will never forget that date or the waiting but having my two girls home makes the memories of the waiting fade just a little.

Chloe had two dr appts on Monday. One at 10:30am downtown with the ENT for her follow up on her tubes and then at 2pm with the pediatrician -- on the complete opposite side of town -- for her 2-year checkup and more vaccines. Cassie also had a nurse appt for more vaccines at the same time.

First the good news -- Chloe's tubes and ears look great. The dr was very pleased with the progress Chloe has made in the past 5 weeks on her walking, running, balance, mood, hearing and overall cuteness explosion. However, he wasn't pleased with the hearing tests results on Chloe's left ear during surgery. That test showed that Chloe hears no low tones in her left ear. That meant that we were going to have another hearing test during last Monday's appointment. No problem, as we had some time between our appointments. Three hearing tests later and another 45 minutes waiting to see the dr again we found out nothing. Ok, that's a lie. Chloe's overall hearing is in the normal range and she's a normal toddler with no attention span. The audiologist and a student tried many tricks to keep Chloe engaged enough to check the hearing in each ear and the tones in each ear but Chloe wasn't having any of it.

All this means is I have to call this week -- when the July schedule is out -- and make an 90 minute appt with the audiologist and student to see if they can get meaningful results. If this doesn't work we'll have to have Chloe put under for another hearing test. So please pray that Chloe's hearing has improved in her left ear since the tubes have been in place and that we can get the test completed without putting her under.

On to the next appointment. Chloe is now 31.5 inches tall and 34 inches long -- our dr tracks both -- she said that kids don't stand straight at this age when you try and get their height. She weighs 25.5 lbs. She's in the 50% percentile for both height and weight. She's still wearing mostly 12 month clothes and some 18 month tops and dresses. Plus, her little feet are growing too. She had size 2 feet when we got her and she just graduated to size 4 shoes. Our dr was also very impressed at how much Chloe has changed and advanced in the short time home. She's still way behind where she should be for a 'normal' 2-year-old on all the charts but neither the dr nor Sonny and I are concerned since we know Chloe is very smart and will catch up when she's ready. She's only been walking for 3 months. I think she's doing amazing!!

I have had Chloe at our drs office at least twice a month since coming home. At one of the trips in April I took her in for what I thought was ringworm on her belly. No such luck -- it's psoriasis. Since then it's now on the backs of her legs, her upper arms, belly, behind her right ear and about 4 spots on her face. We are learning what works best to keep it under control as we know this will be a life long condition she'll have to deal with. We were also at the drs office about 3 weeks ago because Chloe woke up with red bumps/dots on her face and arms -- a lot of them. It's some type of allergic reaction to something -- of course it could be anything. And she's been itching like crazy since them. Because of all this and the poop problems still happening about once a week -- she's now on rice milk -- the dr decided to do allergy tests for food. Plus Chloe also needed to have her red blood cells rechecked from when we first came home from China -- they were abnormally shaped -- our dr wanted to wait to recheck them after she had been home for a few months. And we forgot to have a lead test done with we first got home -- the dr and I forgot since we had so many other things going on with Chloe when we first came home.

I will say that both Cassie and Chloe did wonderful with getting their vaccines. This hasn't been the case in the past. Cassie went first since she's normally worse. When the nurse brought in the two shots I sat Cassie on the table and told her she was going to be getting shots. I had also been telling her this all day since she got up. I told her the nurse was going to put the needle in her legs -- pointing to where -- and that it was going to hurt -- just like a little pinch. Then I pinched her leg. I told her it was medicine so she didn't get sick. She seemed ok with it at this point. Cassie laid down and was laughing. She laughed and talked until the last shot -- which burned -- she whimpered for about 15 second and then I told her it was done. Once she found out she was going to get two band aids she just wanted to see the band aids. What a change when you can explain what's going to happen to them --- and they get it. I did the same routine with Chloe -- she whimpered and cried a tiny bit more but overall a great improvement from the last set of shots.

At this point on Monday it's around 4pm. The lab for blood work is in the same building. The woman working needed to call for assistant to help us restrain Chloe. It was ugly. It was all I could do to hold it together for both girls as Cassie was in the stroller watching this all. After one try in each arm, digging in both arms, and one blown vein, I said enough. There was no way with no nap and too many people poking and prodding on my baby that there was going to be anymore. The woman doing the blood draw was very nice and kept saying she was sorry. She asked us to come back in the morning at 10am and another woman with be there with her and she was better at getting blood from kids. And to top it all off for the allergy test they needed two large tubes plus two small tubes for the other tests.

Tuesday morning we got the blood draw done -- on the second try. I also asked them to please let me hold Chloe facing me so I could hug her tightly against me for the 2nd try. They agreed and that seemed to help. I know now for blood to only go when this woman is working and how to hold Chloe to make it easier on her. This was also the same woman who did the blood draw on Chloe when we first came home.

The allergy test results take about a week so I'll call this afternoon and see if they results are back. I'm really hoping she's allergic to something we are feeding her so it will explain the itching, rashes and running poop.

I have lots more to tell but since this post is getting so long I'll save the rest for another day.

~~~~ 7:00PM UPDATE ~~~~

Chloe goes in for her hearing tests on July 16th.

I talked to her pediatrician and Chloe's CBC test was perfect!!!! Her lead test was normal. And so were all the allergy tests. That's not so good -- since now we are starting over on what the problem might be. Our dr wants us to add in more plain white rice to Chloe's diet. She thinks that Chloe might need it to help her digestion since that was a staple in her diet for the first 19 months. We used to eat it about 3 - 4 nights a week but 2-year-olds and sticky white rice is a complete mess to clean up. It goes everywhere. But we'll go back to our 3 - 4 nights a week of white rice and see if that helps with the poop issues. As for the itching, she gave me a name of an allergist to see. Before we do that I'm going to make a couple of changes. I was using Dreft but switched to the Target brand a couple of months ago since it's so much cheaper -- I'll go out tomorrow and buy the real stuff. Plus, we'll cut out the milk powder in the bath water again. If that helps I'll just have to find another solution for Cassie's skin problems -- as separate baths just won't work.