Craziness!

Hello Everyone!  Once again it seems it takes me a million years to update our blog.  All is well at our end!  My father-in-law’s surgery was a success!  YEA!  THANK YOU everyone for all your kind thoughts and prayers!  He came home today (Sunday, February 20, 2011)!  He’s unbelievable how well he has recovered.  Maya’s surgery is still set for February 28^th!  We had her pre-op appointment with her surgeon this past week.  John and I decided we literally need to move all of the crackers, chips and cereal into the laundry room during her 3-week recovery because she will have a fit if she can’t eat her favorite foods.  We figure out of sight, out of mind, right?  Somehow with our smart little Maya, I don’t see that flying.  I’m sure she’ll figure out a way to scale the washing machine and get to her snacks.  What a recovery period this will be!  Madeline and Will are on mid-winter break this week.  Yea for Maya!  She loves having her sister & brother around.  The Spring girls are coming for a visit on Tuesday.  We can’t wait to host them at our house finally!  We’ll be sure to take photos of the girls for our next blog post.  We registered Madeline at Marian High School this past week.  Wow – I still can’t believe I’ll have a child in high school in September.  I still remember taking Madeline to preschool.  I’m going to remember this with Maya…time just seems to fly!  Will and his best buddy Patrick had a project in the science fair this past Thursday!  I actually think they had more fun seeing everyone else’s projects rather than standing at their post!  What an evening!  Maya was able to meet all of the teachers and parents who have not met her yet.  She was the hit of the fair!  We were hit with a lot of snow today!  We went to Will’s flag football game this afternoon.  Came out and it was snowing like crazy!  Maya still doesn’t enjoy it so she didn’t exactly welcome the sight of it!  Maya’s vocabulary continues to grow everyday!  She’s starting to put together two words now!  We’re so proud of her.  She’s come so far in such a short period of time!  This past week she purposely dropped something, looked at me and said, “Oh Maya!”  I couldn’t help but crack up.  I probably say it to her 100 times a day so it was bound to cross into her vocabulary!  Stay tuned for more “Maya Adventures”!  Something new seems to pop up each day! 

The sisters love each other so much!





 



Maya and Grandma Pat





Will and Patrick, the science "nerds" :)



Guang Hey Fat Choy!!!

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!! It is the year of the rabbit! In the year of the rabbit the main goal of Chinese people is to create a safe, peaceful lifestyle so they can calmly deal with any future problem that may arise. Today Maya finally put on her silk dress!!! She looks ADORABLE. We are going to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and are hoping she will wear the dress to dinner. Maya clearly knows what "Guang Hey Fat Choy" (Happy new year) means. She smiles everytime we say it, and was singing the words to a Chinese New Year song. On the other hand, we have been trying to get Maya to enjoy the snow. She really does not like the cold, wind, or snow at all. The only time she smiled is when William pushed Madeline into a snow mound. After coming inside, Madeline asked Maya if she liked the snow and she looked right at her and shook her head and said "NO!" Haha! Here are some cute pictures from this week...

Maya and her cousin Abbey

Madeline and Will holding Maya in a lego box...

10 inches of snow!

Acting like the ham she is :)

See what we mean by really not liking the snow?

At least Will and his best friend Patrick love being outside!

The Chinese warrior pose!

Crazy February!

I sincerely apologize for not updating our blog sooner.  My days with the kids seem to fly by so quickly.  I hardly have time to think most days!  But, I wouldn’t trade it for a million years.  Maya continues to be a little live wire.  She’s the ultimate Energizer Bunny!  John and I took Maya to her surgeon, Dr. Shaheen, on January 20^th.  He suspects they started to repair her cleft palate in China but it was too large & complex.  Honestly, I'm glad they didn't fix it because I'd rather it was fixed the right way by a skilled surgeon here since her cleft palate is so large.  He went through a lot of Maya's prognosis with us.  She will probably be in store for 5-6 more surgeries until she's 21.  An entire team works with our surgeon so every year, we will meet with them and they will decide the next step for her.  Dr. Shaheen said by the time she's 21, she'll probably be done with everything unless some problems emerge.  Her surgery is set for Monday, February 28^th.  Keep our little one in your prayers!  On another note, my father-in-law suffered a heart attack last Saturday while he was walking our dog back to our house!  By God’s grace, John got him to the hospital quickly.  He will need open heart surgery, which as of right now is slated for February 16^th.  So, the month of February should be a bit crazy for our family (what’s new?).  We were hit with a huge snowstorm last night, which meant no school for the kids today!  Whoo Hoo!  We bundled Maya up and took her out in the snow.  I don’t think she quite knows what to make of all this cold, white stuff.  Madeline and I were like cheerleaders trying to get her to crack a smile while we pulled her on a sled down our driveway.  We were able to get a few photos, but she doesn’t look too happy!  Oh well…I know next year she’ll be running around out there freezing her butt off.  Will and his buddy Patrick decided to both be “Kings of the Hill” on the snow mound that is in the middle of our court.  John, Madeline, Maya and I watched them from inside as they tagged team each other keeping the other boys off the top of the hill.  It was pretty funny!  You could tell they were all laughing and having a blast.  Ahhh…to be young again and enjoy rolling around in the freezing snow with a runny nose!  We got Maya’s blood work back.  Everything was a normal other than she’s a bit anemic.  So, she has to take a multi-vitamin with iron every day!  She actually loves them and would eat half the bottle if I let her!  Her eating is getting better and Madeline finally got her to eat grapes.  She still wants to snack 24/7, so John thought he’d curtail her snacking habits by putting a rubber band on the pantry doors.  It took one tug by Maya and that band snapped!  I think I’m just going to have to hide all the snacks right after her surgery since she has to be on a soft diet for 3 weeks following the surgery.  How much fun will that be?!  The kid who lives for crackers and chips?!  Do you think I can liquefy them in a blender?!!!  Take care everyone and stay tuned for further updates!  Sorry I’m not quicker!