It's Been 2 Months!

Lilymei getting her first good look at her parents.  She really looks unsure doesn't she?

Two months later...Lilymei gives lots of smiles, kisses, and love!

Lilymei has a new hobby, "playing" the Wii.

Lily loves to watch the boys play video games and now she feels like she is participating too!

The past 2 months have been a whirlwind.  It seems like Lily has been with us forever; we can't remember what we did without her!  She brings so much laughter and joy to our home. Lilymei is showing her personality more and more every day.  She has been very vocal and LOUD the past couple of days. Lily can say a few more words:

• thank you
• I love you
• up
• uh-oh
• "woof"
• peek-a-boo
• baby
• bye-bye
• Drew
  

Lilymei can hold up one finger when we ask how old she is.  She also puts her hands above her head when we ask how big she is.  Lily tries to dress herself and she climbs up on her toddler bed when we ask her to so we can change her diaper.  She has walked up and down the hallway with her walker toy several times this past week and she has stood alone, unassisted, for a few seconds before plopping down on the floor.  

It looks like we will be leaving for Hawaii on October 8th (Guam time), arriving October 7th (Hawaii time).  On the 8th, Lilymei has her health and physical exam.  Her MRI is set for the next day, October 9th.  We will be meeting with the neurologist on October 14th.  It looks like Scott will be flying with me and Lilymei.  The boys will be staying on Guam with family friends. They have so much going on with their daily routines that they decided to pass on this trip.  I know...who can resist going to Hawaii??? 

We have an appointment!

Scott just received word that Lilymei is scheduled for her MRI on October 9th. Lilymei and I will be leaving for Hawaii tentatively October 5th or 6th. Scott and the boys are hoping to catch a hop (military flight) and meet up with us in Oahu. It looks like we won't have our meeting with the neurologist until the 14th. We will have a long weekend just waiting to hear the results. I personally don't have a problem celebrating our 16th wedding anniversary in Hawaii but I wish we were going to be there just for fun. We were anxious when Lilymei had her CT scan under sedation but now I will most likely being flying by myself (those of you who know me, know I don't like to fly anyway, let alone be responsible for a baby on a plane!) and praying that Scott is there to meet me and can help me get Lilymei settled when we arrive. I don't know yet what kind of tests prior to the MRI to expect or what other doctor appointments have been made for us. We should hear more this week and we will keep you posted.

Here are a few new pictures....

Spaghetti is so yummy!

I love my Drew!

I love my Nate too!

Patient Drew, Lilymei's Well-check, Boy Scout Nate

Drew had surgery yesterday. It was a planned, corrective out-patient procedure. Everything went very well and he has been home 24 hours now. He will have a 2-4 week recovery period, which he is not too excited about. Until he is completely healed he will not be able to swim in the pool or the ocean. What's a kid to do if he lives on a tropical island? So much for participating in the first swim meet of the season this weekend! Lilymei has been graciously giving lots of kisses to Drew to help him feel better. Nate has even stepped up to allow Drew to "hold" the tv remote for a month (that means a lot!) and he has volunteered to take over Drew's diaper duty (taking the stinky diapers out to the trash when called for) for the month. Once Drew is feeling up to it we will get back to his home school work~ 4th grade!

Lilymei went to her monthly well-check appointment today. She didn't grow in length since last month but she did gain a little over 2.5 pounds. Yeah! Her head circumference didn't change but her soft spot hasn't closed anymore either. The doctor was very pleased with all the skills she has accomplished since last month. Lilymei has tooth number 17 coming in. I knew something was up with all the drooling the past couple of weeks. This afternoon the physical therapist, Lenny, from EDIS came out and did her assessment. We are hoping by next week we can have a plan of action presented and can finally get started on therapy. On a positive note, it was determined that Lilymei has only a slight developmental delay and she should be able to catch up with no problem. We are still awaiting news as to when Lilymei's MRI is scheduled for. We were told we should be traveling no later than Oct 2nd!

As for Nate, he is going strong, mentally and physically. He has started 7th grade this year in our home school. We have purchased some new and exciting curriculums and we are anxious to get started on them. Last night Nate had his Boy Scout Board of Review and he successfully achieved the rank of Second Class. Good job Nate!!! Nate is swimming again on the Andersen Marlins swim team (as is Drew) and will be participating in swim meets beginning this weekend. He is also keeping up with his piano playing with weekly lessons with Mr. Dale. Nate and Drew have been doing a lot more duets, with Drew on guitar. Since Lilymei loves music so much we are wondering what instrument she will be playing soon.

Look at what Lilymei can do & Back to School for the Boys

Random photos...

Drew and Lilymei playing in the bedroom.

Drew and Lilymei at the base pool.

Lilymei and Nate, happy in the morning.

Lilymei has just blossomed in the last week. She is very comfortable with us and her surroundings. She is into everything! She's had so many "firsts" my calendar is full just trying to document them all. Some of her new "skills" from the past week include:

• blowing kisses (hand up to the mouth, not yet "throwing" them)


• turning off the light switches


• puckers and gives kisses when we ask


• feeding herself using a spoon or fork


• drinking from a cup (without a lid!)


• "real" crawling~ not just combat crawling


• took 3 steps with her walker toy


• puts her mouth in the pool and blows bubbles


• stands up in her crib


• makes "shh" sound with her finger to her lips


• gives high-five


• can use sign language for "more"


• can say "Mama", "Dada", "bubbles", and "Lily" AND


• climbs onto the couch.

"Look at what my brothers did to me! I'm propped up on the couch with 2 bean bags chairs, and lots of pillows and blankets!"

"Don't tickle me anymore! I can't breathe I'm laughing so hard!"

"Ok, this is crazy! I'm having so much fun!"

The boys and I started our home school year last Tuesday. So far, so good. Lilymei is getting herself all over the living room and dining room trying to see what the boys are doing. Even though they are getting work done they still want to stop what they are doing and play with Lilymei. Who can blame them? I know I'm not getting alot of my "chores" done either until she is asleep. She's just too much fun. She brings lots and lots of laughter to our home.

Medical note: We are waiting for Lilymei's MRI appt to be scheduled. We should be in Hawaii within the month. The CT scan results are just what we heard initially, definite hydrocephalus and chronic subdural bleeding. We are hoping the MRI will tell us definitively what we will need to do next for her care and well-being. Please keep her in your prayers.

Labor Day Weekend

Wow! We had a busy weekend! Scott was off of work on Friday for a Family Day and the boys and I hadn't started school yet so....we took full advantage of our 4 day weekend. Friday morning Scott and I took Lilymei to get her passport photo taken. I forgot that she needed to have sleeves for the photo so we had to take a quick trip to the Dededo Mall in search of a short sleeve shirt. Once we had the shirt in hand (actually 2 shirts, 2 for $8.00) we had the passport photo taken and then headed off to the Department of Revenue & Taxation to have Lilymei's passport application reviewed and mailed off. Luckily, Friday was one of the 3 days of the week that the passport office accepts applications so we were good to go, after the supervisor agreed to try to mail it off without a social security number. Apparently, a foreign born child on Guam must apply and receive a passport before they can apply for a social security number. Scott asked the question of "Why? What if we never want to leave the island?". It's just policy for internationally adopted children. I don't care as long as we can get both the US passport AND the social security number without any problems!

Friday afternoon the base held their annual Labor Day Fun Fest with free food, games for the kids, a water slide, and raffle prizes. Drew was in full Cub Scout uniform handing out free popcorn for the first hour or two. Nate was making his rounds with a few Boy Scout friends and listening to the DJ. Lilymei didn't know what to think with all the people and the loud music but she perked right up when a little friend of hers brought her a whirly-bird to hold on to.

Saturday morning the boys were up bright and early; mowed their 5 lawns and then Nate headed to the Boy Scout House to work on some merit badges with the scouts. Scott and Drew, along with our friend, Mike, headed down to Tarague Beach for the USO camp out. They got the tent set up while I picked up Nate and the 3 of us headed down to the beach for the cookout. Lilymei ate well but after dinner she did NOT want to put her feet down in the sand. She enjoyed watching the waves and the guys playing beach volleyball but she was not going to get sandy. Lilymei and I headed for home at dusk and let the boys eat s'mores and listen to the karaoke all night.

Sunday after church we packed up the car and headed to the Hyatt hotel for a relaxing overnight stay. Lilymei loved the water again~yeah! We enjoyed dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Al Dente, and had a wonderful night of sleep. The beds at the Hyatt Guam are soooo comfortable. Most of the hotels on Guam have the traditional Japanese bed (hard!) but not the Hyatt, thank goodness! Monday morning, Labor Day, we had a leisurely buffet breakfast at La Mirenda and then we headed out to the Hyatt Beach. We took advantage of the "water toys" and rented a paddle boat for a little morning fun. Lilymei was so relaxed she fell asleep shortly after we got started.....
We opted for a late check-out so we could have a bit more time in the pool and then have the opportunity to shower before heading for home. Drew has been driving us "crazy" asking to ride the SLINGSHOT. I had ridden this ride a couple of months ago with my friend, Natalee. Just to keep our sanity we pulled out of the Hyatt parking lot and right into the Slingshot parking lot. Drew was so excited. Nate agreed to ride with him.


The ride was short~about 60 seconds but the boys had a blast! One of these days I'll get Scott on there with me. I know Drew is planning to ride it again too!

Today we had EDIS (Educational & Developmental Intervention Services) come out to the house to evaluate Lilymei. She is delayed in her motor skills and communication development (we knew that). Next week we are hoping to meet with the speech therapist and the pediatric physical therapist. Once they evaluate Lilymei and write up their reports we are hoping to begin therapy. We can expect therapy to begin in 4 weeks, hopefully less. Right now we are to work with Lilymei, not to try to walk, but to get her to master crawling (she started "real" crawling just this Saturday) and to use her left hand more. We also need to keep her on the floor and help her to stretch to reach toys, etc to improve her balance. She is still wobbly and holds her arm out to catch herself from falling. They also suggested having her reach up overhead to strengthen her muscles and to put toys on the couch/chairs for her to reach for. We also need to keep a diary of the words that she can speak.

We are still waiting to hear back the results from Lilymei's CT scan. Now that the holiday is past I expect we will hear something before the end of the week. Tomorrow morning we are meeting with the audiologist to check Lilymei's hearing. We will post once we know any more details!