We have been down to Children's Hospital in Pittsburgh and met with the cleft team. They were wonderful! We've been busy the last few weeks getting her evaluated for speech therapy and will get that started soon. Emily also needs some minor dental work (she of course will need lots in the future due to her cleft) and they are retesting her hearing in February. She has done so well at all of these exams and screenings. I'm so proud of her and am thrilled to be her mommy!!
Emily is still a tiny little thing and has yet to gain any weight since we have been home. This is partly due to the fact that she is still really picky about what she is eating. She is willing to try new foods with some coaxing, but it only results in a bite!! She is living on Ramon noodles right now and rice with peas! She does eat other things like eggs, nuts, apples, grapes, and has a definite sweet tooth, but never eats a large quantity of anything. We are just continuing to offer her new choices and hoping that she gets past the 24 lb mark soon!! :)
We are also finding that little miss Emily gets carsick....yuck!! She often whimpers like a little puppy when we get in the car because she knows that she will be sick. The foster family wrote in her journal that she got carsick and sent some herbal patches with her, but she was never sick in China. Obviously, God was sparing us from that little detail and stress while we were there, because she is definitely carsick here at home. We are still trying different things to help...peppermints, sea bands (the little bands you can wear on your wrists to prevent nausea), and playing her songs on the radio so that she is singing and distracted. The last few car trips using these things has been better, so something seems to be helping.
She is sleeping very well at night and takes about a 2 hour nap. Her room has two beds, and for the first 10 days or so after we were home I slept in the room with her. She now has a typical routine before naps and bed and goes to sleep all by herself! The routine always ends with her brushing her teeth (with 2 toothbrushes by the way, but hey....that's OK!), turning on her "twinkle star lights" in her room and singing 3 songs. She blows us kisses, tucks her stuffed animals and dolls in, and calls out in her sing-song voice "night, night!" Oh my....I can't imagine our lives without her!
I know that it may seem like I always post things that sound wonderful and rosy, but Emily is truly a happy little girl. She certainly is a toddler, and life is much busier in the Dunkle home, but her transition to us has been so amazing. She does test us as any toddler would, and likes to do things HER way, but she's never had a major temper tantrum. ( I know....it's only been six weeks!!) She simply pouts when she doesn't get her way, and that can usually be turned into a fit of giggles ...especially if her brothers are around! John and I both commented tonight that although it feels like she has been with us forever, we can still see a big difference in her over the past few days. She is even happier (if that is possible!) and I'm not sure how to describe it other than to say that she is just has an even sweeter, calm, and content spirit about her now!
I especially love to watch her with her brothers. Oh my goodness.. it makes my heart melt every time!!
Playing with play dough!
Dancing with Daddy while waiting at the doctor's office!
Baking cookies with Mama!
Hmmm...do I want to wait until it is baked or just eat it now???!!!
How am I so blessed to be chosen as their mama??!!
I also wanted to share a video we made of our adoption journey. We showed a shorter version of it at our church on Sunday for Emily's dedication, but here is the original one!! I think it has to be viewed on a PC, so if you are reading this on an iPad or iPhone, it likely won't show up.
Click on this link below to view it on vimeo if the video isn't playing well. (updated... youtube will no longer play the music, so we switched to vimeo!) Enjoy!!
http://vimeo.com/60689849