11 months
First birthday, September 12,2007
Baptism, September 30th,2007
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Bumps in the road
We have been home with Ali now for about 3 months. We just got back from the doctors yesterday. Ali is healthy and doing well. She is growing and developing at a good rate. She is above average in both height and weight for her age. She crawls and moves around very well. She stands unassisted and moves around the furniture well but so far doesn’t seem too interested in walking just yet. With Ali however, it seems that once she decides she wants to take off it won’t be long. She is always very umm “determined” when she sets her mind to something. She turned 1 on the 12th of September and last week-end we had her baptized. She is still very, very active and hardly sits still for a moment. She really hates to sleep and fights it but now manages to have a nap every day (sometimes even 2) and will go to sleep at a reasonable hour most nights and only gets up if she is hungry. She has 6 teeth and bites and chews on everything. She is good at giving hugs and kisses when we ask and can indicate how big and how cute she is with hand gestures. She seems very smart and learns many new things every day. She gets into everything and our house is constantly changing. She hardly seems at all like the little girl we got just 3 short months ago.
We have incurred a few bumps in the road thus far. A few weeks after we got home Ali began having seizures. They were very mild at first and then began getting a little more severe. She started having them every day and then multiple times a day. We began investigating with many doctors and specialists. Since we had no family medical background we had to have Ali checked for everything to try to find a cause. The good news is that Ali is perfectly healthy and has no medical, diet, or developmental problems. We spent the bulk of the last few months with doctors and specialists at offices and hospitals both here and in London trying to find a cause. We have learned many things about seizures. We have now learned that there are many, many causes with children and many times you never find out the answer why. This is where we are at with Ali. She has undergone every possible test and everything is normal so far. She is now on meds to help control them and she is much better. The only thing that seems to stick out is sleep. Now, if Ali has a seizure it is usually after a rough night or a big day and she is really tired. She is so over-active that it is like her little body/brain is telling her , O.K. little girl you have to rest now, we are out of gas. She has a seizure and then a good restful sleep for a few hours and she is right back to normal. With a little luck she will just outgrow this. We now just have to keep an eye on her and keep our specialist updated. The only thing we have left to do is to get her on the rights meds for her to keep them under control and get her through this big adjustment in her life. We are starting to settle in much better now and getting some things done around here. It’s been a big adjustment for us all but she is a joy to have around.
We have incurred a few bumps in the road thus far. A few weeks after we got home Ali began having seizures. They were very mild at first and then began getting a little more severe. She started having them every day and then multiple times a day. We began investigating with many doctors and specialists. Since we had no family medical background we had to have Ali checked for everything to try to find a cause. The good news is that Ali is perfectly healthy and has no medical, diet, or developmental problems. We spent the bulk of the last few months with doctors and specialists at offices and hospitals both here and in London trying to find a cause. We have learned many things about seizures. We have now learned that there are many, many causes with children and many times you never find out the answer why. This is where we are at with Ali. She has undergone every possible test and everything is normal so far. She is now on meds to help control them and she is much better. The only thing that seems to stick out is sleep. Now, if Ali has a seizure it is usually after a rough night or a big day and she is really tired. She is so over-active that it is like her little body/brain is telling her , O.K. little girl you have to rest now, we are out of gas. She has a seizure and then a good restful sleep for a few hours and she is right back to normal. With a little luck she will just outgrow this. We now just have to keep an eye on her and keep our specialist updated. The only thing we have left to do is to get her on the rights meds for her to keep them under control and get her through this big adjustment in her life. We are starting to settle in much better now and getting some things done around here. It’s been a big adjustment for us all but she is a joy to have around.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Monday, July 9, 2007
Sisters
We have just returned home from another successful Rebecca Run for SMA charity event. This year the event has raised an estimated $158,000 for SMA research. Quite an achievement for an event of its kind. This event means sooo much to us. It is through this event that we have met many dear friends and parents like us and were really inspired to start living again and gave us direction and hope after losing Abby. I post this here on this blog because it is in many ways our starting point for our "Journey 2 Ali". Abby showed us how much a daughter could mean to our lives and how badly we really wanted to be parents. We learned here that anything is possible and decided to find a way to become parents again. This ultimately led us to Ali and a happiness that we thought may be gone forever. We hope to teach Ali about her sister and we are glad that our "SMA family" have finally got to meet her and we thank them for their support and encouragement along the way. To learn more about this charity event; SMA or a chapter in your area (all over the U.S./Canada/World) you can find links on this blog under Ali's sister. We are truly blessed to have 2 beautiful daughters who are linked in many ways to each other.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Canadian for a week.
Well, we have been home for a week now and are finally settling in. It's been a busy week. We arrived at the airport friday and to our surprise there were about 85 people waiting for us. Ali loved the crowd and attention. Thanks everyone. We had a doctors appointment that afternoon and Ali was just fine except a cold but we switched formulas on the doctors advice. Saturday, Grandma V. (Ali's g.g.) passed away but she followed the blog and knew she was home safe before she was called home. This week we got Ali her health card and s.i.n. card so she could get a complete medical which we did on thursday and started her file with him and she is doing just great. Grandma's funeral was wednesday and I was a pallbearer and my father and I delivered the eulogy. In between all this we have had many phone calls and visitors and last but not least a little sleep. Ali hasn't quite turned around to Canadian time yet but is very close and we are all settling in nicely now. Her skin has cleared up. She is eating and sleeping good (albeit she is a Chongqing girl and it's on her stubborn terms) and has found her favourite toys and things around the house. We are amazed at how she changes and adapts each day. She loves her exersaucer and just about jumps right out of it and laughs out loud. She can stand against things now and when she holds our fingers we can pull her up from laying down to a standing postion. She is still very active and and is the apple of everyones eye. She babbles a lot and can say mamamama and dadadadada. It is amazing at how such a little person can have such an engaging personality already. Everything is great in her world as long as her new mommy and daddy are within' eyeshot.
Zac and the girls
Before we left we got a great shot of all the kids from our group. Great bunch of people and we hope we can have many more of these in the years to come. It would be neat to watch them grow up in pictures together from time to time.
The Orphanage in Qianjiang
The orphanage that was Ali's first home was really a beautiful place. It was in a modern building at the top of a hill overlooking the city. It was immaculate inside and out. We were allowed to tour it and were very impresssed. The kids are well taken care of by a diverse and caring staff. Donations are well spent there. We are still sorting pics and stuff as it has been a busy week but here are a few shots for those who have been requesting.
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