One Year

How can 365 days pass so quickly?!  We've had Louba in our arms for one, whole year. It was about this time, a year ago, we were sitting in a hotel in Vladimir, Russia getting ready to make the hour drive to the orphanage in Gus-Khrustalny. We would see her care givers for the last time. See the only home she knew for three and a half years (1279 days, 110,505,600 seconds, 1,841,760 minutes, 30,696 hours, or 182 weeks). Many of you have followed our journey here, on Facebook and Instagram, or in "real" life. We're so lucky to have our village helping make sure the next years of our journey go as well as this year has. 

To recap this year:
December: a Forever family!!!
January: just adjusting to a new life; told mommy she loved her
February: First American Haircut; still adjusting
March: Started pre-school
April: Meet some new friends at our LPA regional in Huntsville
May: A great 1st Birthday party!
June: attended VBS; was a flower girl in a wedding; spent LOTS of time at the ballpark
July: Family vacation to Chattanooga, first day of school
August: Fun at the Splashpad and roasting hot dogs
September: School days and learning all about pre-K
October: A trip to the beach
November: Her first Thanksgiving
December: A visit with Santa

Our plan for Louba's Day tomorrow (December 6th) is to eat at one of her favorite places (Fazoli's, Margarita House, or McDonalds) and to listen to her sing in her first Christmas program. 

Thank you to all of our wonderful friends, both near and far, who have loved on Louba this year. We're so lucky to be her (and her bubba and sissy's) parents.

"She's PERFECT"

When we decided to adopt a "waiting child" we knew there could be problems. When we found Louba and knew her know diagnosis was achondroplasia, we expected some doctors visits. We have been blessed beyond our wildest dreams with her health. We knew achondroplasia could lead to spinal compression issues, bowed legs, spinal kyphosis (which is a spinal curve), among other things. I'm one of those who really trust my doctors. I can research all day long, but they have spent years in medical school. My thought is, I don't like non-teachers telling me how to teach, I shouldn't tell doctors how to treat. Yes, I do ask questions and voice my concerns, but ultimately, I trust my doctors.

We have been to a geneticist (Dr. John Phillips) at Vanderbilt who said she's perfect. He still wants to see her in six months (or October now) to discuss the BioMarin study in more depth. We're still not sure what our role will be in the study, but know we want to be part of it to help other children born with achondroplasia overcome some of the medical issue associated with this genetic disorder. He took spinal and hand x-rays and said everything looked exactly how it was supposed too.  He did some neurological assessments and said she did everything the way she needed too.

We've recently seen an ENT and today her orthopedic doctors.  The ENT (Dr. Wanna) said her hearing was perfect too (she has slight loss at extremely high frequency). He also doesn't need to see her again, but recommend her hearing be tested by our pediatrician in a year.

Today's visit was to the orthopedic doctor at Vanderbilt (Dr. Green). I LOVE HIM!!! He made the kids feel so at easy and joked around with them the whole time we were there. He showed me the x-rays from our April visit and said, "She's perfect! I don't think I'll be seeing her again." Her spine has NO curve, her legs are not bowed (for an achon), her back is the exact shape it should be for achon.

So, we've paid money for doctors to tell us what we already knew, she's PERFECT!!! Our God is so good! We head to the dentist, eye doctor, and regular pediatrician in the next couple of weeks before school starts back.  Our girl is a smart one too. I'm glad we stepped out of our comfort zone and brought this one into our lives. I can't imagine living this life without this fireball.

If you are considering adoption, consider a waiting child. Talk to adoptive parents who have adopted from waiting child lists (the Browns, the Hoods, the Overstreet, anyone on Reece's Rainbow website--these are just a few of the families we know who have adopted from the waiting child lists from various countries). Special needs doesn't always mean lifetimes in hospitals or doctor's offices. SN kids are just kids who need families to love and nurture them to their fullest potential.

Some helpful sites

As we started our journey to adopt, we knew that our daughter had achondroplasia. We spent weeks (and still do) researching ways to make her life better/more accessable. We also needed to know all we could about Achondroplasia and how it affected her and how it was going to affect our family. What kind of special care would she need (if any)? What things did we need to do around the house to make it safer for her to live there? Even things as basic as what kind of clothes does she need. I've read research. I've devoured blogs written by LPs and POLP (parents of little people). We also research many topics on adoption in general (attachment was the big one). Here are some resources that have helped us and I'm sure we'll go back to on a regular basis. If you are around our family, please help and educate yourself on these topics too.
LPA online (this one is for parents and teachers)
LPA online (home page)
Jaime Murphy (my cyber BFF) I have learned so much about being a parent of a little person from her.
MaryLeigh Brown (a real-life friend). Wonderful adoption resource!!!

Feel free to add your own resources in the comments. I'll update as I have time.