Who's a Big, Brave Girl?

I am!


Yesterday was Meigan's follow-up appt. with Dr. Stelnicki, her craniofacial surgeon, that has repaired her palate and lip. After waiting in the room for seemed like an hr, (which ain't pretty with a tired and hungry 2 year old!) He finally came in the room to see the progress on her lip. He still saw more thick scar tissue than should be, so even though I have been diligent with massaging her lip, she needed a steroid injection to help break up the tissue. Not what I wanted to hear. She was SO good laying on the table opening her mouth cause that's just become habit for her.
Only the injection was to go straight into the lip. You can only imagine how I felt at the end of the table holding her legs cause I knew what was to come. The PA was quick, but darn I know it hurt. Meigan didn't get as upset as I thought she would and she insisted she hold the gauze on her lip. After drying her tears, we walked out with a pretty pony sticker and she even blew a kiss to the shot lady. Only long enough to quickly put the guaze back on her lip. Unfortunately, she goes back for another injection the end of April. As far as further surgeries, the Dr. wants to wait another year before doing her nose. Fine with me. I wouldn't want to do something too soon only to possibly have to do it again when she is older.
We are also having issues with our insurance regarding her speech therapy. Our insurance will not cover developmental delays but does cover CL/CP issues. They have denied payment on a month's worth of therapies because it is being coded under DD, no mention of cleft lip/palate. Seems like a pretty resolvable issue, right?
Wrong. I have been on the phone with so many people and all I can say is incompetence! I have faxed her medical records with the correct wording so hopefully it will be resolved. We've been going 2 months and we are well over 2 grand already, so until we get the matter fixed, we've had to cancel. She loves going and I won't go down without a fight!

Oh Happy Day!

Meigan sleeping in her big girl bed. Sweet dreams little one~


Today was a very big first for Meigan. It was the first time since she had started nursery school, over a month ago, that she didn't cry when I left her! She has had a new teacher for about 2 weeks and this morning when Meigan walked into the classroom, her teacher held her arms out and Meigan went right to her. She then proceeded to tell me bye and wanted a kiss! So, guess who was all teary eyed leaving the school this morning? It was a moment I had been waiting for and then when it happened, I was happy and sad at the same time, if that makes sense. When I went to pick her up, she threw a fit because she didn't want to leave, go figure!
I truly am happy she feels secure enough to let me leave her. It is a big achievement for her as she is still quite attached to her mommy!
Tonight I actually got the chance to rock her sleep, too. I absolutely loved rocking Logan and Jennifer and feel guilty I haven't done it much with Meigan. She has always been so good about going to bed and I just haven't had the ole rocker out.
As I was rocking her, and staring into those beautiful sleepy brown eyes, I couldn't help but think about her birthmother and how indescribably hard it had to have been to know it would be the very last time she would would ever look into her baby daughter's eyes again. Were those eyes curiously staring back at her mother or were they heavy with sleep? With that thought, I gently kissed her forehead and quietly thanked a woman on the other side of the world for giving us the opportunity to raise such a special little girl. We are humbled to have such a chance.

Happy 6 months, Meigan!

From this:
to this!


Hard to believe it has been 6 months since Meigan joined our family. Funny because it is now hard to remember what it what like before we had her. She just fits our family perfectly. She has been through so much in this time period also. Three surgeries, speech therapy, nursery school and just learning what it like to have a forever family. Everyday is a new learning experience for her and she soaks everything up like a sponge. It really has been amazing to watch her transform! I can't wait to see what the next 6 months holds for her.
We love you Meiggie, to the stars and back!

Happy St. Patrick's Day 2007

Can I Breathe Now?

Jennifer was discharged from the hospital yesterday before noon. She is doing much better but tires easily. Yesterday she slept all afternoon. I was even able to catch a nap myself thanks to a very dear friend who kept Meigan Sunday night and all day Monday. I guess the exhaustion is finally starting to hit me. When Jennifer was really sick I was too worried to be tired. Thank you all for your encouraging words and prayers. There is nothing worse than the helpless feeling you have when your child is so sick and you don't know if things will get better or worse.
Looking forward to happy and healthier month:)

411 on Jennifer

Just a quick blog for anyone who doesn't know about Jennifer yet. She was hospitalized yesterday with a bad kidney infection. She is still running fevers and they will not send her home until she is fever free for at least 24 hours. She was also very dehydrated so she is getting fluids and her antibiotic by IV. Before I left the hospital this afternoon to trade off with Scott, she was eating Fruit Loops and drinking water. Better than yesterday. She was pretty out of it. Please continue to keep her and this whole family in your prayers. I feel like I'm losing it at times.

Cheerleading pics

I've been meaning to post some pics since Sat., but with me being sick, but better, and now Jennifer very sick I can't win! Three out of five people in this family are on an antibiotic. Scott and Meigan thankfully are ok. Please keep Jenn in your prayers, though. She has a very bad infection and running high fevers. The dr is hoping the medicine she is on will do the trick so she will not have to be hospitalized and need IV medication.

Jesus Painting

Truly Awesome

Be Back Soon

I've not been in the blogging mood this week due to me being under the weather. All week I've been fighting sore throat,hard coughing which has been keeping me up, and laryngitis since Thurs. After coughing so much that I thought my head would explode, I drug myself to the Dr. today and found out it's bronchitis. Here we are about to start a new week and it's back to the running here and there and everywhere, unfortunately. I just don't have time to get sick!
I do have pics to share of Jennifer's cheer competition she had in Ft. Myers on Sat. and Logan is very proud of his autographed basketball he got at the Harlem Globetrotters game last Fri.
I've basically been a couch potato when I can sqeeze it in. Scott's been a big help, but most of the time it's easier to do things myself.

Meigan's school picnic and Logan's Cub Scout Picnic Pics!

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Bummer:(

Today when I walked Meigan into her classroom, I sensed something must be wrong because her teacher was not there and the asst. director was. The first dreaded words out of her mouth were, " I need to tell you something that has happened". She then proceeded to tell me Meigan's teacher turned in her resignation yesterday and she wanted it effective immediately.
Of course, no details as to why she left so abruptly. They are working on filling her position. Having done pre-school for many years, I know that finding a suitable teacher for 2 year olds is easier said than done. Needless to say, I was sad she left. I thought she was great and Meigan was really starting to take to her. Today, I had to leave her screaming and crying while they were walking to chapel. She is familiar with the Asst. Director, though because she was always in the room to help with Meigan when I would leave.
Made me feel better when I came to pick her up. She was sitting eating her lunch, happy as a clam. When we left, she was blowing kisses and hugging her friends goodbye.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

The parties are over. The kids are sugared up and hallelujah it's bed time!

With Lots of Valentines XOXO,

Stephanie, Scott, Logan, Jennifer and Meigan

My Little Cheerleader Champion!

Hard to see Jennifer. She's in the very back!

All the hard work pays off!


This weekend we went to Tampa for Jennifer's cheerleading competition at the Florida State Fair. It was cute seeing her squad on that big stage. The nice thing about her age group is win or lose, you still get that prized trophy! They were all very excited to get their awards. That makes it all worth it:)

What Have We Been Up To?

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We've had a busy week, thus my blog is suffering! Scott's parents are visiting from Ohio so haven't had the chance to get on the computer. Meigan has been sleeping in the room where I have the computer so unless I sneak on after she's asleep... Actually, she's still awake as I type.
Meigan had her first speech therapy on Mon. She started playing with a toy with her therapist and I snuck out of the room. She was fine the whole time! She will have speech twice a week, so I'm glad she felt comfortable without me. Hopefully tom'row will go as well.
Today was her first day of nursery school. She was not happy with me leaving her, crying, clinging, etc.. By the time it was time to pick her up, she didn't want to leave! She has a very sweet teacher. She said you never would have known today was her first day. She played and had a great morning. What a blessing for both of us!
Tonight, I took her to work with me at the church nursery and she said said 2 words very clearly... move and go! This was while she was on the playground waiting to go down the slide. Sounds like she's picking up the toddler lingo already!
Logan and Jennifer got to go airboating today with both sets of grandparents! They saw lots of gators and wildlife. My mom has my camera so hope to post pics of our week tomorrow.

Meigan's Going to School!

I didn't want to post anything about this until I knew for sure, but next Wednesday,
Meigan will be going to nursery school at a local church! I was so happy they had an opening in their 2 yr. old program. We went and visited yesterday. She wasn't quite sure what to think. I'm sure she was more clingy thinking I was going to leave her there. She'll go 2 days a week for 4 hrs. on Wed. and 3 hrs. on Fridays.
We're hoping this will give her an opportunity to develop her language and social skills with kids her age. I can now say I have 3 kids at 3 different schools. Not an easy feat to pull off, but hoping it will be worth it.
I will now also have 3 glorious hrs. to myself on Wednesdays to do anything I want,
and on Fridays, since Jennifer doesn't have school we can hang out together. She loves her just mommy and Jennifer time.
Next week we also get to add to our plate speech therapy sessions. Meigan will go twice a week for 30 min. through our local hospital rehabilitation program.
Eventually, I think I will just move into our van because we seem to be in it more and more.

Update on Dr. Visits

Yesterday Meigan had her follow-up with Dr. Stelnicki's office. Her lip is healing well, though the inside gap is a little wide. ( I wonder why?!!) Nothing to worry about at this point. The fun part will be massaging her lip 3x a day, 20 secs. for 6 months. This is to prevent build up of scar tissue and to help flatten out the area above her lip. Twenty seconds doesn't seem like a long time, but when you have your fingers in a 2 yr. old's mouth while she's squirming and refusing to open her mouth, well let's just say, it ain't easy! The alternative is steroid injections so we will just have to learn to endure it!
We go back in March to see how her lip is progressing and to discuss phase 3, the nose.
After that appt., we were off to the pediatrician to pick up a script for lab work that she needs to have done. Not looking forward to that either.
On a good note though, I'm trying to be more diligent with potty training. Yesterday she did pretty well. I keep hoping I won't have to buy any more diapers after this last pack. I'd settle for pull-ups. I've been taking her to the potty alot more hoping it will just click and she'll tell me when she needs to go. Could I be so lucky?

New pics and Pinewood Derby Races!

I was saving this picture to compare to pictures taken later. I don't like it, but it's amazing to see the transformation in only a week!
Here we are a week and 2 days (and 2 accidents) after surgery! Simply amazing!


Logan getting ready for his car to race!
Logan's is the red car on the left!


Yeah! We made it through the week with no more accidents! Meigan is doing well and it is so awesome to see how every morning her new little lip is healing more and shaping up! Anxious to see what her surgeon thinks on Tues.
Today we went to the Cub Scout Pinewood Derby races. Logan's car won 3 times, but not enough to win overall. We enjoy seeing all the cars race.

Not Again!

Just when things were going fine today. We've been careful to watch Meigan, feed her soft foods, do everything we're supposed to for her mouth. Tonight, her and Jenn are playing right in front of me, no less, and crawling around on the floor. Meigan crawled over one of Rocky's chew toys and somehow slipped and hit the floor face first! Up she comes, mouth full of blood again, and this time it really looked like the inside sutures had been split. Needless to say, I broke a cardinal rule and did not keep my composure in front of the kids. Meigan stopped crying because I think she was so surprised to see me cry. I'm holding a bloody towel to her lip, calling Scott who was at Cub Scouts, and my Mom to come watch the kids so we can go to the E.R.. So, off we go to the hospital. We had a very nice Chinese pediatrician who turned out to be friends with Meigan's plastic surgeon. He looked at the inside of Meigan's lip and said sutures are still holding because there would have been more of a gap between the 2 sides. I can't believe I'm saying this but, kudos to North Collier Hosp. who had us in and out in less than 1 hr.! Meigan was fine the whole time. She sang on the way to hospital, I was crying! I did ask the dr. if he could bubble wrap her head, but no luck.
Nine more days until the post-op visit. Heaven help us we make it with no more accidents! At this rate, her swollen lip will take forever to go down!

If I Make It Through the Next 10 Days!

I had my first freek out moment with Meigan this evening that makes me want to keep her in a bubble until her post-op visit on the 30th! I was in one room talking on the phone while the girls were playing out of my sight. All of a sudden I hear crying from Meigan and Jennifer screaming Mom! Needless to say, I get off the phone and met Meigan in the hallway with blood coming from her mouth and Jennifer had blood all over her shirt from comforting her. Jennifer said she ran into the door of the laundry room. All I know is I was in shear panic when I saw her lip bleeding like it was. I gently wiped off what I could to see if she busted open the stitches, but it was so hard to tell since the stitches go from the the bottom of her nose, down through the front of her lip to all the way back up on the inside. I was able to get the bleeding to stop and could tell it came from a spot just on the inside of her lip. More than likely hit by her tooth. Stitches still intact from what I can tell. I know it had to have hurt:( So, if I could keep her in a bubble for the next week, I would!
Ole' Bob the blender is out of the cupboard now and making his magic concoctions for Meigan's soft food diet. Even if her mouth hurts, she still eats, bless her heart.
Once the swelling goes down some I will post a pic or two of her new and improved lip!

We're Home!

Just a short post to let you all know we are back home. We got home tonight since we were not discharged until 5:00 pm. I would vent about that but I'm so tired after a virtually sleepless night in the hospital.
Thank you everyone for your prayers and kind words:) We truly appreciate it!
Meigan is sleeping soundly after a dose of Tylenol 3. Tempting to not take some myself! She really has been a brave little girl going through all this again. Not even a fuss about sleeping with the no-nos.
Looking forward to sleeping without machines beeping tonight!
Night-Night!

Meigan's Surgery

Well, Meigan made it through her surgery alright. They didn't even take her in for surgery until almost 3:00. So, that made a long day for Meigan without eating or drinking anything. She did alright, though, since we weren't around anyone eating or drinking.

We hope to get to come home today. It's so hard to get any rest in the hospital, especially when you're sharing a room. The hard part now will be to keep Meigan from picking at her stitches. She will have to wear her no-no's again for awhile. Her lip is swollen from the surgery, too, so that is bothering her and she keeps wanting to bite on it. Hopefully, in a few days, things will be better and everything will start to get back to normal.

Headed for Hollywood (again)!

Tomorrow afternoon, Scott, Meigan and I will head over to the east coast to have Meigan's lip revision surgery on Thursday morning. I really don't know what is worse, knowing what to expect or not knowing. I now know what I'm up against and it won't be pretty. Liquid diets, me or Scott hand feeding her, arm restraints for 2 + weeks, probably increase in tantrums as well.
Please keep us in your prayers for speedy healing and lots of patience!
My mom will have Logan and Jennifer here so she will be posting how everything is going. We hope to be home Sat. after 2 days in PICU.

Chinese New Year Party

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I really thought I took more pictures than this but this is it! We had a great time at our Agency's Chinese New Year Party. We enjoyed visiting with our Chinese adoption friends, Tracy, and Alison and cutie pie, Mali.We also saw some new faces this year and was surprised to see a couple with their new baby who was in our travel group! They live on the east coast. We hope to see them next week when we are over there for Meigan's surgery.
We ate lots of delicious chinese food, the kids played in the bounce house and slide and we stayed till they kicked us out:)

Jennifer Loses Her First Tooth!

I'm so behind with posting, but I've been meaning to announce this for the last 2 weeks! On Dec. 26th, Jennifer lost her first tooth! Now 3 weeks later, she is about to lose her second one and is anxious for the tooth fairy to make a return visit! With inflation, she's paying pretty well these days!

Kindness of Strangers

I meant to post this the night it happened, but here goes:

It all started with the gift card to Longhorn's Steakhouse that Shruti sent us for Christmas. Scott and I rarely go out to eat, other than fast food on occasion, and since we were down 2 kids we thought we'd go to Longhorn's last Saturday. We sit down in the entryway till our table is ready. While we are waiting, another couple comes in with a small child and sits to wait by us. The mother immediately asks about Meigan and I tell her we adopted her from China 3 months ago etc.. She tells me her and her husband would love to adopt, she's putting it in God's hands when the time is right and where from. We continue to converse until our table is ready.
They ended up right behind us, in fact. Meigan would flash them that sweet smile in between bites. They finished ahead of us and came over to our table to say goodbye and the mother slipped a piece of paper in my hand just saying God bless you and your family and then they left. I opened up the paper and it was a check for $100.00! Scott, the waiter, and I were all floored! Shruti, you sent a couple of angels with that card:) Our deepest thanks goes to that couple for their kindness and generousity.

Happy New Year to Everyone! Here's hoping 2007 is a year of good health, happiness and lots of referrals for my waiting friends!

Friday Happenings

It's been very strange around here with 2 less kids (and quieter). Logan and Jennifer are up north with my parents visiting cousins and grandparents, aunts and uncles. So, until next weekend, it's just Scott, Meigan, Rocky and me. Meigan and I were at the mall today looking for some bargains. She got some new jammies.
Before going home, I stopped by Praise FM radio station. They were just awesome helping us raise money for travel expenses and getting the word out about our rummage sale last July. I hadn't had an opportunity to come by since we had Meigan and today we really had nowhere to go. We met Arnie the DJ outside the studio and he asked if I could come on the radio at 3:30 today with Meigan. I rush up the road to Wal-Mart to buy a few snacks since I knew that would keep her occupied.
Meigan had her first radio debut uttering "hi" several times into the big microphone which fasinated her. Of course, I didn't have my camera but they did take a couple pictures and hopefully they will post them on their site and I can stick them on the blog. We'll be popping in for more radio visits from time to time. They are such wonderful people.
Meigan really misses her sissy and Lolo (Logan). She calls for them all the time.
When they talk to her on the phone, she can't understand where they are. She keeps looking in the phone. Her new thing to do to me now if she doesn't like what I'm saying is sticking her fingers in her ears so she can't hear me. Jennifer doesn't do it to me so she must have picked it up on her own! Probably thinking I liked it better before my tubes! Hard not to laugh when she does it!

Merry Christmas 2006

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Merry Christmas, Bubby

Dear Matt,
It's still so hard to believe you won't be with us for Christmas. In 32 years, we have never had a Christmas without you. What I wouldn't give to have you waiting secretly for me to come out of a room and shock me with those horendous speedos you were wearing last year! Or, running up to my van with Mike's Michael Meyers mask on!
You are missed more than we can even put into words. Somehow we've muddled through the holidays, but it's just not the same. My Christmas wish for you is that you are at peace and surrounded by God's infinite love as you spend your first Christmas in Heaven. I feel your presence all the time, little bro'. Logan and Jennifer are so lucky they had you for an uncle and we will always tell Meigan about her guardian angel.
We love you always and forever:)

Steff, Scott, Logan, Jennifer, Meigan, Mom and Dad

The "Baby Whisperer" visit and New dresses!

Shopped till she dropped!









Tues. afternoon we had our first visit from Carol, who is an infant/toddler developmental specialist. Scott calls her the baby whisperer and after her first visit, the title fits! She is awesome! So full of information about Meigan's patrticular behaviors, speech delays, etc. She gave us so much insite about things Meigan has probably had to deal with in China. One thing I am so guilty of is comparing her to other 2 yr. olds, or what my 2 were doing at her age. She basically said I have to stop that. There is such a difference in a child who has had a loving, nurturing environment from day 1 as opposed to a child who has their basic needs met but little else due to the number of other children that are in orphanages there, too. I know this, I do. Must not compare! Even with her being fostered, we have no idea if she was bounced around or what her foster was like. I can tell you though her fine motor skills are better than Logan and Jennifer's were at 2. Carol was very encouraged by Meigan's personality and her attempt at speech. She said her speech is at the jabber stage right now, but when it comes look out! She is basically starting speech from scratch because due to her hearing loss before tubes and then exposed to a whole new language she will need time to digest it all and experiment with new sounds. Her maturity level will also catch up with time and comprehension of language. It really is amazing to see just how far she has come in 3 months. I can't wait to see what the future holds for her. I know it would have been bleak in China.

Mele Kolikimaka! (Merry Christmas in Hawaiian! )

The kids are dressed in their Hawaiian clothes that they got from Gaga and Pop-Pop on their recent trip to Hawaii.

Santa Visits Jennifer's Class

Hey, Sissy, Who is this guy anyway?





This morning Jennifer's pre-k class had a visit from Santa so I was able to get a few pics. Meigan sat right down with the kids on the floor and watched. She got to sit on Santa's lap Sat. when Logan's school had a holiday fest. Surprisingly, she wasn't scared and went right up to him. I have no pics of Logan or Jenn at 2 years with Santa because they were so afraid.

Out Cold at 8 p.m..

Today was a busy day for us. Jennifer had started complaining about her ear hurting yesterday and like a good mom I said I'm sure it's fine and that was that. This morning she woke up with "yuck" draining from it so I knew we were probably in for another dr. visit. Yesterday was dr. for Meigan and dentist for Logan and Jenn. Our favorite pediatrician, Dr. Osborne, left to move to Mississippi because the cost of living is cheaper and closer to family, (boy, can I sympathize!)So we had yet to try the new Dr. that replaced him. So we're at the dr.'s for almost 2 hrs. for the nurse to see Jennifer for 2 min. Where's the dr? I wasn't impressed. So looks like we will be on the hunt once again for a new pediatrician.
This afternoon, the people from Early Steps came to do Meigan's developmental assessment. I was apprehensive about scheduling in the afternoon because Meigan can tend to get cranky close to nap time, but otherwise it wouldn't be till after Christmas. Three very nice ladies observed and played with Meigan, that was actually part of the test. Some things she cooperated with, some not. At one point, she was done and got on her little riding car and wanted nothing more to do with them. A lot of the test had to do with asking me questions about her anyway. So, she did qualify for early intervention in speech and cognitive, Which involves language. She scored above in motor skills and they said for her only being here 2 1/2 months, she is doing quite well and adapting nicely. In a few weeks, a child developmental specialist will visit us and do things with Meigan to help her with her delays. I believe it will be on a weekly basis. So, by the time they left, it was too late for a nap and I knew by the way she was acting, we were in for a very whiney evening! Eight o'clock couldn't come fast enough!
On a good note though, Meigan had her post-op with the ENT yesterday, and we redid the hearing test in the sound proof room and she passed! Her hearing has definitely improved and he will see her again in 6 months.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Hanging my first Christmas ornament!


Tonight I decided to muster up some Christmas spirit and put our tree up. Jennifer has been bugging me about it since before Thanksgiving and I've just been in a bah humbug kinda mood about this Christmas. This probably being Meigan's first ever Christmas, I knew the lights and ornaments would facinate her. It didn't take long before she was right in there with hanging ornaments! I pretty much let her and Jenn have at it, (which you can guess where most of the ornaments were placed!) Logan missed out, but for good reason, he went with a neighbor friend to see the movie "The Nativity". He can't wait for me to see it.
We also spent all day at the beach today so the girls and I are pretty tired and a little pink. I did think of all of my northern friends and family while down there, you know, that I wish you could be here, too!
On another note, my parents arrived safely in Honolulu,HA an hr. ago. They will be there for 2 weeks. Lucky ducks!