Working on sitting and other exercises

Today Anna decided that she would push all her toys off her tray while she sat in her Bumbo seat - what a great game!  I think she needs to play this game with her brothers instead of me, though.  I think they will appreciate it even more than I do.

During her speech therapy treatment today Anna did really well sitting with support from the "Boppy" pillow - so of course I had to buy one right away.  She decided to pose  - that hand on the side of her head is a common Anna look - sort of a "woe is me, Mom is making me work so hard".

I have always had people tell me how "mean" physical therapists are with what we make kids do...PT stands for pain and torture, etc...ha ha ha.  However, I think that speech language pathologists should fall under that category too!  My homework with Anna is to do horrible stretching/massage to her poor little cheeks and mouth - 5 TIMES A DAY.  But I am being compliant with this homework, just for the record.  So - all you cool SLP's out there - I really appreciate what you do even more!   And I'm also glad I'm a PT!

Fun in New Orleans

Friday we had a follow up visit for Anna with the surgeon.  As we were driving to the hospital, we got a call that the surgeon was running late - so we went by the hospital and checked Anna in, then drove a few blocks down to Magazine street to find somewhere to eat.  So this is a major perk of having all these appointments...just right around the corner from all these cool, unique restaurants!  Anna enjoyed hanging out at the restaurant, especially since we were able to sit outside.

Here she is enjoying drinking (well, sort of just tasting) some water

         And she looks very happy about David's shrimp and grits, although no bites of that yet for her...

I was dreading telling the surgeon that we just couldn't keep Anna from pulling her nasal conformers out...she somehow kept worming out of her arm immobilizers...but he acted like it was no big deal.  If I had known that before, maybe I could have had some better nights of sleep!!!  But she is doing well and healing nicely.  The plan is to have her next surgery for her palate around the beginning of December.



We worked on tummy time while we waited in the exam room - check out how well she is pushing up on those hands!

And this is classic Anna below - thankfully she can focus really well now (the eye doctor thinks she just has immature eyes due to her environment of minimal stimulation in the orphanage), but every once in a while we get this impressive face!  The boys think it is really cool that she can cross her eyes so well - Alex was bragging to a friend that Anna is only a year old but can cross her eyes like a much older kid (since Nate has just acquired the "eye-crossing" ability at the age of 8).  I haven't really tried to explain that we don't really want her crossing her eyes - I figure it's fine if they want to think that it's a special skill!

Two noses

Will continues to give Anna LOTS of attention...he still wakes up every morning looking for Anna and is always eager to "squeeze" her (I feel like I say the words GENTLE and CAREFUL every other word).  When he saw Anna for the first time after her surgery, he exclaimed "Anna has TWO noses!"  He even went to the nursery at church and told everyone that Anna now has two noses. Interesting...and he even looked at an old video of Anna and pointed out that was when Anna had one nose.  I finally asked him how many noses he has, and he replied "TWO!"  I'm not really sure if he is ready to start preschool...

Here are some recent pictures, thanks to my sweet friend June!  And the good news/bad news is that Anna can now get out of her arm immobilizers and pull out her nasal conformers...so I have given up trying to keep them on.  I have been beaten by a 14 month old - but I am proud that she is fighting and strong enough that she can do that!  However, I will have to confess to the surgeon on Friday at our follow-up appointment that we are non-compliant...sigh.  I was so determined that I was going to do everything just right for follow up, but Anna won!  

Fun with friends

This weekend we were so happy to see our dear friends from Texas who have also adopted a little girl from China (I just want to add that it was my idea first, but they beat us to it - ha!)  Lillie is precious and is doing great with her 2 big sisters and wonderful parents.  Anna wasn't being super sociable, as she is still a little cranky from the surgery, but it was great to get to see them.  

 I asked Will to scoot closer to Lillie for the picture, and then Lillie moved even farther away from him...I'm sure her parents will be glad to know she is avoiding troublesome boys for now.

Lillie was kind and pushed Anna around in the stroller for me while the "big kids" played tennis.  Don't tell Anna's surgeon I let her put her finger in her mouth...I'm not supposed to do that for another 2 weeks...(but she can chew on a bottle, so how is this so different?  I know, I'm rationalizing...)

Another sweet friend that I knew from college days also happened to be coming through town last night - they adopted their 2 older children from Guatemala several years ago.  If I thought adopting from China was difficult, I should have been in their shoes...they had to spend 8 months waiting in the country to get their kids!  Aaaahhhh!

Anna is doing better, but she is still not quite back to her happy "sleep through the night" self.  But she is doing great overall.  Here are some pictures from today - her lip still has "glue" that the surgeon put on last Monday, and it is gradually peeling off.

Day o' crying

Every once in a while I will think back to my good old youth group days and remember that Alan (our crazy and fun youth minister) would label things with an "o" in the middle to add some coolness to a title of a youth event.  For example, a lock-in would become "Night O' Pain".  Same as a lock-in, but just sounds more cool.  (On a side note - as an adult now, that definitely sounds painful - to stay up all night with a bunch of crazy teenagers?!?  Why on earth would anyone ever want to do that?)

Anyway, for me today was a Day O' Crying with Anna.  I mean, who could blame her - she just had her poor little face stitched up - but she was pretty pitiful.  This is pretty much what I saw all day today:

I know things will get better, and I'm certainly glad to be on this side of the surgery.  She will get her stitches out early next week, and I keep reminding myself that she won't remember how terrible she feels right now!

Let's hear it for "Mama"!

Today was a little rough as Anna was recovering from surgery, but she had moments where she felt okay (hooray for pain meds). 

We were able to come home this afternoon, but poor Anna is very frustrated by the arm immobilizers.  However, she managed to use her feet to play with her toys in her bouncy seat - way to adapt!  The other very exciting milestone was that she said "mama" a couple of times today.  I don't think she's actually connecting it with me, but I'll take it.  I was just telling David the other day that Anna had better say mama first, since the boys all said "dada" first...Nate even said baseball before he said mama...

So sweet Anna has given me great joy by saying mama - poor kid was probably trying to say it before, but she didn't have a lip to make it happen!  

Surgery day!

Today was the big day - we arrived at 6AM for Anna's 7:30 surgery.  Here are the before pictures:

She went back to the OR around 7:40, and the doctor didn't come out to talk to us until about 10:40.  He had estimated about 2 hours for the surgery, but he said with such a wide cleft he had a lot of work to do!  They put tubes in her ears to help with the fluid, ear infections, etc, then they did her nose, lip, and anterior palate.   She is very swollen and has all kinds of stitches and little nose splints in, but I think she looks great!  It was such a weird experience to see her for the first time like this - she just looks so different!

Amazing what those surgeons and their team can do!  She is off and on sleeping now, crying out occasionally, but I am so thankful to be through the surgery.  Hopefully we will just have to spend one night at the hospital.  Thanks for all the prayers - keep it up!

Another fun week

We have had several exciting events over the past couple of weeks.  First of all, Anna was able to attend her first Southern Baptist Convention in New Orleans - I suppose she had better get used to that, since that is part of the fun for the Goza family!  It worked out well, since she had an appointment the same day at the hospital in New Orleans - so Anna and I spent one morning at the conference with David.

One of the exhibits allowed us to have our picture taken with a baby alligator (part of the fun of being in Louisiana).  I would like for everyone to note that I'm holding the alligator and Anna has her hand on him too, but David is avoiding the alligator at all costs...

Another new occurrence in the Goza household is the presence of little girl toys now.  Will is always so helpful when Anna gets a present - he loves to open them for her - and he was very happy to play with Anna and her new tea set (thanks Deana!).

Our sweet friend June and her son Silas also found a very fashionable hat for Anna - Anna has a hard time keeping hats on when it is so hot outside, but it has been so much fun to have these fun girl accessories!

And on Thursday Anna got to meet her Aunt Mika and her cousins Mia and Titus for the first time!  She bonded immediately with the girls...and everyone was so sweet to her.  Mia even helped feed Anna her bottle and did a great job.

Anna's first surgery is tomorrow, so I will post an update when I can!  Thanks to everyone for all the prayers!