Summer Fun

It has been a fun and busy summer so far with a lot of firsts for Kora. 

First time in an inflatable bounce house. 

 

First time swimming in a lake with Dad.  It was also Kora's first time camping.  She did pretty well, but it took her a long time to fall asleep in her pack and play in the tent.  The flies and mosquitoes were so bad, we all had to go in the tent for the night by 9:00 pm.  No concentrate of DEET would keep them from biting.  So with us all in the tent, she had a hard time settling down.  I think she was one of the last to fall asleep.

 

Jason in action playing soccer.

 

The kids are playing at a local park.  Kora has gotten more confident on the swings and slides.  Of course, she watches everything her brother and sister do and has started trying to climb up all the slides. 

 

Bubbles

 

Kora standing in front of the bubble machine. 

 

She wanted to get as close as possible to the bubbles.  I think she was covered in soap afterwards.

 

 

About a week or two ago, we started to notice Kora's left eye turning in again.  So when we had a follow-up appointment with the ophthalmologist on Friday, we had a good idea what she would say.  We'll patch her right eye again for 2-3 months and if that doesn't work, then she will have another surgery.  So we will hope for the best.

One Week after Surgery

 

Jesse was getting ready to take Kora back into surgery, and he

thought it would be funny to suck his thumb like Kora was. 

 

Kora was kicking and crying the whole time Jesse took her back and put her on the surgical table.  She didn't stop until she fell asleep with the mask over her face.  She pretty much woke up in recovery the same way as she went to sleep.  She wouldn't settle down when either of us held her or walked with her.  She stopped crying long enough to drink some apple juice, so we were free to leave.  We probably weren't in the recovery room for more than 30 minutes.  Kora cried all the way down the halls and out the door.  She finally stopped when she got strapped into the car seat.  She then fell asleep and slept for 2 hours.  The first part of the afternoon was rough since she still wasn't feeling well, but by evening she wanted to walk around and was eating normally.  By Friday morning, Kora was using both eyes at the same time and was able to track objects with both eyes together. The ophthalmologist said Kora shouldn't need another surgery anytime soon. 

 

 

 

Here she is about a week after her surgery. 

She didn't think much of the hair bow. 

 

Eye Surgery

Kora's eye surgery is tomorrow morning.  It's a pretty basic surgery, but we would still appreciate your prayers for a safe outcome.  The ophthalmologist will lengthen the muscles on the inner side of her eyes first.  If that doesn't correct Kora's eyes enough from turning inward, she will have another surgery later to shorten the outer muscles.  So we're hoping the first try does the trick, but we'll have to wait and see.

Now that the weather has been nice, Kora has enjoyed being outside.  If you say, "let's go outside,"  she starts heading for the door to get her shoes.  She hated the grass at first and didn't want to walk on it.  Now she walks all over without holding our hand.  She's still not fond of sitting down on it. 

6 Months Home

It's hard to believe that 6 months have gone by since we brought Kora home from China.  Time goes by so fast.  But in another sense, it seems like she has always been one of the family.  For instance, we were at the opthamologist last week when the doctor asked us if we knew of any family history of reactions to anesthesia.  Jesse answered that he or his family has never had any problems.  Then of course we all laughed, but it shows how we think of Kora as just like our other children. 
 
Here's a few highlights of what's been happening with Kora over the last month or so.  She is now walking.  It took a while for her to get the confidence to try to walk on her own versus waiting for us to stand her up and let her go, but now she can stand up and walk on her own around the house before she sits down on her bottom.  She's been saying more words all the time.  She likes to imitate what others are saying.  My favorite is her "please"  because it sounds so cute.  Kora loves books and will pull them out all the time to look at them.  She now has 10 teeth.  2 top molars have come through and the bottom are also getting close.  She still loves trying to take whatever Megan and Jason are playing with and aggravating them in the process.  She also likes to tell them "no"  since they say the same to her.  Kora is definitely in the testing the limits phase.  Kora still loves to suck her right thumb.  Now she has started to rub her hair with the left hand at the same time, so she gets frustrated when she has a hood on. 
 
Kora tolerated wearing the eye patch pretty well, which surprised me.  When we went back to the opthamologist, it was determined she would need surgery to correct her eyes turning in.  The patching did help Kora use the left eye more, but her eyes still cross about the same.  So we scheduled surgery for June 6, but will continue to patch the right eye until then.   
 
Here is a video of Kora and Jason head-banging to music on Jesse's cell phone.  I think Jesse and the kids worked on teaching her that.  

 

 

I'm excited for summer to come so we can show Kora all the fun things to do outside. So far she enjoys going outside, but doesn't want to walk on the grass. She likes to swing and to pet our cat.  Here she is at the park for the first time.

 

 

 

Ophthalmologist Appointment

Kora had her third appointment with an ophthalmologist on Monday.  Here's a recap on her previous appointments:  Her first was in December with a local ophthalmologist, and she was totally uncooperative as soon as he started shining a light in her eyes, so he didn't really get any info.  Also, her eyes wouldn't dilate with the normal drops because they are so dark.  Her next appointment was in February with a different doctor who sees more pediatric clients.  She was more cooperative for her, but even with a different type of drop her eyes wouldn't dilate in the clinic.   For her third appointment, we had to put drops in her eyes twice a day for three days prior, so her eyes would be dilated when we got there.  They were fully dilated by Saturday.  The ophthalmologist was able to get the rest of her testing done with Kora only really getting upset at the very end.  Now her eyes will be dilated for a week before they go fully back to normal.  Surprisingly, having her eyes dilated for that long hasn't bothered her that much.  

The ophthalmologist feels she will more than likely need surgery on both eyes to correct her vision, but since she needs to measure Kora's eyes again without them dilated, we are going to try patching the right eye for a few weeks before we go back.  If her eyes improve, we will keep doing the patching.  If they don't change, we will most likely schedule surgery.  We'll soon see what she thinks of the patch. 

Here are a few more recent photos.     

Having fun climbing in and out of the shower.

 



Our dancing girl

Here's Megan in her dance outfit.  Her recital was last week, which she was so excited for.  She had fun being able to dance on a real stage.