Good Report

We had a follow up appointment today with our doctor. Normally he would see her at 3 weeks post-op, but he will be TDY the rest of the month and wanted to see her at 2 weeks. (for those of you who aren't military, TDY basically means he will be traveling/working somewhere else for a while.)

When we walked into the waiting room, Michelle looked up at me, opened her mouth and said "Ahhh". Smart girl - she remembered what we do at this place!

The Dr. said everything looks good. No holes or fissures - YEAH!!!! He said she still has stitches in the back of her mouth, so we have to continue eating soft foods until we reach the one month mark, but he did say we could now include things like noodles.

I feel like I have been holding my breath for a long time - now I can finally relax a little. Praise God - we give Him all the glory for what He has done in Michelle's life!

A few pictures

Sometimes a girl just needs to sleep in her tu-tu!

Thank goodness for jello. It has certainly been a staple in the Cole house the past week.

Not exactly sure how this started - for a while we had to bring Curious George with us in the car everywhere we went. Then we had to start taking Pooh Bear along as well. This is what I see now when I look in the rearview mirror.

Slowly Improving

Just a quick update - every day Michelle seems a little better. She is still not wanting much to eat, but tonight she did have a little pureed soup. She also slept 7 uninterrupted hours last night. WhooHooo!! She is doing well with just plain Tylenol now. I think we may be in the home stretch.

A couple of sweet memories from this past week. I'm writing these mostly to remind myself some day, so I won't forget that there were some good times along with the not so good. First, I have the sweetest friends. We had dinner brought all week long, and I'm pretty sure it would have been pb&j if not for those meals. Also, my friends Julie and Laura got me through those really tough days. Thank you both!

And even though Michelle has been pretty miserable this past week, she has still had many sweet moments. She gave me 2 kisses yesterday. She is super stingy with her kisses - she will give them to the stuffed animals, but I've only gotten a very few, so 2 in one day was a big deal to Mamma. Also, she's still not big on watching t.v., but she has fallen in love with Elmo. (from Sesame Street.) Today when she discovered she has an Elmo, or Melmo as she call him, square on her quilt, she had to give it a kiss and tell him, "night-night Melmo".

I'll post a few pic's tomorrow.

From a Friend

Chris and Joann Grassano are two good friends who wrote recommendations for our home study. They have been following our blog, and their daughter Janna felt moved to make this drawing of Michelle. What a nice bit of encouragement!

Survival Mode

I remember just before our adoption trip to get Michelle, we had the chance to have a telephone conference with Josh & Lily, the founders of CCAI. They had lots of good advice, but the thing I remember most was Josh reminding all of us that this trip was about one thing only, adopting our child and bringing him or her home safely. He said we would probably all have some ups and downs, and all we had to do was survive the trip. We had a really good trip, and for the most part I enjoyed our time in China, but there were several times when things weren't great that I remembered his words, all I had to do was survive.

So, that's kind of where we are now in Michelle's recovery. The last couple of days have been a little rough. Michelle hasn't slept much, and it's hard to tell if she is really in pain or if we are revisiting the night terrors. Our biggest challenge has been keeping her hydrated. She hasn't wanted to drink, so yesterday I spent most of the day walking around with a cup of water and a medicine syringe. She won't drink water out of a cup, but she will let me squirt a teaspoon at a time into her sore little mouth, so that's what we have to do.

While it's not easy, I do think things are slowly progressing the way they should. I am so grateful that so far she seems to be improving a little each day. I haven't seen any openings or leaking through her nose, so that seems to indicate healing. Yeah! She also seems to have a little more energy - last night she was laughing and playing with her brothers. I just have to keep my eyes focused on the goal - a healthy, whole mouth for Michelle.

No fun!

Today was kind of a lousy day. Glad we get to start over tomorrow.

mmmmm.... Jello!

Michelle seems even a little better today. Still not completely off the pain med's, but certainly taking less of them. I could tell today she was hungry - I heard her tummy growling, but she still doesn't seem able to tolerate much to drink or eat. She is still taking the Pediasure - something in the consistency agrees with her. And she is eating a LOT of jello. I don't think she has ever had jello before - it's fun, it wiggles, it is not nutritionally wonderful, but at least is has water which is what we are going for at this point, to just keep the child hydrated.

On a different note - o.k., WARNING! I'm going to be a little gross here - she had her first BM since before the surgery. I have never been so happy to change a poopy diaper!

My mom went home today - thank you Na-Na for all your help! When Bill came home after taking mom to the airport, she looked around him and asked for Na-Na. I think it was good for them to get some Grandma time!

Late this afternoon I took a little trip out to Target for some retail therapy. I realized I may be very much housebound for the next week or so, and I'm always on the go, so I need to just get out for a while. I found the cutest video for Michelle called Ni Hao, Kai-lan. It uses Mandarin chinese words throughout and introduces the kids to chinese culture, put out by Nickelodeon. Michelle doesn't really show much interest in t.v., but I thought we might need something to entertain us besides food for the next 3 weeks, so it's worth a try.

Lastly, I've had several people ask us to continue the blog. I had said I would probably stop blogging once Michelle has recovered from surgery. We really want to keep in touch, especially with all our special friends we made during our adoption trip. (I heard you Sara and Renee!) At some point we may start more of a "family blog", because I would like to include more pic's and updates for the grandparents from my other kids. For now, we'll continue to keep you all updated on Michelle's progress, and we'll certainly let you know what our future plans are for keeping in touch.

Thank you all for your sweet notes and prayers. I know we aren't finished with the recovery process, but every day seems to be getting a little better. We are so grateful that God has brought us this far! We are so grateful for Michelle! God is good all the time!