Thanksgiving, Teeth Pulled, & Christmas Tree

We first went to mamaw's house for Thanksgiving. Wai-gong, Uncle Josh, Uncle Steven, Aunt Amy, and cousin Tyler were there. It was a very nice visit with them. Then we drove over to Wai-po & Wai-gong's house for Thanksgiving dinner with the rest of the family. Aunt Kara & Uncle Chris, Mamaw & Papaw, Grandma & Grandpa Drago, Aunt Arrietta with Riley & Ellie, & Uncle Tim & Aunt Demi with Taylor were all there. We found out that Aunt Kara was ~ 13 weeks pregnant! It was a very pleasant shock. The shock was more for her keeping it secret and running a half marathon only a few weeks ago. We all told what we were thankful for, and when it was Wai-po's turn, she cried while telling what she was thankful for, including her newer granddaughter Ashlyn. Ashlyn saw Wai-po crying, and she looked so sad, she almost cried then. But instead, she waited till it was her turn and just started full out balling her eyes out. She was so emotionally upset, we had to calm her down, and we reassured her that everything was alright and we loved her. It was so sweet & sad. The food was so yummy!








So Ashlyn finally got her two teeth pulled this morning. Gave her some valium this morning, an hour before "surgery". Then we went in, they gassed her with nitrous oxide, which made her think everything was funny until the novacaine shots came. After the numbing was complete, it literally took 2 seconds per tooth to pull out. Then they gave her oxygen to get the nitrous oxide out of her system and she was ready to go. The teeth are still bleeding a little, but nothing too serious. She keeps wanting to eat things she shouldn't be eating and I'm afraid she'll get something stuck in one of the "holes". Both teeth had cavities that the dentist didn't even know about. I'll have to show Dr. Tuttle the next visit so she can start getting x-rays done to see if there are any more.
After awhile, Jason got the Christmas tree out of the attic and we set it up. Then the girls put the ornaments on the tree. They had fun, even through the arguing about whose turn it was. Here's some pictures.

Happy Gotcha Day

Tuesday November 23rd was the one year anniversary of Gotcha day! Ashlyn had a Thanksgiving play at school and she was so adorable. Later that night, we went to dinner at Fujiyama's with wai-po and wai-gong (wai-po shared in our journey in China a year ago). It's amazing how far Ashlyn has come from the scared little girl that did not know any English to the beautiful extraverted, loving girl that is surprising everyone that she meets at how much English she knows for only being here a year. She has grown more than 3 inches and has gained more than 8 pounds in the last year. She's gone through surgery, sicknesses, & has overcome. She knows how to read and is getting help for her speech impediment (submucous cleft palate). She loves to learn and loves to love. She is our little girl that is growing up already too fast, but with innocence. We love you Ashlyn...happy Gotcha Day!

Adoption Talk with Class

So, today I went to Ashlyn's 1st grade class and talked with them about Ashlyn's adoption. Ashlyn loved being the center of attention and the kids liked hearing about everything. They were funny with the stories they told and also about the adoption. A lot of the girls said they wanted a play date with Ashlyn. It was too funny.

Awhile back I made a scrapbook on "10 questions about my adoption", and this is what we shared with the class. Then we shared a scrapbook on the actual China trip. The kids were very curious. I also asked them if they sometimes had a hard time understanding her. Some raised their hands and some didn't. I told them to touch their tongues to the roof of their mouth. Then I asked them if it felt hard. All of them shook their heads yes and then I explained that Ashlyn's was not hard, and that it was soft. So this sometimes makes it hard for her to use her tongue properly to make certain sounds, no matter what language she's speaking. I also told them that she is still working on learning more and more of the English language, but she already knows a lot.

I was so nervous about doing this and wasn't sure how much to tell them, but I was very honest and forthcoming, and the kids seemed to really get it...hopefully! I was happy I did it, and Ashlyn loved showing all the pictures.

Ashlyn's Ears

So we went to the ENT last Friday for the post op appointment for her surgery that was done on July 15th. For those who don't remember, she had her adenoids removed (well, most of them), tonsils removed, and tubes put in her ears.

The doctor said everything "looked" good. We pressed to have another hearing test done to see if the tubes are working. Well, after making another appt for a half hour later, the audiologist gave her another hearing test. It came out that she has more hearing loss in her left ear. The doctor's office finally called yesterday to discuss this and we called him back today. They just want to put her on more ear drops because the tube "may" be clogged. So instead of looking with some special instrument or something, he wants to do this...

Well, lets just say I kind of "fired" that ENT. I have an appt on the 15th to see a pediatric ENT to see what he says. I've heard good things about this ENT, so hopefully we'll have better luck! We get to go see the oralmaxillofacial surgeon (spellling?) next week to look at her submucous cleft palate again to see how things are going. She still has some pretty significant speech issues, but at least the English is getting better to where most people understand most of what she says (I think).

We're also waiting to hear from the oral surgeon about removing two of her baby teeth. They were waiting on the information from the pediatric cardiologist at Shands and they finally got that last week. Well, we called today because we hadn't heard anything and it turns out that they forgot to give the surgeon the fax to look at...ugh! Are there any reliable doctor's/doctor's offices anywhere??? Even her speech therapist doesn't want to communicate with us. It took me writing a stern email to get a response from her about how we can help her at home and how she's doing in speech therapy! All we got was negative feedback about how the biggest obstacles in understanding her speech are her tendencies to delete the final sounds in words and to simplify clusters or consonant blends (e.g. "mart" for "smart"). She finally sent a worksheet home for us to work with her on, but no instructions on how to do it.

Alright, I'm done venting :-) I need to believe that the Lord gave her to us because he knew I would get the help she needed when she needs it. He never gives us more than we can handle...just have to keep moving and believing this with all my heart!

Halloween Weekend

Friday October 29th, Jason and I had off work. Our church was having a Fall Festival. Our car was in the trunk or treat part of the festival, so we had to wash our car and get ready for it. We made our car's theme the Florida Gators. While Jason was washing the car, our cat tower came in. I put it together and the cat absolutely loves it. The dog was a little jealous...but he has his own comfy doggy bed!

After the kids got home, we ate dinner and then headed out to the Fall Festival. Over 8,000 people came! The kids had fun getting candy, singing a couple of songs for the children's choir, and jumping around in the bounce houses. The girls and I caught a ride home at 8:30 pm with the Yanko's since Kaylyn had her last swim meet the next morning and we had to be there at 7:30 am. Jason didn't get home until almost 10 pm.

Kaylyn placed 2nd in the Butterfly stroke...I don't even think I could do it anymore! We didn't leave the swim meet until 11:30 and we headed over to Fred Lee Park for the end of the season swim party. Kaylyn got the award for competitive :-)

The next night was Halloween, so the girls got dressed up again (I sure got my money's worth out of these costumes). Then they went around the neighborhood with Daddy and got even more candy! I sat outside giving candy to the kids. We only went through 2 out of the 3 bags of candy from Sam's Club. There were a little bit fewer kids this year...probably because it was a school night???

I took the extra bag of candy to work and we still have two big halloween buckets full of candy that the girls have gotten over the last week.