2013 in pictures

January
our LOA arrived...
it's official...
China says we can adopt Audra!

 

February
Audra received a care package from us,
and we received new pictures of her!

 

March

our last month of waiting...

 

April

Forever Family Day 4-8-13

 

May

Audra spent most of the month in the hospital...

and by the time she was discharged she was practically a doctor herself!

 



June

Home at last...

and our new family of six started making new memories.

So many "firsts" for Audra



July


August

 

September

Audra's very.first.ever...

BIRTHDAY!

She turned 6.

  

October

 

November

December
...snow
...a tree INSIDE the house?!
and finally...Christmas!




 

And here are a few 2013 highlights for the "big" kids:

 

Riley

turned 12 years old

and

won 3 gold medals at the PA Special Olympics Summer Games

 

 

 

Aidan

turned 9 years old

and

played a "Mites on Ice" hockey game between periods at the Flyer's game

 

 

 

Maura

turned 5 years old,

started Kindergarten

and

became a "big" sister

 

 

 

 

December medical update & 2013 wrap-up

December was full of many appointments for Audra.

She knows the route to Children's Hospital, and she knows the routine:
~fill the backpack with snacks, her panda Ipod, and of course...pink-flamingo-bunny!  She's had that little stuffed animal since her first ER visit, and it's been with her through many, many appointments, tests, OR's and days & days in the hospital. 

Here's my quick re-cap:

ENT/Audiology:
~they are still trying to determine the reason/cause and type of Audra's hearing loss
~she is living up to her title of "challenging case" in this department too!
~her hearing aids have been ordered and I will take her for her 1st fitting this week :)
~ENT wanted her to have a CT scan of ears to look more closely at the bones
~this was done the day after Christmas and I hope to have results (and a plan!) this week
~...and he's not planning to repair her ruptured ear drum during the winter season

Surgeon:
~Audra had a follow up appointment for the malrotation surgery she had done on November 4th
~the surgeon was pleased that she had gained 1 pound since the surgery...Yay!
~we said our goodbyes...hoping to never meet again :)

Immunology:
~they remain cautiously concerned that Audra may have some type of immunodeficiency
~more fancy (and very expensive I.am.sure!) bloodwork was sent a few weeks ago
~I am hoping the results are in this week, fingers crossed!
~this could be the key to 'figuring her out'
~...and help us figure out how to get her growing and keep her healthy!

Urology:
~because Audra has had 2 episodes of pyelonephritis she got to add Urology to her list of doctor friends...(or not-so-friends)
~she had a test called VCUG done to determine if she has kidney reflux...which, of course, she does
~she will remain on the preventative antibiotics long term, and will need surgery to correct this if she hasn't "outgrown" it 6 months from now (Audra...outgrow?!  she doesn't like to grow...and surely she won't outgrow!)
~however, if Immunology determines that she does have some type of immune system dysfunction, then the urologist wants to do the surgery soon.  It would be took risky to chance her getting another pyelonephritis with an immune system that doesn't work properly...it would probably land her in the hospital again, and cause further kidney scarring

That's all for now, and that's enough!

2013 has been quite a year for Audra and our family. 
Her life has changed dramatically and permanently.  As has our entire family's. 
But 2013 has also been better that we could have ever dreamed:

Audra is HOME!
She is happy and full of smiles, hugs, and love.
She has a laugh that is contagious,
and even a bit of a naughty little side,
which makes our hearts happy that she is comfortable in our family now.
She is strong and tolerant and resilient.
She is beautiful,
and she is ours...
...just as we are HERS!
forever...

Audra's 1st Christmas

Yesterday and today were a whirlwind,

of family, food, and festivities,

but also oh.so.much fun!

 

Audra caught on quickly to the traditions of Christmas...

and she's practically a pro now, I think!

 

 Here they are eager and ready to go at the crack of dawn...literally!

And that was a couple of hours after they first started asking when we could go downstairs!

Except for Audra...she slept until we woke her,

she had no idea today was going to be different from any other day!

We always look through our stockings first...

  

At this point Audra still hadn't quite figured out what was going on...

or she was still half-asleep!

 

 Then we headed to the tree for presents!

 

And the winners for 'favorite present' are...

 

 At this point Audra GOT it!  And she was quickly tearing through the wrapping paper,

and then looking for her next present to open.  She was genuinely excited about each and every present she opened.

After presents Audra enjoyed a Christmas tree donut:

(that was almost a big as her!)

It was quite a feat, but we managed to get all 4 kiddos dressed up "fancy" (as the boys call it) and out the door for Church by 9:15am.  At this point I was wondering how it could be ONLY 9:15am.  It seemed like we had been awake (or had been repeatedly woken up by anxious children) for at least 6 hours!

 This is the best picture I got of all 4 kids together...

it's very challenging to have all four look AT the camera

AND have their eyes OPEN!

I could only put them through so many takes,

so we moved on to small group shots...

Ok, these are a bit better.

 

 This one is pure love...

 

After church we had lots of visitors at our house:

Grandma and Grandpa,

Aunt Kristy, Uncle Tony and Tyler,

and

some of daddy's aunts, uncles and cousins.

 

Audra was very shy and reserved at first.  She has met all of these people before but I think she was just a little overwhelmed with the full house.

Then, in the blink of an eye, she became the life of the party!

...hugging and kissing everyone, and lighting up the room with her amazing smile :) 

 

She is just so sweet...and adorable...

it's impossible not to fall more in love with her every day!

 

Later in the afternoon Uncle Tim, Aunt Dawn, Daniel and Charlotte came over.

And it was present time all over again!

Merry 1st Christmas Audra and Charlotte!

 

Because of you our Christmas is merrier this year.

Santa

I knew Audra wouldn't be too excited about visiting Santa. We've been talking about it with her, and showing her pictures of the other kids with Santa over the years.  But all we got was lots of head shaking and "No's".

Saturday was the day.  And we took all 4 kids...because I figured I'd have a better chance of getting Audra in the picture if the other kids sat with her.  And because I'm sure I won't be able to convince my big boys to visit Santa much longer.

As predicted...she was NOT happy...



Aidan did a good job of holding her tight...

 

 Here you can see my hand consoling her

after Santa made eye contact with her,

how could he?!

Ok, as long as she didn't have to look at him

we managed to get a decent picture...

 

The other three kids looked great in every picture...

 

Maybe next year!

'Tis the Season

Finally...it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at our house!

The tree is up and decorated,
the stockings have been hung,
presents have been bought AND wrapped,
(yay! BIG accomplishment for me)
I have a plan to get our Christmas cards in the mail BEFORE Christmas,
I have reserved a date on my calendar for Christmas baking,

And most importantly, we have our nativity set up...  

Which Maura calls the "activity"...since she can't quite get the "n" sound out.

Snow just keeps falling around here...three times this week!

It's beautiful...and we finally managed to convince Audra to give it a try:

She let us put the snow suit on her,

she went outside,

but she was not happy about it.

Maura and Aidan kept trying to tell (and show) her how much fun it was.

But she wasn't buying it.

She sat in the sled,

she even went down the little hill...

But once she was at the bottom she just sat there...

didn't move a bit.

She waited quietly and motionlessly for me to come get her

and (hopefully) take her back inside.

And I love this pic of Aidan crawling up the hill with Charlotte

since it was too hard for her walk up it by herself:

 

There were a few other special events this week that helped us get into the holiday spirit:

Aidan had his Winter Concert, he plays the viola. 

His elementary school orchestra played Christmas carols in the BIG high school auditorium. 

 

 

 

Maura danced in her dance studio's performance of the "Nutcracker". 

She was an elf.  Cutest little elf ever! 

More festive activities from the past week:

 

Santa rode through our neighborhood on a fire engine and handed out candy canes,

another terrifying event for Audra...

we have some work to do before we go visit Santa next weekend!

 

We (Maura and Charlotte) baked gingerbread man cookies:  

And waited patiently for their taste-test...

Maura was afraid to open to oven door too soon...

She didn't want her gingerbread man to run away! 

 

Only 10 days to go!  I have decided to enjoy these next 10 days leading up to the holiday and not stress about every little thing.  I won't possibly get it all get done, but it will still be perfect. 

 

And there is always next year.