Food

About two weeks ago Malia just sort of stopped eating, well not stopped but she ate very little. Considering she would eat anything at anytime I knew something was wrong. It took a little while but I figured it out, she wants to do it herself. She needed some help (and still does sometimes) but for the most part she can do it herself and she is soooooo proud of it. We make a big deal out of every spoonful she gets in her mouth. Here are some pics.

Heres a few more.....

New pictures

We had some pictures taken of Malia today. They took over 50 pictures of her and then gave me a disk with all of them on it. The photographer did it kind of free form, in other words his camera wasn't attached to a tripod. He just moved around to where he needed to be. I don't know about you but every other time I had any pictures taken the camera was always on a tripod and you had to sit in one place. Malia could move around a little, which I thought was neat.

MRI Results (well sorta)

Malia had her MRI done Monday. Her Doctor’s assistant called me today
(her doctor wasn’t in today) She told me that the radiologist who read the film said that it looks as if Malia had a “Torch Infection” in utero and that “Her brain took a hit” meaning that she had a stroke in utero, most likely from a high fever that her mother had.
I was told a torch infection means that her mother had an infection and that could mean anything form a urinary tract infection to herpes to German Measles.
Its her right front cerebral hemisphere that is damaged. So, the part of the brain that handles speech is not effected. Her Doctor is going to call me as soon as he comes back but I don’t know when that is. He wasn’t even going to take Malia as a patient because he is retiring at the end of this year but when he found out she was adopted he changed his mind for some reason. He was a very highly recommend pediatric neurologist that works out of Penn State University (Hershey) Hospital. I don’t know what we are going to do after December or who is going to take his place yet. Here are some random pictures........

Still growing

Malia continues to amaze us everyday. It seems she gets it more and more. We just have to show her anything once and she gets it. A few examples are turning on and off a musical toy, you show her once how to do it and she does it herself from then on. The other day she babbled something to me and it sounded like a question and I put my hands up in the air and shrugged my shoulders, so when we ask her a question she will shrug her shoulders and put her palms in the air. She imitates ALL of our body language now. She still doesn't try to speak yet but she can say baby, ma ma and Da Da. She does however understand almost everything we say.
She had an EEG this past Thursday to see if she is having seizures and the Doctor called that night and asked if I could come in because it was "a little abnormal", so I go to see him tomorrow. Next Monday she gets an MRI so see what part of her brain is effected by her Cerebral Palsy. We still don't know if it was caused by a stroke or brain damage. I would also love to know if it happend in utero or after birth but her Doctor said with her being two now it would be almost impossible to tell. I'm praying that the part of her brain that effects speech isn't effected, but we shall see.

Baby Shower

A good friend of mine and my mother threw a surprise baby shower today for me. I didn’t expect it at all, I always thought that they happened “before” the baby came so I never thought that I would have one. I never had any for my two boys either, so I wasn’t expecting one at all. Quite a few people came that I haven’t seen for awhile, like my Aunt Maryland and Aunt Nancy. And Leigh’s (my sons girlfriend) mother came which was a pleasant surprise, one of the things she gave Malia was a little tea set. Malia likes to have tea parties with my 3 yr old niece and my mother. They make little sandwiches out of peanut butter and gram crackers. Malia got a lot of nice things but the nicest was a bracelet that my mother had custom made out of a tennis bracelet that belonged to my grandmother. She had it cut down to Malia’s size. So Malia has a little tennis bracelet with real diamonds in it. I would like to thank everyone who came, it was a good time !! I especially want to thank Beth, Gary and my mother, I know you put in a lot of time, and effort to put it together, you are awesome friends and Gary and I appreciate everything you do.

I got a new bicycle !!

Nana got me a new bicycle and its really cool ! I have a hard time keeping my feet on the pedals right now but I'm sure I will get it going soon. I can only make it go backwards by pushing on the floor with my feet.

Malia's first kiss

A friend of mine came for a visit the other day, she has a little boy who just turned one. Holli asked Justin to give Malia a kiss and he did. Malia's reaction was funny, I think she liked it !!
I think once Malia gets used to him they could become great friends.

Wow, only 3 hours later...........

I just posted that video with her walking 3 hours ago and look at her now ! She is walking everywhere. Even when she falls, she can get herself back up and going again. She is so happy and proud of herself, she thinks this is GREAT and so do we!

Mustache's and Kisses

I cant decide if Dad's mustache tickles or scratches. But I laugh like crazy when he gives me kisses.

She walked about 6' today

Well, Thursday Malia saw a Pediatric Neurologist at Hershey and he seems to think that her CP only effects her left hand and left foot from the ankle down. That's great news that its not her whole limb. I don't know how he can say this but he thinks that her speech might be effected, we will see after the MRI so see what part of her brain is effected.
Gary and I have been working with her and her walking by sitting a few feet apart and getting her to try and walk between us. When we first got her she wouldn't even try, she would just flop down on her knees and crawl. But by clapping and making a big deal out of her taking even one step we eventually got her to walk about 3'. Today we were shocked when she kept making it about 6'.

She will eat anything

My husband and I have a running joke around the house about how Malia will eat anything. She has never refused any food that I have given her. If either one of us is snacking or eating whatever she will come to us at lightning speed. She would eat all day if I let her. Well, last week I made chili and she wanted a bite, so I gave her one and guess what? She loves it, no surprise there. This week I made pork and sauerkraut. I had the bright idea to get the video recorder out and preserve her first taste of sauerkraut. You can kind of tell by her facial expressions that she is kind of shocked by the taste BUT she does not refuse more.....

This is a totally different girl here.............

Well, as you may have been able to tell Malia has opened WAY up now. She is a happy go lucky girl. She is always in a good mood and smiles and carries on like crazy. In fact we had our 30 day home visit and our agent said that Malia is the most adjusted child she has seen within the 30 day period. Wow, if you would have told me this would happen while we were in China, I would have told you that your nuts !!
As most of you know the first few days we had her were very difficult for all of us. She was shut down totally for the first 4 days. We were starting to think that she had some major brain damage, and yes, we would have still brought her home. I knew she would grieve and such but just did not expect a total shut down for that amount of time and didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. I still don't think it was grieving but rather a "I just don't want to deal with this" type thing. I'm just amazed at the child we have now and there is no doubt in my mind that she was meant for us and we were meant for her. She is so much everything I ever dreamed of. And her daddy is sooooooooo in love and smitten with her, as she is with him. They play almost every second they are together.

Malia First Swim

It took us a week or two but we finally got Malia in the pool ! We of course took baby steps but she ended up the whole way in (not her head !) and loved it. I think we are going to have a hard time keeping her out of it.

We have a little camper !!

We decided to try camping this weekend for the first time since we've been back. We went somewhere pretty close to home in case Malia decided it was too much for her. She LOVES it !! Which is a good thing, since we love to go camping. We were at a camp ground that my brother was also at so we had his two children along. Malia took it like she's done it a million times before. Here are some pictures that we took, I will try to uploade a video of her first swing ride also.