Christmas Party

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Veterans Day

A huge thank you goes out to all veterans on this Veterans Day. I want to honor my dad William Bryan Averill Jr. and my father-in-law Sidney W. Campbell Jr. and my brother William Bryan Averill III. Also a friend of our Jason Amato who recently returned from duty. We are so glad you are home and well. Thank you everyone who has served our great country and sacrificed for our freedom.

Ye-O-Ba and cute pics

Naomi's language is exploding and she is speaking so many new words. Her frustration is increasing too as WE struggle to understand her and her requests. Just this morning over and over she says Ye-O-ba and I ask over and over for her to say it again thinking I surely will get it this times...but no...So she says it over and over getting so mad by now. It's a new word for sure but I finally figured it out when I went to get her some cereal......It's cheerios in a bowl....Ye-O-ba....ha ha. It's so funny now that I figured it out.

Marissa had a funny saying for her Cheerios too because we would ask her do you want Cheerios in a bag (as a snack, dry ) or in a bowl . So if she wanted them with milk she would say "I want Cheerios in a bag in a bowl" She always thought cheerios were "cheerios in a bag".

No matter what Naomi is wearing for the day she manages to find the tutu and put it on too so every outfit has to have it. It is itchy and scratchy and she complains but WILL NOT let me take it off.

Here is Naomi and Annazelle playing. They are so cute together learning to play together and share.

ALL GIRL

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

How He Loves Us

I love this song and am trying to get the words printed here so bear with me while I finish editing. Listening to this song I have been thinking about how our girls have the opportunity to know not only the love of father and mother , sister and brother....family ....but also to come to know the love of their heavenly Father. The big girls are off to school everyday and Naomi helps put them on the bus each morning and so now it is just the two of us. We do miss them and just a few minutes ago while I was updating the blog Naomi saw Mia's picture and just burst into tears. And while it broke my heart for her I also see God's big picture that she is bonded not only to us but her sister as well and what an awesome gift ...a sister...to have ...even after we her parents have gone on to glory as they say.

Remember to mute my music so you can hear just this song.....

Happy GOTCHA Day 1 Year ago

Enjoy this trip down memory lane with us. It's always so much fun to go back and look at the pictures of our children's adoption day and see how much they have changed and grown and to think of the special time we had in China. These memories are ones we will always treasure and talk about with our girls. They also love to hear their STORY and see the pictures of when they joined our family. Not really understanding at first but after hearing it over and over they come to see just how they came to be and where they fit .....something as humans we are always trying to figure out.

New Granddaughter Grace and First Day of School

Orthopedic Surgeon Speaks

I just felt like this short video by a former Orthopedic Surgeon was important enough to watch. I have a great respect for Dr.'s especially Orthopedic Dr's after seeing 5 different Ortho Dr's for Naomi's foot and leg issue. Remember to mute my music for this.

Summer Fun

They have had more fun in this tiny pool we got just a few days ago. We had to wait until now because of Naomi's surgery and wound recovery so they are making up for lost time. School starts this Fri. for Mia and next week for Marissa. I was so looking forward to this week a few weeks ago but now am kinda sad our summer is coming to an end. It is bittersweet. Marissa will meet her teacher tomorrow night. Hope she is ready for our little firecracker.

News Story

Just wanted to share a cute photo and story of Naomi from our local paper. We were at Shriners Childrens Hospital the same week the vote was taken to keep the hospitals open and so our local newspaper sent a reporter to the hospital to interview someone from the New Orleans area and we were selected. The pictures and video he took of some of her first steps with the prosthesis are priceless. You can see the pic and story at www.nola.com/business .

And......she's WALKING

We traveled to Shreveport Shriners on Monday and expected to be there until Fri. She has adapted so well to her prosthesis that we left a day earlier. Putting the foot on was a challenge at first but now I have figured out how to get it on right. She actually loves it now and cries when I take it off. We are working our way up to wearing it all day except for naps and night time. It really is the cutest thing without a sock and shoe. I included a couple of pictures without socks so you can see the toes. Adorable. The first day was tough and she cried when we put it on but after being able to walk she realized she was mobile and loved it. Naomi amazed the therapists by adapting so well so fast and we believe that learning to walk on her little foot was a big help. She did not need any encouragement to try it out and she walked all over the hospital. I had trouble keeping up with her as she found new things to see and she was trying to run by the 3rd day.

We actually may make the local paper down here in New Orleans . Because the hospital was in danger of closing the last few months they had a new turn of events and sent a reporter to interview someone from this area. I am so blessed to have actual footage of some of her first steps and many, many pictures. Can't wait to see some of it. We are so happy the Shriner's will stay open not only for us but the many, many children that need it in this area.

THE PUMPKIN

Healing Nicely

We leave for Shriners in the morning for the fitting for her prothesis. Her incision is healing nicely and she had her first real bath in several weeks. We've been giving her partial baths in the sink, or used the hand held shower. She loves her baths so much. We got shoes for the fitting this week and I am not sure about the size....they will really be the first shoes she can walk in. We are excited to see the end result of the amputation .....the ability to walk without a limp. A few weeks from now I will travel again to Shreveport for her therapy with her new leg and foot.

She is such a trooper and nothing keeps her down. In fact she is back to her old antics of climbing on the counters and getting stuck in places. LOL. I had to rescue her yesterday because she had pulled out the bottom drawer to get to the top drawer in the bathroom and got her arm stuck in the top drawer. Oh, My she has learned to open doors.....nothing is safe anymore. She stands on her one tippy=toe and hangs onto the doorknob and lets her body weigh fall and the door opens. I have to make certain the dead bolts are in place in the front door or she would crawl to the street. She is a mover. LOL

(don't know why I cannot put this post in right order)

I AM STILL SO MAD

Having a child with a special need brings a lot of mixed emotions ....some emotions that seem to come upon you when you least expect or are aware of them. For the most part we have not had the sadness or grief that I think most parents experience because we chose her with this need and are so aware that without the need we also do not have her. Since the amputation of her foot I have been very sad about the operation and that it needed to be done for her future. We are convinced we did the right thing and yet are sad to see it done knowing that to feel anything else would be denying our humanness.

I AM STILL SO MAD ABOUT THIS INCIDENT:

Momma Bear in me just appeared the other day at the playground so bear with me while I vent. I'm guessing it was because it was the day before we were to travel to Shriner's Hosp. to have this darn cast that falls off at least once a day off FINALLY and I would be seeing her leg without a foot that probably set me off....but anyway I took the girls to the playground ....the ONE FOR DIFFERENTLY ABLED KIDS...ok...when I realized that the only thing Naomi could really do is swing. So I head over to the swings and see that there is one empty and just before getting there a child about 6 or so runs to the swing and gets in it....then his MOM proceeds to push him ( IN THE SWING FOR HANDICAPED CHILDREN )and another child who has now gone to sleep in another swing. She sees the entire thing and does NOTHING! So I just stand there thinking that surely one of the swings will open up in a few minutes while I survey the rest of the park thinking ....What else can she do? She cannot walk and crawling on this hot cement is out . Sandbox NO! Slide NO....because I cannot keep her from hitting bottom with her foot. Looking around I finally thought about the teeter totter, so we went in that direction but the whole time I kept my eye on the swings. We did that for a few minutes but she was restless and wanted to do something else and my arms were getting tired so we went back in the direction of the swings....sat on the bench for a while and just watched everyone playing and still keeping an eye on the swing and getting madder by the moment because the two moms could tell I was waiting for one of the swings. Now at this point I think they were determined that they were NOT letting them go just because I wanted/needed ONE .....did I say they had 4 between them....and they continued to push their children.

I just could not believe that they would not let one of the swings go and I kept saying to myself ....swinging is the ONLY thing she can do right now ...why would they act like this... And then it happened on the inside of me. Now, I normally had been telling people that asked about her leg that she had an operation because I just didn't feel like strangers need to know the details and people get all wierd reactions from saying she had her foot amputated. But this day as I sat inside the jungle gym thingy so she could at least play with some of the thingys another mom asked me about her leg and I said it JUST FOR THE REACTION! I was so mad at not being able to swing her and ya know I should have gone up to the two moms and said what I did JUST FOR THEIR REACTION so they could feel XXXX (not even printable) about the way they were hogging the swings. But, I did not.

Now all is not lost , because I know they went home thinking about ME and how THEY did not give up their swings until they were good and ready.

Our vist to Shriners on Monday went very well. We saw the prothesist and she was fitted with her new leg and foot . It is very real looking and is the same color as her skin because I wanted it to blend in and not clash with all her pretty dresses and outfits. I know some kids have different colors and designs especially boys, but next time if she wants something different we will do that. She did not want to put it on and would not stand up with it on either . She cried the entire time and I think was scared mostly. The foot part is so adorable and has real looking toenails . We keep asking her if she wants some new piggies....she says NO!....She'll get used to it. We go back July 6 to stay 5 days for therapy to use it. We are almost there!

GOODBYE T-1

End of T-1 for Mia. She has grown and matured so much in this one year. We are so glad to have chosen Transitional First for her before her entrance into First grade. It gave her another year to mature and learn language. We have found both our girls need another year to master speech and language as they both came home from China as toddlers with their speech just emerging. Marissa will also go to T-1 as well...we feel...at this point. Some parents feel this extra year has implications of failure on either the child's or parents part but we welcome another year to mature and master school concepts in a non-pressured enviroment where they are nutured and not put in position of grading before they are ready. We so love the public school they attend and they get plenty of good attention to their speech needs. The teachers love my girls and for that I am so grateful. They will do well here.

SCHOOL'S OUT

End of preschool for Marissa. Ahhh! Wonderful memories of her preschool. Kindergarden here we come.

MY LITTLE TEA PARTY

We combined their birthdays this year to have a fabulous party at MY LITTLE TEA PARTY . A great time was had by all the little girls. They were all made up with make up and dress up clothes. They had their nails done and a fashion show. SO CUTE!

DENTIST VISIT

We've had alot going on in the past few weeks and so I'll post a little bit about each with pics. It looks like we will be at the hospital again with Marissa and her dentist as she seems to have several bad teeth that will need attention. We had to do this 2 years ago because she has such a phobia of Drs. and is not so cooperative. She also came home from China with weak teeth and so we are not surprised we need to go this route again. Actually getting her into this dentist chair is like a miracle to us. Just wish they could do what she needs without hospitalization. She loves these pictures of herself.