6 Months Home

It is amazing what can happen in your life in 6 months. For us we were able to prepare for what was going to happen to our life to some degree, but for Lily she had no idea how her life was about to change. She is an amazing little girl with amazing siblings who love her beyond words and two parents who adore her. She has blessed our lives with her unique personality and loving heart. She has grown 2 inches and gained 4 pounds. She has gone through a major surgery and has completely healed. She has changed in so many ways and I have enjoyed seeing her blossom and I look forward to seeing her continue to change, grow and become all she can be.
Take a look at her picture when we first brought her home and now. It still surprises me.

Christmas Afternoon With Extended Family

After a morning with our family we went to my parents for time with Dawn and her family and Crystal and her family. The cousins and uncle and aunts come over later for dinner. It is a big group with us all in a little space, but I wouldn't have it any othe way. I love being around my family!

What a Wonderful Life

It was truly a wonderful Christmas for the Waite family this year. We are so blessed in so many ways and what a better time to celebrate but on the day of Christ's birth. He is the reason for everything in this life and we have been so blessed by what He has done for us. Lily was a little overwhelmed by it all and just wanted to play, so she did...with each item as she opened it.

Not 1, Not 2, Not 3, but 4 Bows for my Princess

Lily had fun with her bows tonight. She is too much!

Surgeon Follow-up

We followed up with Lily's surgeon this week. She is 6 weeks post op and everything has healed well. She will follow up with him again in 6 months, but for now everything looks great and there have been NO complications. He would like for her to begin speech therapy, so we will try to get an evaluation done after Christmas. We had our 6 month post adoption home study done on Wednesday. Everything went well and it was good to see our social worker again. It must be such a rewarding job to see families that have waited so long to finally bring home their precious children. She has been with us from the very beginning. She couldn't believe how long it had been. We first met her back in October of 2006. She remembered how little Mason was...Mason was 4 years old and Morgan was 8. Now Mason is 8 and Morgan is 12. So weird. Who knew it would take so long, but I would wait all over again for our sweet Lily. She is the perfect fit for our family. She brings something to our family that was missing. Every family needs at least one child that....
climbs it if it can be climbed
opens it if it can be opened
explores it if it can be explored
touches it if it can be touched
dumps it if it can be dumped
She knows only one speed and that is running. She loves to dance, loves to laugh, loves shoes, loves the remote control, loves to ride/sit on the dog, loves to be silly, loves her brother and sister beyond words. We love you Lily so much and the special "you" that you bring to our family.

Follow up with ENT today...

Lily went for her follow up appointment with the ENT today. She had a big chunk of dried blood in her right ear, so that had to come out. Poor baby doesn't like when someone holds her down very still while a doctor probes in her ear and pulls something out. She is a trooper. She has been through a lot more in her first 18 months than some will ever go through in their entire lives. From there we went over for her hearing test. She passed!! So the ears are clear and hearing is good. We will follow up with him in 6 months.
Her sleeping is getting better. Some nights she only gets up once and other nights she is up several times. No rhyme or reason as to why that I have noticed.
Morgan started horse back riding lessons at the beginning of the month. She is really enjoying it. I hope this is something that she will stick with.
Mason had Harvest Day at school today which I had the privilege of helping out with. It was fun and I was able to meet the kids in his class finally. Starting a new school is always hard for both the parents and the kids. They both have adjusted wonderfully and are really enjoying their new school. I feel a little disconnected, coming from a school we had been at for 6 years. I knew all the kids and teachers and it felt like a second home. I do miss that, but I know that it will come in time. I am not able to be as involved with Lily being so young right now, but I try to be there when I can. I like to know what is going on....always have.
Lily is still going to Kindermusik and Gymnastics. We are enjoying that together along with her cousin Grace. We are so blessed to live so close to each other. Lily and Grace act more like sisters than cousins for sure. They love each other, but can also fight a good fight. Sometimes we have to step in, but mostly we sit back and laugh (Dawn and I). They are too funny. Such different personalities. Grace is just like Dawn and Lily is so much like me. We are going to have so much fun watching them grow up together.

Halloween & Dr. Update

Pretty uneventful Halloween for Lily this year. After a short ride in the wagon she fell fast asleep. Wouldn't have been much fun for her anyway this year, as she wouldn't have been able to eat anything she got. Probably best that she feel asleep so she didn't have to deal with the frustration of candy she couldn't eat. I have attached some pictures.
We went to see the surgeon today to follow up on Lily's surgery. Everything looks great. Soft foods for another 3 weeks and she will go back to the surgeon the first week in December. As for sleeping, he said that sometimes they can wake up scared after the anesthesia. There is a technique that he can do in the office on her if her sleeping doesn't improve. It basically resets the brain. The procedure takes about an hour, so we will opt out for now, as I think it would be pure torture for her to sit there for an hour in the doctors office while they do it. Hopefully she will turn a corner soon!

Update on Lily

Well, Friday night was just as bad as Thursday, if not even a little worse. She woke up every couple hours and then at 4:30 and wanted to be up (so she thought)but extremely fussy. I tried watching Barney (her favorite), holding her, walking with her, basically everything, I put her back in her bed and called for backup. I woke Fred up at 5:45 and told him it was his turn and I went to sleep. I was defiantly at my wits end. 3 days of no sleep and a fussy child makes for one tired, edgy, emotional mom.
We called our surgeon back yesterday and told him what was going on. She really was having a hard time sleeping all together, naps and bedtime. She was only taking at the max an hour nap and up all night long. He suggested giving her benedryl at night to help her sleep. So, that is what we did. It helped some....she went to bed at 8:30, woke up at 12:30 (was able to get her right back to sleep) then woke up at 4:30. When she woke up at 4:30 of course she thought it was time to get up, so it took until about 5 (crying of course) to get her back to sleep and then she woke back up at 6:45.
The bleeding from her nose has almost stopped. I can still see a little tinge of blood sometimes when her nose runs. Her palate is still looking great and she is eating and drinking well.
I thank God for directing the surgeons hands and enabling him to close the palate completely when he didn't think he could and for enabling her to heal well without complications! We are blessed.
Here are some pictures I took yesterday.

A little behind on pictures, so here you go....

Lily's Dedication on Oct. 24
and Halloween at Gymnastics on Oct. 26

Another sleepless night....

Well last night was probably worse than the night in the hospital. Lily was up every hour to two hours crying. She was able to get herself back to sleep most of the time but it kept me up worrying about her and whenever she cried I woke up. Her nap today was not much better. She woke up this morning at 6 am with a messy, bloody nose, which I had to clean out once during the night. She then went down for a nap at 11 and only slept for about 45 minutes. So much for me squeezing a nap in. She goes through phases during the day where she seems like herself, playing and acting "normal" to phases of wanting to be held all the time and fussy. No rhyme or reason to it usually. Her nose is not bleeding as much tonight and no more bleeding from the mouth. I am able to see her palate when she cries and it looks great. I called her surgeon to see if he would prescribe her something stronger to take at night other than Tylenol, but he would not. The nurse said that her sleeplessness could be a side effect from the anesthesia. Not the answer I wanted to hear. We will see how she does tonight. I am praying for a better night sleep.
The biggest thing for me was that we just got into a great routine with her sleep and now it is all messed up again. She was sleeping from 8 at night to 8-8:30 in the morning and taking a 2 hour nap in the afternoon and she seemed so happy all the time. It was wonderful. I am looking forward to those days again.
I know this will pass and I will have my happy girl back again. I get glimpses of her everyday, thank goodness.

We are Home!!!

Lily had a difficult night. She was on morphine during the night but the nurse kept letting it run out and she would wake up fussy about every 2-2.5 hours. So, needless to say Dawn (my sister) and I didn't get much sleep. Fred went home with the kids and Dawn came up to keep me company during the night. What a sweet sister..and she is all mine!
This morning the nurse came in and took out the tongue suture when Lily woke up. Then she mowed down some eggs and 2 pancakes. She was very hungry!! We switched her over to Tylenol and after her last antibiotic at 10 am they took out her IV. Dr. Matthews (her surgeon) came in around 11 and checked her out and said everything looked great and she could go home. We got home around 12:30 and Lily napped for about and hour. I was hoping for more of a nap so I could get one too, but that did not happen. She woke up fussy but after she got some more Tylenol and ate a banana she was feeling better and was happy and playing. She ended up eating a yogurt and some mashed potatoes and bread before getting ready for bed.
I could not wait to give her a bath! She smelled like the hosptial and blood. She is draining blood from her nose now more than her mouth. Actually haven't seen any from her mouth since this morning. Anyway, it gets everywhere. Gotta keep cleaning the nose out and spraying down her mouth so it stays clean. Lily is down hopefully for the night, but I am not counting on her sleeping through (although that would be nice). She feel asleep in a matter of minutes....she was exhausted. She has been good about not putting her thumb in her mouth and she didn't even try when she fell asleep for her nap and when she went down tonight. I did put a sock on her hand with some surgical tape around it so that she can't pull it off just in case she tries to do it during her sleep. Our doctor does not want to put arm restraints on her as he feels it causes them more stress.
All in all she has done really well today. I am hoping each day gets easier for her.

Surgery Done!

Surgery went well. Tubes were placed in first. There was a lot of puss and fluid and the ears were inflamed. Everything was sucked out and tubes were put in. Next came the palate. Our prayers were answered here. The doctor did not think he would be able to completely close the palate and therefore she would still have a small hole near her gum line. Thanks to every ones prayers the palate in closed COMPLETELY! God never seizes to amaze me. Total surgery time was approximately 3 hours. That's a long time to wait. Thanks to Dawn, Grace and Mom for keeping us company and making the wait easier. Thanks to all who have prayed, called, texted, emailed, etc. We are blessed to be surrounded with such amazing friends and family. We have felt your love, your kindness and your prayers.
Lily is finally sleeping now. She has been extremely fussy. She has her tongue sutured so she can't move it much. One to protect the incision and two because she has a nerve block and they wouldn't want her to swallow her tongue. So, this is not comfortable for her. Add to that the fact that she can't suck her thumb....her good ole friend. Very frustrating on her part. Nothing to eat for her today, just fluids. My girl loves to eat and is not happy when she can't. All will be better tomorrow I am sure. We should be going home tomorrow and the suture will be taken out in the morning. Please pray that she gets a restful night sleep (mommy too). We were up at 3:45 am this morning and Lily was up at 4:30 am. We could both use the sleep.

Lily's Dedication & Upcoming Surgery

Lily was dedicated on Sunday with all her family and friends present. We are extremly blessed to have such a wonderful family and great friends. God has given us the honor to raise Lily, care for her, teach her about the Lord and to love her. Yesterday we declared that publicly before our church and our family and friends. It was a good day!
Surgery is quickly approaching. This Wednesday Lily will have her palate repaired and tubes placed in her ears. I am beginning to get a little anxious, but I know that I need not worry because God has already gone in front of us and will take care of her. He is the ULTIMATE healer, sustainer, and protector. He loves her more than I ever could (hard to wrap your mind around) and He will watch over her.
I will keep everyone updated on the surgery as it unfolds.
I have attached a lot of pictures so enjoy! My sweet Lily is growing up before my eyes.

More Pics of Atlanta Trip