Four Months Later...

We haven't been bored, and we haven't been lazy. We certainly haven't had any uneventful days, and we haven't been able to sit down a read a book uninterruped. We've pretty much been up to everything else. Doctor's appointments, scraped knees, spilled milk, surgery, 832 diapers, chest x-rays, blood transfusions, barrettes and pony tails, wet kisses, and tons of hugs. You know...the usual. If you have a baby as special as ours.

Katie Mei is now IN YOUR FACE fun!

She lives life with gusto, whether it's hiking herself up the ladder on the slide, toppling down the staircase and bonking her head, playing badminton with Merrilee and Jacob, or eating Zesty Taco and Chipotle Ranch Doritos with Mom rather than messing with those sissified Oreos that the other kids eat. She hasn't got time for naps, though Mom tries her darndest every day to get her to take one. We're lucky if she gets an hour in each day. And night time...you can forget about a good night's sleep anymore. We're on a roll to see how many nights she can get Mom out of bed six or eight times. Last night was a record nine times. What does Mom need sleep for anyway? All she does is sit around making Merrilee learn stuff, put toys out in the backyard to play with, boss the kids around, and drink coffee. It's not like Mom actually gets up and goes running or exercises or anything.

(Warning on potty seat: "Never Leave Child Unattended!" ...Oops.)

And the food. The girl can put away some food. But it has to be the right kind of food. Like cheese sticks. Yeah...cheese sticks and ham. Lots of cheese and ham. But not that sissified flat square of yellow cheese. No, that's for babies. Only the straight, white SALTY cheese sticks. And ham. Not peanut butter and jelly...that's for kids. Just ham. Lots of SALTY, greasy ham. Mmmmmmm. And Doritos. Spicy. Of course.

She hates the cat. At least she wants us to think so. You have to sneak up on 'em to see the love.

Now water, that's another story. Give her water, make it plentiful, and it's a hit. She does not limit herself to the tub.


I don't have much else to say. Actually, I do. Life is a whole new ballgame with three, and this newest addition has rocked our world. I can only stick my tongue out at those folks who were naysayers about us adopting a baby with such "serious" heart conditions. Those who warned us that we were getting ourselves in over our heads...you were right! Our lives will never be the same! And we're serious!

Love,
Petrie

Heads Up--I'm moving our blog address

I originally started this blog as a way to keep long-distance family and friends updated on us. Then, I shared the address with a few other people I trusted who were interested in Katie Mei's adoption and subsequently her surgery.

Since both the above events are now concluded successfully, thanks be to God, it is time to move back into our own private little world of just family and close friends. It has also come to my attention that some folks have shared my blog address with others outside my small circle without my permission.

So I'm going to be changing the URL of this blog and giving the address to those with whom I originally shared it. The privacy of my family is a high priority, and though I do share this blog with people outside the family, I keep the circle of readers small and limited to those I know and trust.

I will do my best to pass the new address on to everyone I want to have it, but chances are I'll miss a couple of you. I plan to share the new address with family and close friends via email by next Friday (May 22nd). If you don't hear from me and thought you would, chances are I've just messed up and unintentionally left you off the list of people to email. If you think I've messed up, then please don't hesitate to contact me and ask for the new address. I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But if you got the address through a third party who did not have my permission to give it to you (i.e. someone on a Yahoo group), and you're not someone I'm regularly in contact with, then chances are you're here just out of curiousity and we're strangers to you in reality, so you won't miss us too much anyway.

Hope this doesn't step on toes too badly, but as I said, my family's privacy is of great importance to me.

Blessings,
Petrie

First trip to the beach

The end of last week proved to be beautiful, so we took advantage of finished homework and lovely weather to head to the beach on the base Friday. It was Katie Mei's first time getting her feet in the sand and water, and she really wasn't too impressed. It's not the best beach because the sand is pretty rocky, and even my winter-tender feet didn't like it, but I tried to keep her to the softest sandiest spots.

She whined a bit and wanted me to pick her up when the water washed up on her toes, but after she was given a shovel and bucket and shown how to use them, she didn't mind just squatting down in the sand and digging away. We did have one incident where she managed to get sand in her mouth...a lesson learned the hard way. I don't think she'll do that again. And just for the record, she was okay after we washed the sand down with a little juice.

After playing in the sand and letting me take a hundred photos, she finally got to sit on the picnic blanket and eat apples and cheese crackers. That seemed to make it all worth it for her. Merrilee and Jacob really enjoyed the day, too, even if they weren't the center of attention this time.

After about an hour, the clouds started rolling in. It was time to pack up and head home. We got home just about an hour before Jay came home, and we had a great weekend of hanging out with Daddy, working and playing outdoors in the backyard, and eating yummy dinners cooked on the grill. We can't wait for more fun days like this!

Petrie

Katie Mei's First Birthday Party

Since the five of us were finally back together again this weekend, we decided to celebrate the girls' birthdays while we had the chance. Jay had to leave again today (Sunday) so we pulled off a little birthday party yesterday. It turned out very sweet, and they both enjoyed it. Merrilee was very gracious in sharing her celebration with her little sister.

I let Merrilee make the cake, since she loves to cook. I bought a lemon cake mix and lemon frosting, and Merrilee prepared the mix. Then I let both girls lick the batter. Katie Mei wasn't too impressed at first, but after a few licks, she was happy to grab the scraper from me and finish it herself. Merrilee is already a pro at beater-licking, so I didn't need to coax her at all.

After cooling and decorating the cake, we headed out to the Mexican restaurant for dinner. Katie Mei is definitely a Mexican Fan, and really loves her tortilla chips. She devoured the white chili sauce with gusto, as well.

We came back from dinner and settled down to eat cake and open presents. I made the cake with six single candles on one side for Merrilee, and a number 2 candle on the other side for Katie Mei. Merrilee did the candle blowing first so Katie Mei could see how it's done.

After about the third chorus of the Happy Birthday song, it was Katie Mei's turn at the cake. She stood right up and starting huffing at it. She's had plenty of practice at blowing bubbles, and I always have to tell her to put her chin up to blow so she actually hits the bubble wand. So last night she starting blowing (she goes Fffff-ffffff, making the "f" sound when she blows), with her chin held high. I had to realign her so she was pointing down more toward the candles. Unfortunately, her short little Fffff puffs aren't quite long enough to blow out a candle, so I had to give her a little help after about the seventh try. She was convinced it was her own doing. She kept us all laughing and in stitches.

Then, of course, we had to get the classic face-in-the-cake photo. But Katie Mei just doesn't like to get messy. She was not going for the entire cake-munch shot, but she did manage to leave a little mouth imprint in the frosting. Then we all settled in for a slice.

We learned something new about Katie Mei. She doesn't like cake. At least not lemon cake. She took a couple bites of frosting, then proceeded to make faces at her dad as he tried to get her to eat more bites. We saw a few new faces on her that we hadn't seen before. We won't do lemon cake next year.

She finally forgave Daddy when he let her crawl into his lap and play tickles for a few minutes while the rest of us finished our cake.

After the cake, we went to the living room to open presents. She got a really darling Melissa & Doug surgeon puppet from Aunt Paige and Uncle Allan. At first she was a little taken aback by this "new person", but she warmed after after a few minutes. It really is a beautiful puppet. I love Melissa & Doug toys.

When it was Merrilee's turn to open presents, Katie Mei wasn't quite ready to stop. The very first present Merrilee opened was immediately appropriated by Katie Mei who didn't even think twice about taking it and walking off with it. We got another laugh out of that, too; well, everyone but Merrilee did.

After all was said and done, we had enjoyed another wonderful day together as a family. This weekend was such a blessing, and we were all sorry to see Daddy leave again after church today. We will miss him.

So I am now at home with my three lovies, ages 2, 5, and 6. I have to get Merrilee back on her home schooling schedule so we can get this year finished and be ready for second grade, and I have to get Jacob's school physical and shots scheduled for his first year of kindergarten at the Charter School. It's going to be busy, but it's such a blessing to have them all home and together. Right now they're downstairs playing together and keeping one another entertained. Despite the noise and mess, and even a little fighting, I'm just so happy. God is good. All the time.

May you all experience the blessing of knowing how precious your family is as well, and know that every moment you have together is a gift of grace that only comes from the hand of God.

Love,

Petrie

She Is Home!

Katie Mei was discharged yesterday afternoon and we got home around 11:30 pm last night! It was a long day, but worth every moment! She slept through the night, the short five hours of it, before she woke up at 6:30 am. I have to give her meds every four hours, so it wasn't a solid night of sleep for me, but I am just so glad to have her back that it's nothing to me to get up and prepare her doses for her.

She seemed very excited to be home, which surprised me. She was home for six weeks-six days, and was in the hospital for six weeks-four days. So it was almost equal time in both places. I wasn't sure how she'd handle the transition, but she flew right to her Fridge Phonics last night and started the ABC song. She screamed at the cat, and then challenged him to let her pet him. She found her own diapers and got one when she needed changing, and jumped right into Merrilee shoe bin this morning to try on Merrilee's church shoes. I don't think we'll have any problem with reintroducing her to home life! She was really thrilled to be back in the bath tub this morning, since sponge baths aren't quite as much fun, and when I left her to play for a few minutes (I was ten feet away across the hall talking to her, not leaving her unsupervised!) I walked back in the bathroom to find she had rewashed herself and was covered from neck to toe in suds and the bathwater was white with soap. It took a few extra minutes to rinse her enough so she wasn't slippery anymore! She is so happy to be home.

I can hardly wait to get Merrilee and Jacob home now. They will be so glad to see Katie Mei again, and I know she will be delighted to have them to play with.

Thank you to those who have faithfully prayed for us over the past six weeks. We are truly grateful for the outcome of this surgery, and give God the praise for all He's done.

Love,
Petrie

Confusion in Happy Land

I have no idea. Jay called today and said there was no drainage over last night. Yesterday there was too much drainage to talk about pulling the tube. As of later this morning, it's out. I am confused. And very thankful. But very confused.

I want to again say thank you to those of you who comment, encourage, and pray for us. Now we wait and see how she tolerates the lack of an exit for the fluid in there.

Love,

Petrie

Not gonna happen

They're not pulling the drain tube today; too much drainage as of yesterday.  And a cath is being scheduled for Monday.

I am in the valley.  I feel crushed, hurt, angry, and betrayed.  I know things could turn around anytime, but I just don't even feel like I have anymore hope.  I have been told over and over by the "professionals" that drainage always stops, and I believe them.  But right now that just doesn't comfort me.  I am going into the blank zone where nothing even seems to matter anymore.  I don't want to hear any more good news because I won't believe it, and I don't want to hear any bad news because I've heard too much and there's nothing I or anyone else can do about it anyway.

So we're back to just repeating the past weeks over and over again.