May 18th…

Gigi’s 6th Birthday!

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We kept the partying to a minimum for this year.  She has had quite the busy schedule these first weeks home after all.  We made balloon cakes (Jessie’s great idea) and blew up lots of balloons – which I think I have mentioned Gigi LOVES.  We started the morning out like normal and had cake after lunch.  All the kids helped blow out the candles with her.  We did have a few guests, but I didn’t ask their permission to have their pictures and names on the blog.  One of those guests, a skilled adult by the way, gave all the kids new hair cuts for the summer!  I am in a little shock over Beck, but I just keep telling myself “it will grow back.”  Jessie made her own decision and went short, or at least short by my measure.  She is super excited that she can wash and brush it by herself!  Gigi is now somewhat Americanized in her hair do, and now we just wait for it to grow!  I can’t imagine what she will look like several pounds and several inches of hair from now!

We waited to open presents until the evening when things were settled down.  Sloan didn’t make it. She fell asleep at the table before dinner was even served.  I had taken Beck and Jessie and they picked Gigi’s gifts themselves and they were so excited to give them to her!  The bubble generator from was a hit with all of them of course!  Gigi likes to put her face right in front of it and then she jumps a little when the bubbles start flying at her.  She had soap all in her hair and sticky hands by the end of it.

 Well, exhaustion is settling in these days.  My main goal was to share some pictures with everyone!  My goal a week before her birthday was much more involved – teaching the kids to sign the birthday song, videoing it and posting our silent song for all to see, balloons everywhere- in the floor, on the ceiling and the walls, wrapped presents instead of bags so she could really have some fun!!  BUT the reality is that I just couldn’t get it done.  (I am still trying to figure out how it takes so much more time to get everyone dressed and fed and even to bed.  It doesn’t seem like adding one person should double the amount of time it already took to get three kids going!)  This day was for Gigi and she had fun…her kind of fun: biting balloons, smelling her cousins, climbing up the legs of new people in her life, getting attention every time she turned around.  The good news is that this is the first of many birthday parties on May 18th at our house!!  Maybe I’ll be rested by next year and we’ll have a serious birthday bash…

The kid whisperer…

We saw the most wonderful doctor on Tuesday!!!  Dr. E is a neonatologist, geneticist, and developmental specialist (a doctor in all three fields), and he has a very large number of autistic patients in Indianapolis.  Dan has renamed him the kid whisperer.

The first words from him after his introduction and a short observation of Gigi were these –  ”She is communicating, we just don’t speak her language – we must decode her.  As strange and odd as her behaviors seem to us, she thinks we are equally as strange and she doesn’t know why we don’t understand what she is saying.”   Dr. E said she is doing wonderfully for a child born at 26 weeks.  He said she was lucky to have survived.  ”Well, she had somewhere to be.  Right here with us,” I told him. By the end of our visit, he gave us the official diagnosis of bilateral sensorineural deafness, apraxia (or lack of speech), developmental delay, AND cerebral palsy! We did not see that one coming! He has ordered an MRI to confirm it, but is fairly sure that he will find it. He is very excited to look at her brain and see in what area the hemorrhage took place and drew a brain and described all about what causes cerebral palsy, the degrees of rupture and told us how corrosive blood is to brain tissue. Cysts then form where the blood settles and where those are in her brain can tell him a lot. He said “I am really excited to see her brain!”

He has also ordered genetic testing for her because he said the type of deafness that she has is not commonly caused by premature birth in his experience. He said that she has several traits that flag genetic issues that could be present, the whites of her eyes are bluish for example and I won’t point out the others to keep her from being examined too closely by passers-by, but I would guess that lots of people walk around with the same traits or others and none of us would ever notice! Can you imagine walking around in public with the knowledge Dr E. has about facial features!! The nutritionist said that everyone in the hospital tries to hide the pictures of their children from him, hahaha.

Dr. E. also said that he is not diagnosing her with autism (after spending an hour and half with us and her). He did mention that her attention level is very low. He is not going to medicate her for that unless it is being detrimental to her having success with her therapy. Dr. E. thinks that with communication, the ability to pay attention longer will come. He suggested that we get an Ipad for her to help with communication. Apparently there are lots and lots of applications that can be used for this. He is not the first person to mention this to us. He also said that she not quite ready yet for that, but hopefully soon she will be.

He recommended us to another eye specialist that he uses for his premature baby patients who have the same eye condition that Gigi has. He said he doesn’t like the answer that the other doctor gave – that there is nothing to do for her now. He didn’t want to say what they might be thinking and assured us that he hopes it was not the case, but he said “many doctors approach cases like this and think, why fix her eyes, this child is low functioning and severely delayed, she has much bigger issues. BUT I SAY this child is severely delayed and is low functioning, and we HAVE to fix her.” I LOVE THIS DOCTOR!!!!!!!

He also said that she is severely malnourished and said it is most likely due to her difficulty chewing and swallowing, which could be a combination of her cerebral palsy and the fact that she has pushed her front teeth out by sucking on her tongue to sooth herself to the point that she cannot create the proper seal and suction to swallow efficiently.  Therefore, she could not eat quickly enough during the allotted time at the orphanage.

When we were finished with our visit with him, he sent us up to see the nutritionist.  They put her on some high calorie food additives and want her to weigh 38 lbs. in 6 months – she now weighs 25 lbs. 2 oz.  She has gained 2 pounds and 2 ounces since we picked her up. He is not concerned that she needs any psychological therapy, he said all that will come under control as we teach her to communicate in our language.  He also said not to expect her “unusual behaviors” to go away.  They may or may not and he said that is fine, that is her native language, just as he speaks English and Spanish “many people are bilingual.”

He also said that he thinks she has been getting her way by hitting herself  and for us to just ignore it and to see what that does – she must learn that the fit makes no change in the result of getting or not getting what she wants.  He also said that we should start making her feed herself, he thinks that she has used her refusal to help herself as a way to get more individualized attention in an environment where necessity is the only way to get more time with an adult – “she is one smart cookie” he said.  We asked him about her auto-aggression – slapping, biting, and slamming herself around that looks like it should hurt.  We thought it appeared that she actually liked to feel the pain.  Dr. E. said “no, she doesn’t feel the pain.  She doesn’t have time.  It is like, if you were driving a car 100 miles per hour and someone cut your arm and there is blood running down your arm, you don’t take your hands off the wheel and you don’t look away from the road because you don’t want to crash.  Your brain helps you not feel the pain because something else is more important right now.”

At the end of our visit he got right on her level with a big smile and told her “give me five.” He held out his hand, gave himself five, and then she placed her hand on his.  He winked at us and told us “that is not severe autism.” He looked back at our daughter and told her “we are going to be great friends!”  We are SO SO SO pleased with him and all of his staff!  The whole visit was outstanding!

We left with prescriptions for occupational and physical therapies, two days a week of each, and can start as soon as we want to!  We were feeling so lost with what to do for her, and after this visit we feel a bit found.  I am so thankful for all the wonderful people and doctors God has placed in our path on this journey!!!  Isn’t He just amazing?  Within days of being home, Gigi is getting prepared to start her education path – with the help of her AWESOME teacher who lives only streets away, she is getting diagnosed and given treatment faster than we can make appointments!  Everything is going beautifully, though it may look quite chaotic from the outside.  One year ago, I was expecting to have a difficult time getting these things going as fast as I would want to!  Shows what I know…and it shows what God knows.  Thank you God for our daughter, for our other children who loved her before she walked through the door, for our families and friends who have welcomed her with open arms and open hearts, for her teacher who just can’t wait to get started, for the doctors we have seen, for every little thing throughout this process – I can’t begin to name them all!

“For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord.  They are plans for GOOD…to give you a FUTURE and a HOPE.” Jeremiah 29:11

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Two Weeks Home…

We’ve been home for two weeks, and we’ve had our daughter with us for three!!  Can you believe it?  I cannot!  Where has the time gone!?

SO now for the update!  Considering what she has gone through in the last three weeks, I think she is doing pretty good.

In short, virtual strangers came and picked her up from what she knows as home, for a reason unknown to her.  We put her in a van, drove for 2 hours, lived in a hotel for a week going out for walks in a carrier on the stranger guy’s back through a big city, she ate new foods, she ate in restaurants, the not-so-strange-anymore strangers then took her on four airplanes, and she finally arrived at her new home at 1 am, she met a few folks, including Jessie, went to bed at 4 am, and woke up to whole new world. A day later, she is at the pediatrician’s office, the next day she meets Grandma and Grandpa, the next day she is at an audiologist’s office, two days later, she is at an ophthalmologist’s office.  The next morning she wakes up to a Nana, an Aunt, and three cousins!  She had a busy weekend with kids who are active and run around as they please and get snacks when they want them – she probably thought this was the most unorganized orphanage she had ever seen!  By the end of the weekend she knew that if she sat at the table, food would come and that it comes from the kitchen.  Gigi made her way up the stairs several times and scared the daylights out of us several times by spinning while standing at the top or just looking over the edge “just like this!”  An inside joke for my family, as most of us have experienced that same scare with my aunt at some time in our lives!  Then these new people at the house left and it was just us again.  The rest of this week has been pretty low key.

Some things we have observed:

She has no idea how to play with toys – she just carries things around or sits and smells them or balances them on the back of her hand.  She gets excited if you sit in the floor with her – and wants to smell and pull and sometimes bite your hair while clinging to your body- she finds this fun, but my long hair does not.  She does not want to feed herself.  She does not want to hold her own cup and drink.  She knows exactly what to do when getting dressed – she puts her own arms in her sleeves and makes mostly failed attempts to pull up her own britches, but I applaud her efforts.  She loves wearing a jacket and if she finds one, she will bring it to you to put it on her.  She LOVES balloons and watching you blow them up and she loves a beach ball almost as much.  She loves the cats – she is not gentle, but they tolerate her long enough for us to save them.  She is unsure about walking in the grass and wants to hold someone’s hand, she is also unsure about stepping on the shadows on the deck and will get down and crawl just to be safe – I am wondering if this is related to her depth perception issue.  Gigi wants what Gigi wants, and if she doesn’t get it, she will slap herself in the face or head – it sounds hard, but she doesn’t even blink and she is pretty easily redirected.  She most usually comes to you if you motion for her to “come here.”  She does not like to have her diaper changed.

Things we see as progress:

If Dan walks into the room, she is all smiles, even after he has gone to the fire station for twenty four hours and returned.

She is allowing me, after only a few days of trying, to rock her.  And she no longer tries to rock herself while I am doing the work for her, but she is not yet relaxed most of the time that we are rocking.  After I lay her down for bed, she does not get back up to rock herself (or at least she hasn’t for several days) – though she does rock during the day somewhat often.

At the table, we are giving her the first bite of food, and then signing “more” before we give her the next bite.  I started this on Wednesday.  Then I started to take her hands to make the sign for “more.”  She did not like this idea and would pull her hands away, but we kept trying.  By Friday, she was putting her hands into mine so I would make the sign with her.  We did this for two days.  Yesterday, I moved my hands down her forearm to hold her right below the elbow when she gave me her hands and she is moving her hands and fingers together by herself!!! It is a sloppy “more” sign, but we’ll take it!  Today, she was frustrated with this idea and did not want to make signs…hopefully she was just being a grouch.  When she is ready to leave the table, she will take our hands and put them on the buckle of her high chair.

We have had a few successful potty attempts.  Yesterday was her first number one, and she seemed completely surprised that it was happening, but she liked all the excitement that came afterwards.  Today was number two for the second time.  When you take her to the potty, she will sit there until you hold out your hands to help her up.  Yesterday, after she did her business I didn’t know if she was finished, so I waited a little bit (with her, we don’t leave her there alone) and she eventually reached over and handed me her pull up – all done I suppose!  I wasn’t expecting that to happen.  I am glad we found out how much she loves balloons, I think it could be a great potty reward, so I bought some!

Tomorrow, we will be taking Gigi to the International Adoption Clinic at St. Vincent Hospital and we are SUPER excited to find out what they have to say!  We will be seeing specialists in infectious diseases, genetics, development, autism, nutrition and getting some advice on what types of therapies Gigi may need – like occupational and physical as well as psychological.  They told us to bring a binder with pocket inserts and paper for notes and be prepared to spend three or four hours there.  We will let you know how it goes!  Of course, with all that information, it may take a little while to type!  One thing we know they will be looking at for sure is if her deafness has caused her delays or if there are other factors involved.  We are praying that we get some of the answers needed to help make a plan and get to work helping our little girl in every way possible!!

And the best part – some pictures of Gigi AT HOME!

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Ophthalmology…

No glasses!  We had Gigi’s eyes checked and the doctor said that her vision does not require correction.  She does have an eye that wanders and at times crosses, which is what caused our concern.  She had surgery to correct strabismus (or crossing) around age two.  This effects her depth perception we are told, and that cannot be corrected using glasses according to the doctor.  Most of the time she is able to correct her eye, except when she is tired and at that time it just takes more effort.  The doctor said that if it starts to cross or wander more often or all the time she may require a surgery, but at this point, there is nothing to worry about.  I have heard that there is some occupational therapy that can help train her eye – we’ll see what happens!

Gigi is doing great at the house.  She has figured out that if she goes to the table and wants in her chair that we will put her there, and then some food comes shortly after.  She is sitting in a booster seat at the table and when she is finished she will take my hand and place it on the seat belt so I can unhook it.  We have found some foods that she will eat.  She likes anything with spaghetti sauce and anything that is bread.  She loves yogurt and graham crackers and Sunday night she was completely overjoyed at the sight and taste of a sugar cookie.  For now we are showing her signs for her basic needs, but she is not a fan of us making her hands make the signs.  Most often she doesn’t even look at what we are doing, and there is no making her do it.  She is completely comfortable with  us touching her face and kissing her, which she did not like when we visited her, or when we picked her up.  She walks around the house without being taken, digs in the toys, sits where she wants and looks generally comfortable with being here.  She loves being outside!  Sloan is acting the way you would expect when you bring a new baby home from the hospital and having a general hard time sharing her Momma.  I know she will adjust soon, so for now, I am carrying two girls around, having two girls sit on my lap and whatever else works and makes them both feel loved and important.  This weekend Gigi met Nana and Aunt Cathy and her three first cousins!  She didn’t seem to be bothered by the crowd at all and the kids are all very accepting of her – they were a little nervous at first, but she is a stranger after all!  The kids of course were all over the house and Gigi made a few attempts to join them, though she really doesn’t know how to play.  Hopefully watching her brother and sisters will help with that.  We also had a small birthday party for Gigi and Timothy with a few gifts and some cupcakes.  We got her some strawberry shortcake dolls that smell like fruit, since she smells EVERYTHING.  She has also liked Jessie’s doll’s hair since coming home, so we thought it was a win-win!

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For now, I am at a bit of a loss on where to start with helping her.  I feel like she has spent so much time not getting help and that I need to start working on some things right away – but Uncle Mikey visited Sunday and reminded me that even having free time and knowing how to deal with it is progress for her.  He did great with her, as expected, and had some insight into her auto-aggression and some tips on dealing with it (he deals with this at work sometimes with a few kids – so he is more experienced than us at this point).  Once Gigi reaches a certain level of any emotion – mad, excited, whichever – she slaps her own face, or trashes her head, kicks herself, and bites and scratches herself.  It doesn’t last long and she does not seriously injure herself – she doesn’t even leave marks most of the time and she is fairly easily redirected.  It is hard to see your child act out in that way and I am trying to remember that she has done this for a long time so it is not going to change quickly.  It is a process, and we fully expect it to take a long time to get it all figured out!  Loving her is easy – helping her is tough, but we will manage and soon we will hopefully have some therapists to help us out with that!

Our next appointment is next Tuesday!  It will be the international adoption clinic at St. Vincent Hospital.  We will see an array of specialists and be spending several hours there – we should come home with some answers!  I can’t wait!  We will see a geneticist and developmental specialist, occupational and physical therapists, a nutritionist/dietitian, and who knows who else!  I’ll try to get my update published a little faster next time, but I am sure you can all understand the delay!

Audiology Appointment Update…

Today was the appointment we have been waiting and waiting and waiting for!  Gigi saw the audiologist.  The appointment went somewhat like we expected.  We were joined by the educator for the deaf and hard of hearing who will be working with Gigi.  Gigi got a little irritated in the waiting room, and I wondered if we thought we would be boarding a plane from there.  When we were finally called back, the nurses performed a hearing test that involved noise coming from different corners of the room.  It was pretty clear that she was not hearing any of it.  They tried to do a test with an instrument that resembled an ear thermometer, but it required Gigi to be somewhat cooperative and for everyone to be quiet.  We tried several times, but it didn’t work out either.  We were taken back out to the waiting room.  When we got back out, someone recognized us.  It was a lady who went to school with Dan’s older brothers and another lady said she recognized us from the Reece’s Rainbow website – how about that!?

We were called back to see the doctor, who asked some questions about Gigi and told us that hearing aids would not make a difference for her.  He did discuss cochlear implants with us and said that he thought that would be the direction we are headed.  That of course all depends on her being a candidate for them.  Our next step is a Cat scan to ensure that all the parts of her ears are formed and present on the inside as well as an ABR test – or auditory brain response test, where they will send sound into her ears and see how or if her brain responds to it.  She will be under general anesthesia for both tests, which they will conduct at the same time.  These tests are scheduled for June 11th.  We can’t wait!

Next stop – Pediatric Ophthalmology - tomorrow at 1:00 pm!  Let’s see what those eyes are up to!!  We will of course keep you posted…

As for the rest of our day, we managed to get almost 1,000 calories into Gigi!  Shew, it seemed like she ate all day.  After dinner she played with our other kids!!  It was a first, but she laughed and laughed and ran through the house chasing and being chased and playing with her welcome home balloons that have almost sunk to the floor.  Only one balloon survived the fun, but it was so great to see and I may go buy some more!  We see more and more of Gigi emerging every day!!

Bulgarian Ketchup…

I know it has been some time and for some of you, you may still be wondering if we have even made it home yet!  We have and we are doing great!  Tomorrow is a very exciting day!  Gigi sees her audiologist!  We will learn just exactly what is going on in those little ears of hers and I will want to share that news with all of you!  BUT how can I go from being in Bulgaria to being at the doctor’s office?  I have to summarize quite a bit of time, so I hope you will all forgive me as I take my mind and quickly squeeze out the details of the week into this post like a big red bottle of Bulgarian ketchup…

On Friday, we had a great day walking around Sofia.  We shopped in the outdoor market again.  Dan and I purchased an oil painting of a street in Gabrovo, the city where Gigi has spent her life so far.  We went back to the hotel and met up with the other families who were there for the weekend to have an early dinner with Toni, the world’s greatest adoption attorney.  It was as Dan said, the second greatest time of our entire visit – second only to picking up Gigi!  It was wonderful to sit and visit with other people who are on the same journey – like extended family members whom you’ve never met.  Of course the joy of seeing Toni again is indescribable.  We spent quite some time with her after the other families – who had early flights on Saturday – had left.  We kept her out until Marty came back to tap his watch at us.  There were lots of smiles, and laughs, and by the end of the night, Dan was asking if he could work as her driver and we were arguing over who got to fly over next year to see her.  She said we should just come back for another child and we will see her.  We were so blessed to have a long evening with our Toni.  I promise you all that if you met her, you would think as highly of her as we do.  After dinner we took Gigi back up to the room, got her read for bed, and laid her down to cocoon herself.  I left Dan and Gigi and went up to Tina and Kyle’s room.  We ordered in some wonderful deserts and coffee from the restaurant and chatted for several hours.  I finally went back down stairs and got ready for bed quickly and quietly in the dark because Dan was already sleeping.  A few hours later I woke up with cold chills and flu like symptoms that wouldn’t allow me to sleep any longer and the night was very long and very miserable.  When Dan woke up in the morning, he gave me ibuprofen and the rest of the day for me is haze.  I was so mad that this was happening – too sick to enjoy my last day Bulgaria.  I woke up off and on throughout the day – never getting up, but long enough to see Super Dad taking care of our girl.  I started to get nervous about making it downstairs the next morning, let alone making it home.  Dan told me “you will…because you have to.”

Sunday morning I was feeling a little better and I was able to get dressed and downstairs to the couch.  It was baby steps all the way and leaning on my suitcase handle as we waited in lines.  Tina and Kyle took care of Gigi while Dan talked to clerks at the airport.  We made it from Sofia to Munich and I was feeling a little better.  Somewhere of the Atlantic Ocean I felt good enough to eat something and the plane food settled ok with me.  Gigi did AWESOME on the flights.  She wasn’t scared, she wasn’t difficult in the least.  In the 8 hours between Munich and Chicago, we only had two small fits from her and they were really nothing to fuss about at all.

We landed in Chicago and waited and waited in line to get through customs.  We were told by the nice fellow at the embassy what to do, and none of it happened the way he said it would – no big surprise.  We were filtered through another check point and sent to an officer at a desk who took Gigi’s immigration documents, told us to have a seat, and then called us up several minutes later and said “Here you go.”  No “Welcome to America,” “Congratulations!” or anything of the sort…not even a flag.  We made our way through O’Hare Airport and on to our next seating area.  We made some phone calls and boarded the fourth and final flight home to Indy.  Gigi and I sat together and Dan was several rows back.  She fell asleep while we were taxiing and didn’t even budge on take off.  It was such a relief to know that there was not another plane waiting for us and that my babies at home were only hours away from me!!  Aunt Pam and Jessie came to pick us up.  While we waited, with a still sleeping Gigi, for our luggage to come, Tina ran out to the waiting area and grabbed Jessie to bring her in to see us!  She was smiling from ear to ear and came straight to Momma for a BIG hug!  She was a little nervous about Gigi and rubbed her arm.  She said she was bigger than she thought she would be and that she was “so cute.”  She hugged and kissed Dad and she pulled one of the suitcases out to the car.  We loaded our weary selves into the car and headed for Tina’s house to drop off her and Kyle.  Gigi stayed asleep in the car seat the whole way, and Jessie couldn’t stop rubbing her arm and talking about her – I was sitting between them.  When we got to Tina’s house, the adults got out to get them unloaded and inside and when I looked back in the car, Jessie had unbuckled and was moving her booster seat over to be next to Gigi.  She took Dan’s sweatshirt to give her as a pillow and we headed for home…. ahhh…home.  We pulled up to a surprise “Welcome Home Gigi” sign that our great friend Michele has helped Jessie make before she left and balloons on our porch.  Michele was staying with Beck and Sloan, who were in bed – it was after midnight – while Pam and Jessie picked us up.  I was surprisingly void of tears throughout the process of coming home.  I think maybe some dehydration coupled with exhaustion could be to blame and the feeling of rightness in bringing our new little girl home made it seem as natural as coming home from the grocery store.  There we were – HOME.  All of our kids on our house, with us.  Relief, and the beginning of a whole new journey.  Gigi woke up and met Aunt Pam and Michele and finally interacted with Jessie.  She was thrilled!  She went right over and sat on the couch like she has been here a hundred times.  We got some things figured out and finally went to bed – it felt SO good!

Day one went relatively smooth.  Gigi is pretty easy going.  I managed to pull my brain together and get to the school to turn in some paperwork and get her registered so we can start the process of getting her education plan in order.  Jessie stayed home from school to spend Gigi’s first day home here with us all.  The kids love that she laughs when they tickle her and that she laughs at them sometimes when they are being silly.

For day two, Jessie went back to school and Sloan and Gigi had an appointment to see our pediatrician.  We answered questions and started Gigi’s file.  She weighed 24.5 lbs. and was 38 inches tall.  She had gained half of a pound since we picked her up.  After talking with our pediatrician, we are making appointments for a developmental specialist (who will also deal with her nutrition plan) and an orthopedic doctor for her feet and legs.  She did a good job being examined, but we expected her too, knowing how many doctors she has seen in her life and how often.  We came home and had a fairly relaxed evening.  Sloan is having a hard time sharing her Momma for now, but I know that in time she’ll adjust.  For now, I will just have tired arms from hold two of my girls.  We had baked ziti for dinner and she loved it, which is a good thing because it is Jessie’s favorite!  Bed time rolled around and first went down Sloan, with Gigi right behind her.  Dan laid down with Beck and I with Jessie – and neither of us made it back up from theirs and into our own bed until some time in the middle of the night.

Today went just as easily as the others, with moments of complete chaos and moments of complete sweetness – Gigi and Beck sharing graham crackers and giving hugs for example.  Life is right back to normal for us with the other three kids and Gigi is just standing in the middle of it – like she knows she belongs there.  It seems like she has already figured out so much.  If she is hungry, she goes to the table and climbs up in a chair.  She has figured out a sippy cup and will go get a drink.  She has given herself a few bites of food here and there and this evening she took Dan’s hand to have him play with her.  Grandma and Grandpa Stevens came up to meet their newest grand daughter today and it went very well.  Grandpa even had her laughing as they rolled a ball across the kitchen table.  They will be babysitting Beck and Sloan tomorrow while we visit the doctor’s office.  We see the audiologist at 9:45 am!!!  The deaf educator from our school system – who is a wonderful lady- is joining us, because she obviously knows way more on the subject than we do.  We can’t wait to hear and share the news!!

For now it is 1:00 am, and my body says I must go to sleep, but I hope to add some photos of us at home to this post tomorrow…not that I have had time to take a lot….maybe I’ll spell check it then too.

Bulgaria catch up..by Dan Stevens

Lets see…We woke up and ate breakfast. Gigi was happy and ate well. She ate French toast and some peaches. After breakfast, we went on an adventure into Sofia again. Browsed some shops and bought a painting that was of a housing area in Gabrovo (the town where Gigi was born) and shopped some more.   We came back to the hotel and fed Gigi a lunch of Danimals yogurt and a banana. She really likes the banana’s.

We ate dinner with our attorney Toni, which was the second best time we’ve had I think. After dinner We went upstairs to our room and put Gigi to sleep. Chrisy decided to go to Tina and Kyles room and order some kind of chocolate. She said it was good. She has been sick since last night with a fever and doesnt feel like posting a blog. i told her that I will take care of it. I dont think she will approve, but I she will be happy for sure once she sees what I have done for her!

Thanks for all of your support, seriously, THANK YOU!!!!

by: Dan Stevens

More paperwork complete!

Today started easily.  We got up, got ready, got her ready, no problems!  It was great.  We went downstairs for breakfast and she ate two pieces of french toast, dipped in jelly, and a peach slice.  She is not drinking much water and her lips are getting chapped, but if she’s not having it, she’s not having it!  We’ll figure something out.

Marty and Dani picked us up at 10:00 at the hotel and we joined the other family who is picking up their daughter for the day.  Their daughter by the way is the girl who sparked us to move forward with adopting a child.  When we requested information on her, we were told that another family had her file and that they would most likely be committing to her.  We were on stand by.  In the meantime, we also requested Giulten’s file, because who could resist those pig tails!?  Long story short, we have Gigi, and they have ‘S’ and we got to meet their little girl – who just so happened to have lead us to ours!!  What a blessing!  It was great to spend the day with them!  It just so happens that we may see them again in the near future – he has family in Indianapolis!

We first went to the polyclinic for a check up.  The hospital was pretty different from what we would find in the US, but that is to be expected – we are not at home.  The doctor’s offices, instruments, and exams were pretty different as well.  We also realize that they know these are children who are leaving here and just need clearance to get home, so I am sure our appointments may have been very different from those of people who live here and plan to stay.  Things went pretty smoothly and afterwards we were off to the US Embassy!

We got there early and walked to a restaurant for lunch.  We had the kebapche of course and french fries with cheese and ketchup.  From there we walked back to the embassy.  They asked us to power down our cell phones before entering the building and it operated somewhat like airport security – empty pockets, take off belt, put your things in a bin to go through the scanner.  They took the phones and gave us a number to reclaim them.  They asked if we had water bottles in our bags and we did.  We did not have to throw them out, but instead take a drink to “test them.”  Hmm, that was new, but I wish they would take that concept to the airports!  We waited in line for quite some time and both girls were a bit restless at times, but nothing unmanageable.  The embassy was quite full of students who were applying for work visas to the US for the summer.  We could hear them being asked questions, and our favorite was “and why have you been working on getting your masters for 8 years?”  Sounded fishy I guess.  There was another adoptive family there with their daughter.  They were from Seattle.  We were eventually called in for our interview, which was more instructions for what paperwork needed to go to who at the airport.  The man interviewing us was American of course, yet it seemed strange to be talking to someone who said “ok, cool” for “yes.”  We liked it.  We rode back to the hotel, and here we are now…getting ready to figure out a dinner plan.  Sorry I am not sharing the whole day, but now is when I have time and I think for the most part the interesting things have happened.  We are going to try to make a video of her tonight to post, so keep your eyes peeled!

As the cool shoes at the shop here say “D squared Brotherhood’hiphop Don’t stop the Music,”

Chrisy and Dan  :)

PS.

Is 120 leva (about $85) a good price for Versace tennis shoes? Not that I am interested for myself, in fact I had to google how to spell Versace…but an interesting tid bit for some I thought.

Two in one…

Sorry this post is two days in one, and with the time difference and the fact that I posted the first day a day late, it is even harder to figure out!  We are a little shorter on free time this time around and I am writing when I can, I am sure you can all imagine!

That nap made a world of difference!  Gigi slept for around an hour and woke up in a much better mood.      We were able to skype with Jessie before she left for school.  She got to see Gigi and I was happy to hear her say “Hi Gigi!” when she saw her on the screen.  I was afraid Jessie might be a little on the sensitive side since Gigi is with us and she is not.

Today we met up with a friend who lives here in Sofia and she took us for a walk around town.  It was nice to see her again – she took us on a tour the first time we were here in October.  Sofia looks different in the spring.  There was water in the fountain that we loved on our last visit, and that was nice to see.  She took us to get Dan’s doner (which is a turkish food) that he had been craving since, well, since we left last time!   Gigi enjoyed the potatoes, which are like french fries that are in the doners.  She also liked the walk.  She didn’t complain about being in the backpack a bit.  We walked for a few hours and got back to the hotel just at dark.

We ordered Tarator soup for Gigi, which is a yogurt and water mixture with cucumbers, garlic and dill.  We know they eat it at the orphanage and thought it might be a hit.  Not so much.  Though she doesn’t resist, she just doesn’t look like she is enjoying it.  I took out what was left of my doner from my backpack and she had the potatoes from it and a half of a banana.  She went right to sleep when we laid her down.  Always covering her head tightly and sucking on her tongue, which sounds like a newborn baby.  She kind of prefers to be in a small enclosed space.  We have turned the two chairs in out room facing one another so that they make a sort of crib and she scrunches herself into one and stays there until morning.

I talked to Toni, our attorney, as I have every evening that we have been here and she said that Dr. Geneva had called to check in on Gigi.  Dr. Geneva was a little worried because of Gigi’s anxiety with changing environments.  So far, and considering that we have just changed her entire world, I think she is doing great.  She is of course rocking to sooth herself – and I am sure she will for quite some time- and we are still learning to read her moods.  Right now there is a lot of trial and error..offer a drink… food…potty…sleep…leave you alone?  Eventually we usually get to the root of it and get it taken care of.

Both yesterday and today she wanted to eat breakfast and be left alone.  After a bit, we decided to go for a walk and found ourselves at the market.  There we found some “danimals” yogurt and picked up a two pack of strawberry, which we found to have a really cute refrigerator magnet in it of a Bulgarian letter.  I told Dan, we must collect all of them!  We got a packet of Ramen noodles and a jar of baby food, the kind that is chunky.  Just in case we think she needs a snack.  We got apple juice and some orange soda (for us, I don’t think she would like carbonation for even one second).  We brought a sippy cup, and it was somehow cracked on the plane (in our checked luggage).  Luckily, Kyle brought some Duck tape…?…and we were able to tape it up to a somewhat functioning sippy cup.  She does suck on it and so far has only had water.  She loved the yogurt!  She had another half of a banana and She did not nap today, but laid in her “crib” for a bit.  She rocked for a while, but when she started to hit her face with the room service menu book and to hit her head on the hard arm of the chair, I took her out.  She was not very excited about my holding her…so I swaddled her arms in the blanket to keep her from hitting herself and sang to her and rocked our bodies.  I wouldn’t say it calmed her, but she tolerated it.

We had a plan to see the “National Museum of Foreign Art” today and it is just a short walk.  We took off with her in the backpack again…still no fit!  It was a little windy and we decided she didn’t like it, she had both hands over her face to block it.  We got to the museum, only 4 leva per person by the way, and started our walk around.  There were lots of interesting exhibits, a room of photographs of artist, musicians, actors and actresses, all taken in Venice.  There was a room dedicated to the art of India which contained many old bronze statues and carvings dating back to the 10th century.  There was also one dedicated to Japan.  Gigi did not like the statues one bit and we had to leave the room with her.  But, they were a little on the scary side, especially if you have never seen such things.  She didn’t mind the rooms of French, Flemish, Italian, and other countries’ paintings and we saw some well known names, though no artworks that we studied in school.  We assumed that there would be no photography allowed, but we were surely in the minority by not having brought a camera.  I don’t think we would have kept up with it anyway as Gigi required some extra attention while we were there.  She had a few all out fits and some loud crying, with actual tears, which is a first for us to see.  At one point we thought we would have to leave, but we figured out that it was the statues and as long as we stayed away from them, she did better.

From there, we came back to the hotel room.  Gigi fell asleep in the backpack and has napped for about an hour and a half and has just got up.  We will figure out dinner and I have a plan to wash some clothes in the sink of the Budapest Hotel and let them dry over night!

GOTCHA!!!

Giulten Metodieva Stevens,

WE GOTCHA!  It has been an amazing journey!  And one day, we will tell you all about it.

Love,

Mom and Dad

We were up at 4:30 a.m. and met Marty – our driver – and Dani – our translator – in the lobby at 5:00.  We all loaded up- me, Dan, Tina, and Kyle – in their van and off we went!  The drive to Gabrovo is a little over 2 hours and most of the time we were all quiet and maybe dozing in and out a bit.  Once the sun came up, some of us started to chatter and take in the scenery of the Bulgarian countryside. Kyle started working on a paper for neurological research and we had a hearty chuckle at that.  ”We’re really doin’ it Harry!” was thrown around a few times. And there were a few giggles about some “vans down by the river.”  I asked Dani if we could slow down to get a picture of the hospital in Sevlievo as we drove through.  Gigi was born there almost 6 years ago and spent the first 49 days of her life inside those walls.  I always wonder as we pass through if her biological family still lives there – and wish that I could tell them that she will be fine, that we will love her enough for them too.  We know that her mother and father were still living together there in recent years and that she has an older sibling at home with them.  When asked to surrender their parental rights, because even after learning that she had survived at the hospital they had still never had a desire to see her, the father stated that his wife was not smart enough to take care of Giulten and that they would be happy if someone could adopt her.

Entering Sevlievo, Bulgaria

A Gypsy cart in Sevlievo...

The hospital in Sevlievo...

Sevlievo is not far from Gabrovo, where the orphanage is, so it did not take long for us to reach our morning’s destination.  When we arrived, I didn’t feel too awfully nervous and we were lead in by Dani…

We showed her the way to the director’s office, but she had not yet arrived.  They took us to another office to wait for her.  There a nice lady with a smile on her face asked about us from her desk.  She asked Dani if we were aware of her deafness and her autism diagnosis.  ”Yes” we told her through Dani with a smile on our faces.  She asked if we had other children, “Three – 6, 3, and 18 months” we told her.  Dan got out his phone to show her a picture.  ”They are very pretty and blond” she said.  She told us that she admired what we were doing.  She also said that she “thought Giulten would never get adopted” she said with another smile.  She was pleased and told us a Bulgarian saying that went something like “everyone is car for someone’s train.”  I told her “Well she’s on the Stevens’ train now.”  We all laughed and it was not long before Dr. Geneva came in and we left for her office.  We shook her hand and she and Dani talked for a bit.  Dr. Geneva told us that she had not been ill since we had last seen her.  She told us her weight 11 kg ( which is just over 24 lbs.).  She fiddled with her printer for a little while and started printing the papers we needed to sign.  We asked about her schedule – she eats 4 times a day, breakfast at 8:00, fruit at 10:00, lunch at 11:00 and dinner at 8:00.  The children usually nap after lunch, but Gigi does not always sleep.  They go to bed just after dinner. It seemed like a long time, though I am sure it was not, before they came in with Gigi!  She came straight for us and I picked her up.  She smelled my hair and held my neck tightly.

It didn’t take long for Giulten to introduce herself to Tina and Kyle.  Then she went to Dani for a little visit and to Krassy, though I am sure she didn’t know it would be their last hug, it was a good one!  She hopped around to everyone during our time in Dr. Geneva’s office, and everyone obliged her.

 

 

We were allowed to see two of the other children who are being adopted by American families.  We have gotten to be quite close with them during this process as you can imagine.  We were thrilled to love on their children…until we see them again in the US!

We were also given Gigi’s hearing aids!  We did not expect to see them, let alone have them to bring home with us.  That is very exciting news!  We will be taking them with us to her audiology appointment next Thursday!

We were also given a tremendous gift from Dr. Geneva.  She had made us a small baby book for Gigi.

It is in Bulgarian, but we can have it translated.  Dani showed me that it has her birth statistics and her weight and height and various stages of life.  It has pictures of her on what I think might be her birthdays.  It has the dates that she rolled over, crawled, walked, and got each of her teeth!  We were not expecting anything like it and we are thrilled!  I am sure her dentist and pediatrician will be glad to have it as well.

2 year old Gigi...

3 year old Gigi...

5 Year old Gigi...

Dr. Geneva walked us all the way to the car and waved at us as we pulled away.  Gigi got in without too much of a fuss and let Dan put on her seat belt.  We had brought a banana for her to eat in case she needed a snack.  She was eating it right away and ate the whole thing.  She went through all the toys we brought and settled on an empty water bottle as the main source of entertainment.  She wasn’t too squirmy on the ride home, but she can definitely flex into positions that most kids cannot.  It should make for an interesting plane ride home!

We stopped at what seemed to be a truck stop of sorts and had kebapche from a stand there for lunch.  Marty knows how Dan likes his kebapche!  Dan took Gigi on a short walk to see a pony that was tied in the lot next to us.  There were also chickens, a pheasant and a white peacock.  We headed bck to Sofia and straight the the border patrol section of the police station.  Toni’s mother met us there and did all the paperwork involved to get her visa.  Getting her visa picture did not go so smoothly.  Toni’s mom sat her on her lap and ducked down.  They made five or more attempts and Gigi was just getting more agitated every minute that we were there.  It was busy, a little hot inside, and just too much for her.  They eventually said we could go – so I guess they got one they could use.  The next stop was back at the hotel!  We got Gigi up to the room, took off some of her layers and watched her smell the place and everything in it!  Before long we decided to give her a bath.  She knows how to take off her own clothes with a little help.  She was super excited about the bath tub and we decided that the “no wild splashing” rule at home was going to be broken.  She tried to smell the water a few times, sucking it up into her nose.  It didn’t seem to slow her down for long.

We ordered a dinner for her to our room.  She was not a huge fan of the chicken in the soup, but liked the bread dipped into it and the carrots and noodles from it.  She drinks from a glass if you hold it, but she didn’t drink much.  I brought a sippy cup from home, but it was cracked when I unpacked it.  It still works, it just leaks a little, but I thought it probably leaks less than her mouth does when drinking from the cup!  We tried it, and she did suck on it right away.  Then she bit the spout and pulled the lid off spilling all the water.  We are back to using a glass.  She stayed up later than we expected, but once we closed the curtains and turned out the light and laid her down, she stayed there.  She smelled the soft ball we brought for a while and then took the blanket over her head, wrapped herself completely up like a cocoon and out she went.  Dan woke up in the night and she was on the floor.  I am not sure if she rolled there or chose to move.  But she was still asleep.  He picked her up and put her into our bed and she didn’t wake.  She was up at about 5:00 a.m. and toddled around the room for a bit.  She eventually came back to the bed and went back to sleep.  She woke up in a bad mood of sorts.  Dan got up with her and she was very thirsty.  In our hotel, they leave glasses for water and she drank about one and a half glasses he said.  I got up around 8:45 and we got dressed and headed down for breakfast.  Gigi did fine in the restaurant.  She stayed in her seat and let us feed her.  We are not sure how she felt about the scrambled eggs though she ate several good bites of them. She did enjoy the croissant and she drank a little milk and had half of a peach slice as well.  She didn’t eat as much as I thought she would.  Just as we were finishing up she got mad and had a small fit, hitting herself as we have seen her do before.  I picked her up and rocked her and we all headed back up stairs.

We are back up to the room and she and Dan are napping.  She has still kept the crabby attitude and basically wants to be left alone.  She cries a little and rocks front to back.  We think that perhaps she is a little afraid or sad that she is not at “home.”  Our other kids have a hard time with napping and sleeping when they are somewhere besides our house, and I imagine that Gigi is feeling the same way.  You may remember that we have been told by the orphanage staff that she does not tolerate change well.  Hopefully this is the worst of it, because selfishly I want to hold her and because I just want her to relax and feel safe and loved.  Maybe a nap is what she needed.  We will see what the afternoon brings!

Napping Dan.