Giving Thanks

Well, it’s been a while since I last posted. As I alluded to in a post back in August I will most likely not update this blog, that is unless blogger implements some of their privacy features in their new version and release it for the masses. In which case I will update infrequently. I am reclaiming our privacy and do not relish the idea of sharing pictures of our daughter out of safety considerations.

Now with that being said this will be the last photo I publish of her since we’ve returned until I can password protect pictures in Blogger.

Words cannot describe the joy Jen and I have in our hearts over having this beautiful little girl in our lives. We are humbled and feel unworthy to be graced with her. She is a constant source of happiness and wonderment for us. Indeed, when everyone was saying the waiting anxiety will wash away once you get your little one, they weren’t kidding. And the waiting was more then worth it. I would have waited another year or two or more to have this little one in our lives.

Teresa’s progress since we came home has been tremendous. We had a developmental needs assessment done on her and she did not qualify for the program as she is progressing normally for her age. She is now picking up food and feeding herself, she holds her bottle now, and will take baby food via a baby spoon. She did none of these when we were in China and shortly after our return. She loves music and will dance to her little music tunes. It’s very cute. She is also just beginning to learn how to walk.

The most important thing is that she sleeps through the night and we no longer have to sleep in her room. She will sleep 11-12 hours in her pac-n-play. After Thanksgiving we’ll move her into her crib. We also use the Fisher Price Aquarium swing to rock her to sleep, which works like magic and was instrumental in allowing us to migrate her back to the pac-n-play and us out of her room. It’s expensive but worth every red cent. We also bought a video monitor system and have it hooked up to our TV in our room to keep an eye on her without disturbing her sleep. It works great and again another worthwhile investment.

As for her special needs classification we did get confirmation from her cardiologist that she has a heart defect called pulmonary stenosis. It is a constricting of her pulmonary valve. It is not life threatening but will need to be monitored every 6 months as she grows. It is hoped that the valve will widen as she grows and no surgery will be required. However, in extreme situations open heart surgery or catheterization is required. We hope it will not come to that. Fortunately she is active and healthy otherwise.

So Happy Thanksgiving everyone and thanks for following our red thread journey!