9/19/2007 OLivia's Kazak and American Passports Photos - HUGE CHANGE

In looking at Olivia's Kazakhstan passport photo taken May 2007, and her American passport photo taken July 2007, so barely two months apart and look how different she looks, it is almost shocking… she looks years older. I joked with my husband she looks like she had a nose job... laugh

I will post the photo so you can see for yourself...

9/18/2007 Olivia's Cast Change

Today is the day...
we had to get up at 5:00am to be to Shriners by 6:00am. Even though I knew we would just wait there for hours. I tried to quietly get Olivia in the car while she slept. But she woke up and so I told her that we were head to get the blue cast off. She was so excited she just squilled.
We get to the hospital and checked in, went through the normal questions and answers several times. Olivia gets her "bunny" gown, and is very excited about the new cast. (or should I say getting the blue cast off). She keeps going back and forth on whether she wanted the PINK or LIME GREEN cast. The final all was LIME GREEN. She did great and was really happy until they began to take her to the operating room, then she broke down. I kept telling her that there were no "owies" today. So I am not sure if the versed they gave her made her more emotional, or if she was just scared since the last time she went to the OR she woke up in allot of pain.
The whole procedure took about a hour. Then she spent about an hour in recovery. She finally come in the room with her new green cast. I was surprised to see that it wasn't on her hops at all and was basically only on her legs, with a bar connecting her feet.
I showed her that she didn't have a cast up her chest and she was very happy. Then when she saw the cast she said "NO, GREEN OFF"... and I told her later... in 4 weeks (which I don't think she understands more then tomorrow and later).
She kept lifting her legs and was very happy she could move. Then she figured out she could sit up and was very excited about that and kept saying "LOOK MOM, OLIVIA SITTING".
All the way home she just continued to want to show me everything she could do now, and was excited she was going in the car (since she has been homebound for 6 weeks). She was also again thrilled she could sit in her carseat. She had to ride to the hospital laying down.
Then when we got home she spent hours showing EVERYONE several times all that she could do. Including rolling all over the floor to the point that she now has carpet burns on both hands.
So I think that the next 6 weeks will be much easier on her.

9/17/2007 Olivia's Bath and School

Tomorrow is Olivia's cast change so we are hopefully have our last "bath" in the kitchen sink. Olivia loves her hair to be washed, though she is so sensitive it is hard to wash :)
We also try and clip her finger nails and toe nails, which she doesn't like as she wants LONG NAILS. But really long nails limit her use of her hands. Jordan, Olivia's bog brother drew pokoman all over her cast. He wanted her to like pokoman so that he could watch it with her. Little did he know she would LOVE it... so now she wants to watch it so much he is TIRED OF IT... laugh (see photos)
I can't wait to see what her new cast looks like and to get rid of her current cast, as a close smell still smells like pee... :( Despite all our attempts to tuck baby wipes all over when she needs to pee, and my husband special chair to help he sit up straight when she pees. As girls don't pee well in a bed pan.

I also called the school, despite the fact that I went in and registered the first week we got home, they still haven't provided a tutor. They wait a week or two then tell me they need something else, then it takes me a few days to get it, then there is always something else... so frustrating.

9/12/2007 Dental Update

Well the dentist called and have now informed us that our "portion" of Olivia's surgery is now $5,300. (up from the $4,300 they originally estimated) I am just having a stressful day, I just don't know how we will cover that. It is hard enough right now to get through the day to day chores with a child in a body cast, a husband that works out of town 5 days a week, and a house that we are still trying to finish remodeling so we can sell and move to Cedar City, so we can be with "daddy". Not to mention I also TRY and work from home, which is hard lately with Olivia in her condition, and needing help with everything. (and unable to go to school, etc.)
This is one of those days that I am just overwhelmed with it all. If anyone knows of any organizations that will help with dental work, please, please let me know. Since Olivia is now complaining of pain we can't delay her dental surgery, yet I just don't see how we can get that much money in less then two weeks. The hospital will let us make payments, but the rest has to be paid up front. The dental work is over $3,000 ($2,000 of which we will need to cover), the hospital bill is another $2,500 and the anesthesiologist is another $800.
We tried to get grants for Olivia's adoption, but were unable to get one since we are "Mormon", and apparently not Christian to the agencies that award the grants. So I seriously doubt that we will be able to get any assistance with this bill either.
But we are open to ANY suggestions that anyone has, or possibly any programs that are out there that I am not aware of.

9/11/2007 Dental Work - Fundraiser

We are worried about how we are going to pay her $4,300 dental bill in two weeks. (this is our portion AFTER insurance) Olivia has cavities in ALL, yes all her teeth. We were considering rescheduling it one month later to buy us some time to get the money together. But 3 days ago she started complaining about tooth pain. So delaying it is no longer an option.
Since we are looking at moving next year I have been cleaning out our entire home and selling anything that we don't intend to move. Thank heaven for Craigslist.com and ksl.com. I am applying all this to help cover Olivia's dental bill.

So this Saturday we will be having a huge sale at our home. If you are looking for any baby clothing, boys or girls (we are selling the twins clothing they have out grown) please come, or email me and I can email you photos if what is available. (or anyone else that you know might be interested.) All items are in EXCELLENT condition, or we donated them. We also have many items in our ebay store here is the link.... http://stores.ebay.com/GYMBOBRACELETS

We are also still selling the custom made bracelets to help cover the never ending costs to care for our little Olivia. We hope to grow this business to the point that Olivia can run it and live off it when she is older. She LOVES jewelry, and it will be great therapy for her hands :)

9/10/2007 One week to go...

Well exactly one more week and Olivia gets her new cast. We (and she) are very excited. She is pretty happy all considered and with her new chair and table that daddy made her 2nd week in the cast, she can do so much more. Daddy also added a potty bucket to it. The potty part of the cast is the hardest, since her cast is almost in a laying position.
She was so happy about the chair, and even the next morning when she woke up the first thing she said was "thank you for my chair". I will post photos of it soon.
Olivia is doing MUCH better. She seldom has tantrums anymore, they were a DOZY for a while. We honestly just ignored them and demo'd how we wanted her to ask for things, or behave. When she through a big tantrum we would take her to her room and let her throw the biggest tantrum she wanted. Then when she was done she could come out. In the beginning they could be an hour long. Then she learned that once she was calm and asked for things she was much happier and got more of what she wanted. I must say the cast also helped LOL Before the cast she would throw herself all over the room and hit and scream. But the cast really limits her ability to do that. She would at times bite her shirt, since that was about all she could do. It has now been weeks since she has thrown any tantrums.
Her English is amazing and she understands almost everything we say. She is also very good with please and thank you. If the twins forget to tell her thank you, she even reminds them...LOL
The sharing is also getting much better. That was also really hard in the beginning, but we knew that she never really had things, and now she wanted to hoard her things... and she wanted ANYTHING that anyone else had. (Which is not uncommon in most children).
We have tried to really praise her for sharing, so now when she shares she likes to point out to us that she is sharing... she will say "look mommy, Olivia sharing... good job Olivia"... she always tells her self good job...LOL