Swimming Lessons

Deanna has been having fun in swimming lessons. She is very comfortable in the water and eager to learn. She will be getting lots of practice swimming on our upcoming camping trip. She passed her class but her teacher wrote on her report card under things to work on, "listening to instructions and keeping hands to herself". Boy did she nail that assessment! I didn't get any good action shots but here are a few of her modeling her swim suit.

Healing

Since the surgery Deanna has had a few minor complications, but now is on the way to recovery. Several days after the operation her incision seemed too red to me. I had been religiously cleaning it 5 times a day as directed by our plastic surgeon. I wasn't sure if it was becoming infected or just irritated from the cleanings. I finally decided it looked too bad, so I called the doctor. She wanted us to come in that day, and she agreed it was infected. They also took out some stitches. She was started on some antibiotics and it began to improve slightly. But, a day and a half later it looked worse again. She was put on different antibiotics and it slowly has improved. I had to remove some sutures from the inside of her lip and it has been healing better since then.
Her nose looks very good. It is much less flat on one side and the nostril is really lifted and rounder. It is still sore but the swelling is gone.
We kept her home for a week and a half but this week she went to day camp at the church. She really needed the activity and had a great time. Next week she starts swimming lessons. She is back to her old energy level and is in need to things to do!

Surgery

On Wednesday, June 10, Deanna had surgery for "cleft scar revision, cleft rhinoplasty, (and bilateral ear piercing)". The last thing on the list was Deanna's only objective! When the anesthesiologist came in to talk to us and verify the procedure being done (scar revision, etc) Deanna sat up and said "no, my earrings!" and showed them to him. Everyone at the hospital was really great. Yea Doernbecher!

This was a day procedure and we were home in 8 hours. The surgery itself lasted almost 3 hours. They reattached muscles on her lip, to make them straighter and removed the zigzag scar to create a straighter one. Her lip line was also evened out. Her flatter nostril was lifted and reshaped some. It looks pretty good as the swelling goes down but it will take a while to see the final product. Overall everything went very well, but she has been quite swollen and sore. The stitches go from inside her nose all the way down her lip and inside her mouth. She was barely able to smile due to the swelling, what a difference. We are so use to her happy face all the time! We have had to clean and apply ointment to the wound 5 times a day. We (I) have been quite diligent but the scar still seems red to me. Hopefully there will be some improvement soon. The earrings on the other hand look great!

Now for the 6 weeks of no contact sports or tumbling. Swimming pool here we come.

Watching cartoons after surgery.

Beginning of Summer

Deanna loves to hang around with Jordan and his friends! They are quite tolerant. Here with Breanna, Dave and Ericka. They have had some campfires in our back yard and Deanna was allowed to attend for a short while.

Deanna still refers to Jordan as "my O". Jon was making her say Jordan, and she is able, but she then said, "Jordan, I just call you O".

So "O" it is.

Jeremy will soon be moving home for the summer. If he doesn't find a job soon I told him he will be my free baby sitter. Hope she likes staying up late, surfing the internet, and video games. Oh yeah, I guess she does! Deanna loves her "Richie" even though he is by far the biggest teaser.

Someone loves to have their nails polished. To the extent of being obsessed with nail polish. This has resulted in some messes in the house. As a result she is not supposed to ever touch the nail polish herself, and I try to keep it out of reach. This night I did her hands and feet for a special occasion the next day. She was so excited and is showing them off in the pictures. The next morning I found her playing with the same nail polish, trying to touch them up! Needless to say the beautiful polish had to come off and she has been bare since.


Gymnastics is probably our first love. She now is inventing routines involving dance moves and tumbling. Look at that extension!

T-ball is coming along as well. Her last game she was 3 for 3 hitting from a pitcher! Tonight was to be her final game of the season but a sudden thunder and lightening storm cancelled the game. She actually was quite disappointed.

Deanna's surgery is scheduled for next Wednesday the 10th. It will be an outpatient procedure and hopefully not too unpleasant. She is not looking forward to it, so we don't dwell on it. The hard part will be 6 weeks of no contact activities or tumbling. Swimming is okay after 2 weeks so I have signed her up for some lessons. I may take her away to the beach house for some quiet time right after the surgery. (I think I may need it!) Maybe we'll break out the nail polish.

PreSchool Graduation

The preschool year has officially ended. Deanna has learned so much this year and has made many friends. They had a nice program and a ceremony at the church. Deanna will be attending kindergarten there next year so she will already be accustomed to everything. I think she looks very grown up in these pictures!

Preschool program, shes the "mouse" in black.

Getting her certificate from her teacher.

The whole class.

Celebrating with friends!

Catching Up

We have just been busy with the regular routine! Preschool, gymnastics, t-ball, speech therapy, and just playing. Jeremy came home for mother's day weekend so the whole family was together. Deanna loves her brothers despite the teasing! (Jeremy is the biggest teaser).
Deanna has surgery scheduled the first part of June to revise her lip scar. This is something that is commonly done with cleft lip repair, and usually before kids start school. It will just be a day surgery. She is aware of this upcoming procedure and is not too pleased. She says "I don't want my lip cut, I'll just stay home with my Mama". We have told her she can get her ears pierced at the same time, and this has helped to give her something positive to look forward to. She has really wanted pierced ears and is excited for this. I think after the surgery when she looks in the mirror she will focus on her new earrings and not a bandaged lip!

Deanna had some pictures taken at the tulip festival, courtesy of my friend Debbie. This is a preview, stay tuned for more.

MEXICO!!

We just returned from our family vacation to Mexico. This is already Deanna's 2nd trip to Mexico, as it is a favorite vacation destination of ours. This year Jon's brother Mike and his wife Lori shared a suite with us. My parents, my sister and several other friends also made the trip, and they had the pleasure of staying in the penthouse suite. Jeremy and Jordan opted out this year due to school, work, and social obligations. I really missed them, we haven't gone without them before.

Deanna was the only kid in our group, but she seemed to make a friend everywhere we went. At our resort she met several friends at the pool. They swam and participated in many activities together, such as pinatas, coloring contest, watermelon eating contest, dart tournament, bingo, etc. A five year old boy and a five year old girl in particular were good buddies. The girl actually lives in our area and we were on the same plane on the way home. Language being no barrier for Deanna she also made friends with some Mexican children. One little girl she played with for quite some time while we were dining in an outdoor restaurant.

Vacation may not be very relaxing, but always full of fun and excitement with Deanna around.

Mexico cont....

T-Ball

DeAnna has started to play t-ball this spring. She really seems to enjoy it, and tackles it with her usual enthusiasm. She is beginning to learn the rules of the game, with the rest of the kids on the team. Her first inning in the field, she got the ball and proceeded to do a happy dance, neglecting to throwing the ball to first base. The kids all fight to field the balls and DeAnna is usually in the middle of the pile. Players be warned, if you bump heads she won't be the one to come up crying!

Gymnastics

DeAnna continues to enjoy gymnastics. She routinely practices tumbling in the living room, or wherever she may be. Sometimes she'll spontaneously do a little dance number and it looks like a real floor exercise routine, Olga Korbet style! She also has a soul mate in gymnastics class. A little girl who is just as spirited and affectionate, so the hugging is very mutual. This girl has been known to say "DeAnna, I love you". I'm sure the feeling is mutual.

Spring Program

DeAnna had her spring program at preschool last night. Her class was dressed as ducks and they sang a little song. None of the pictures came out very well because we were too far away.
I did get some pictures of DeAnna before the event. She was so excited to get ready to "go sing with her friends" that she was ready way too early. Soon she was tumbling in her dress in the living room!



Naturally wavy hair!!!

She's the duck in the middle.

ONE YEAR HOME

We have been home from Ukraine and had DeAnna in our family for a full year now. Everything has turned out so much better than we could have ever hoped for. DeAnna has such a huge, outgoing personality you would never think she spent her first 4 1/2 years in a desolate orphanage.

She is very bonded with her family and is wonderfully affectionate to all of us. She loves her "Papa" and she asks him every night, "Papa do you go to work tomorrow?" If he says yes she carries on "Oh Papa no!, why? I want Papa home! If he says no she says "Oh Papa, I'm so happy!" followed by many kisses.

She loves her brother Jordan, and she sees him just about every day. She calls him her "O". She does not get to see Jeremy "Richie" as often, but she frequently says she misses him and wants to talk to him. He is good about talking to her on the phone. They enjoy playing with her and teasing her as big brothers do.

She still has some issues with being overly friendly to strangers. We have been working on understanding "stranger danger" and respecting the personal space of people she knows. Although she has made a lot of progress in this area we still have to watch her like a hawk in public.

In the past year DeAnna has grown about 5 1/2 inches and gained about 4 pounds. Her hair has gone from short and falling out, to thick and wavy. She is very healthy and has only had a couple of colds. She had her palate repaired and tubes placed in her ears last May. She will have scar revision surgery on her lip probably early this summer.

Speech therapy has been by far the biggest issue. She went from non-verbal to speaking in short sentences in the past 9 months. Speech does not come easily to her and we have had to work very hard to get to this point. She is so great at communicating, this has actually hindered her motivation to speak. I think it is quite interesting watching her learn to talk. It is apparent that she missed a big developmental stage in language and really has to work to form the pathways from brain to mouth.

DeAnna has endless energy and is especially excited around friends. She sleeps well all night but she NEVER falls asleep anywhere except in her bed. When she is tired she is more active.

DeAnna likes to test her limits but is very directable and likes to please. She sometimes gets frustrated but has never had a tantrum or any kind of "meltdown" (since the plane trip from Ukraine).

She is doing great in preschool this year. She has learned a lot and she feels secure and well accepted there. We will be sending her to kindergarten at the same place next year. I have heard great things about the kindergarten teacher, and they have a longer day and much smaller class size than our public school.

DeAnna loves her gymnastics class and she practices at home all the time. She definitely needs the physical outlet! She is also going to play t-ball this spring. The boys played baseball for many years and it will be fun to go back to the field! DeAnna also shows some potential in this area, but I really would just like her to meet some little girls in our area.

People often say what a lucky girl she is, but we know the truth, we are the lucky ones.

Preschool Field Trip

Last week I went with DeAnna's preshcool class to the fire station. The kids had a great time and it was fun to watch DeAnna interact with her friends.

Sometimes it is hard to remember all of the little things DeAnna has not been exposed to, essentially missing out the the first few years of life. Before this day I don't think she knew what a fire station was, and I hadn't thought to explain it to her. Some of the kids were talking about stop, drop and roll. I know she has never heard of that before! There are so many things to learn!