We are home....FINALLY & update on Katie from Pediatrician!

Hello from the wonderful U.S. of A!!!  I am so GLAD to be home and in our own environment!!!

Our air travel didn't exactly go as planned and we made it home after 1am!  She is SUCH a trooper and handled the flights miraculously!!!  She slept the entire flight from Vlad to Moscow.  The first night in Moscow she went right down to bed and did wonderfully!  The flight from Moscow to Washington D.C. was quite a different story for little miss!  She didn't want a SINGLE toy that I packed for her to play with or even anything to eat.  There were a lot of Russian men on the plane and she must have went up to every one of them, charming them and then they picked her up and said something to her in Russian and this trend continued for the 9 1/2 of the ten hour flight.  She did not sleep but just for 30 minutes on that long flight from Moscow, so neither did I.  (I am about to go to sleep as Aaron has stepped in and kind of taken over until I can get my body into a decent rhythm and get back on U.S. time). 

When coming back to the U.S. last night....I missed our connecting flight from Washington D.C. to Dayton, Ohio and we had to take a VERY late flight that was just under one hour long to get back to our hometown from the D.C. area.  On that flight, she cried and was upset for takeoff and landing because they made me buckle her in her seat, but when I held her and sang to her...she was happy and actually...about 20 minutes after she fell asleep, but the flight attendant told me we were about to land so I had to strap her in.  I begged the her to PLEASE let me just hold her as she was sleeping and no longer screaming at the top of her lungs!!!  No can do....she MADE me wake up our baby and put her in the seat belt.  So, whenever we landed...we walked out of the airport and I carried her towards her daddy and my mother who is just here until Tuesday.  She wouldn't let either one of them hold her until about 15 minutes and actually did SO well in the car seat.  I was thinking she was going to get really upset about being strapped in so much, but since it is the law here and you can be charged with "child endangerment," and even put in jail for it...we had to make her ride in it.  So, I made a silly game out of it.  I put her toy in it that she likes SO much and strapped it in and told her that her "baby" needed her to ride with it to go HOME.  :-)  She finally gave in and didn't get too upset!!!   

Sleeping in our bed last night felt like a dream and I am about to do it again in a few minutes, but I wanted to write this while it was fresh on my mind.  I hope this post makes some sense, because I am still SO jet lagged and on "Russia time."  As I write this, it is 9am in Moscow and I woke up each morning between 8:30 and 9am when Katie awoke.  She is an excellent sleeper as you can see from this photo!

Our Katie Allison in her own bed, loving it and sleeping like the DIVA she is!!!

 

She weighed 19 lbs when I got her in Russia and by the time we got home, she now...today weighs 23.5 lbs a little over 3 ft tall.  They ranked her in the 4th percentile at our military hospital's pediatric clinic (but we see the IAC doc on March 14th so that will be a great day because it is close to the Newport Aquarium in Cincinnati (so we might make a day down there and maybe meet a lady I talked to all the way through our adoption).  

I don't know what that 4th percentile means (however, the doctor wasn't that concerned about it since she has such a GREAT appetite), but when I have time I am going to research it and the fetal alcohol effects stuff because they noticed slight facial features, but they don't look THAT impressive.  We were looking at the ridge above our lip and between our nose...and it looks no different than hers.  They said something about some "railroad markings" on her ears being indicative of Fetal Alcohol Effects.  So, as a concerned mommy (I ADORE this word), I will research it and we will get her whatever services she needs.  

God blessed me with the innate ability to find resources when they are needed for anything from natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina (where my husband..lost everything and was not allowed to come back to assess the damage by the Air Force when he lived in Biloxi and we were dating), to helping women deal with their Interstitial Cystitis to witnessing to people when I feel led about Christ and the intense LOVE He, our maker and creator has for us.  I can't believe (but I can), I know it sounds contradictory...but I can't believe this princess is OUR BABY and no one can take her away!!!  

In the next few days, I would like to research this more, so if anyone knows of some resources that are reliable about this, please let us know.  Oh, and the whole thing about reactive attachment disorder that scared me when we originally started this process is no longer an issue as I know our daughter is attached to me and is, everyday becoming more and more attached to her "papa"...who kindly requests that we change his name to "Daddy..." so we are trying that.

Katie is one smart little baby girl!  She partially dresses herself and undresses her self when I say let's "cu-batsa.." and say BATH after that.  She isn't afraid of water at all and actually will stick her head right under water and then come back up!!!  So, swim lessons and piano are two things we will probably get her involved in within the next year or two (as it becomes age appropriate).  

As for adopting another baby in the future, we are pretty sure we want to do SOME kind of adoption again!  Katie is SO smart that she will probably ask for a brother or sister as she grows up!  

If we choose international adoption again, It would be awesome to come back to Vladivostok (we would probably request Vlad since we know the territory and love Oksana)....for a baby Asian boy if one was located, or just a son.  From the beginning of Aaron and I talking about having children, we picked a girl's name which we used on Katie and then our little boy name would be Aiden Micah Chen (since daddy's name is Aaron Micah Chen)    :-) 

We're also looking at the Korean program.....just pondering about it at the moment because we will be moving in June to the Washington D.C. area, it appears or perhaps Baltimore, Maryland in early June!!!!  There's SO much to do for children and families in Baltimore from theatre to music and even groups where moms bring their children who have been adopted to talk about the challenges and triumphs.  

So far, our little one has just met my mother...as we wanted to keep her welcome home low key!  She had to even warm up to the idea of Aaron holding her last night when we got in because she is SO attached to me!  I love being a mother!!  It is the greatest, most rewarding job a woman can have...especially since I am so blessed to be able to stay home with Katie!!!  Our whole church has been praying for us throughout this whole process and it is awesome!  We can't wait to take her to church and probably won't this week just because we don't want her to get too overwhelmed as we know everyone will want to meet her and hold her.  All of the literature and friends who've adopted say it is critical for bonding and attachment to insure that the mommy and daddy meet all her basic needs.  My mom has been here as a support person, and for that, I can't thank her enough.  Last night when I walked out of security at the airport, a flood of emotions hit me and I cried out of sheer happiness to be home with our daughter!!!  Then, my mom cried and Aaron (Daddy) followed suit!  We had a happy little cry fest because it REALLY sunk it at that VERY moment that this baby girl is ours to LOVE as raise in a Godly, secure, happy and safe home......OUR home with a FAMILY.....her Forever Family!!!
 

As for the pediatrician's concerns about her being affected by Fetal Alcohol Effects, I honestly believe that God led us to Katie and whatever she needs, we will provide for her because it is my profound belief that God never gives more than we can handle.  I believe He challenges us to have us continue to trust and have FAITH!!!  :-)

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all who have prayed us through this amazing journey!!  May God bless you equally as well.  As a new mom, it's hard to find the time to write unless it is late at night (2am here now), but I am going to do my best to keep my blog going, keep emails caught up and Facebook also....along with taking mass amount of photos with my professional camera.  Speaking of that, I want to take some of her and have my mom use it to take some of us as a family in the park if the weather will cooperate and not rain or snow one of these days.

Oh well, for some reason I am finally hungry so I am going to feed my growling belly and get to bed soon!  I am SO glad to have our princess home!!!  :-)

Latest photos are available at the following link (without a Facebook account), you can view them by clicking the link below:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2205220&id=42809441&l=9b51ce6a7d