Doing Better

Mia's bottom is doing much better, thank you for praying and thank you God! A few days after Christmas, she wasn't feeling great and threw up, but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because she didn't eat for 1/2 a day and ended up not having a dirty diaper for awhile which allowed her diaper rash to clear up, since then we have been extremely diligent about very frequent changes and it seems to be working. I think her body might finally be getting adjusted to having stool on the skin, but we still are being very careful to keep some good ointment on her bottom. We're just so thankful it isn't irritated like before.

We are working on getting Mia to try walking on her own, her therapist says she's ready, but Mia says she isn't. We are trying to encourage her trying to take some steps on her own, so far not much has happened, but keep praying and we'll let you know the moment it does!

It looks like we are going to be switching speech therapists, not by choice, apparently there is an approved place in Bakersfield for speech therapy, so we are going to try it out and if it isn't a good fit then we'll just end up paying out of pocket for Mia to go back to where she was. Pray that it's a good fit, I'm hopeful. We won't be able to start for a few weeks though, so Mia will just get a break for a little bit, but we keep on encouraging speech at home and I notice her trying to say more sounds, which is so great! And I just love hearing that "Mama".

For Christmas I got so many nice gifts, but my favorite was when Daddy and Mommy told me I'm getting a new brother or sister, but they were back-ordered, so I won't get to meet him or her until next August or September. Will you pray for my new brother or sister? I trust that God is creating him or her perfectly, I just don't want them to spend all the time in the hospital like I did. I'm so excited, a baby for me! And Daddy and Mommy too.

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Mia

Disneyland!

We had a fun trip to Disneyland on Saturday. It was Mia's first time to the park, so that was very exciting. She loved It's A Small World. It was decorated for Christmas and they were singing Jingle Bells and It's A Small World, so it wasn't the same music the entire trip, maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much too. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip.

Pray for Mia's diaper rash, it's back in full force and nothing seems to be clearing it up. :(

Dear Santa...

Dear Santa,

Mommy's friend from where she used to work, Jennifer, knit me this awesome hat and scarf, just like yours! What do you think?! Mommy had a hard time getting my picture taken because I was being "snooky classic". Is it true that you really visit every single home on Christmas Eve? That's amazing! Can I come along sometime? I will wear my hat! I could be your helper. I do like to help, even if I am a bit messy sometimes. I love you Santa and can't wait to meet your reindeer!

Love,
Mia

P.S. Guess what Santa, tomorrow is my mommy's birthday and we are going to Disneyland!!!! I'm so excited!!!! And it's going to snow!!!! I'll put some more pictures on here when we get back.

School Days!

Here is Mia's school picture, it was taken at the beginning of November. Isn't that the cutest 2 year old school picture EVER! I am not biased, but she does look darling.

Mia's bottom is looking better, we still don't have the elusive ilex cream, we've ordered some and are waiting for it to get here, but with some minor changes in how we clean her bottom, she's doing much better.

And I'll get the "mama" on video and we'll post that on the blog, it is so sweet!

Mama

Today we went to LA to see Mia's surgeon. He thought that her incisions looked fine and gave us some advice on taking care of her bottom. They also brought out the Ilex cream, so we put that on her bottom right away, hopefully we'll see some changes in the next couple of days. We have a few other remedies that we are looking into if this doesn't work. The good news is that we don't have to go back to visit the surgeon for another 1-2 months! That's a nice feeling!

The surgeon gave approval for Mia to be able to go back in the tub again, so when we got home we put her in there straight away. She loved every moment of it and it was great for her bottom because it cleaned everything off very gently. So, we'll definitely be doing daily tub time.

When Mia got out of the tub she said, "mama" for the first time since this summer! It was so sweet. We've noticed her saying a few more sounds, so we know that God continues to work in her speech. Praise God for saying mama!!!!



This picture was taken awhile ago, it is one of Mia's favorite activities...pulling all her socks/night clothes out of her drawer. :)

The Same

So her bottom is still the same, it is extremely red and irritated, occasionally it bleeds and we are just in agony every time we change her diaper. We have got some different recommendations from a few people and have tried alot of stuff, but we are still going to give a few more different remedies a try. One that seems hopeful to us is called Ilex cream, and from what I've read it does wonders on the worst looking bottoms. But we can't get it until Monday, so keep praying that her bottom would get better and not worse. Pray for normal bowel movements because they just aren't normal yet and continued healing.

In the back of my mind and deep in my heart I keep having this feeling that the reason we are where we are with the diaper rash is because she can't control her bowels. And I imagine that it is too early to actually determine that, this is all very new for her, but I can't seem to get that thought out of my mind. I didn't actually want to right this paragraph because as I type it, it seems more real and that there might be some truth to my fears. But I also know that we serve a God who is HUGE and if he wants Mia to control her bowels, then she will. And so my real purpose in writing this is for those of you who pray for Mia, that you would add this to the list, we've prayed for it before, but I just feel a renewed need to pray for it again. And now as I finish this paragraph, that fear isn't so scary to me, I feel a burden lifted knowing that you will pray as we pray and I trust God's answer completely. So, thank you for praying!!!

Aside from a very sore bottom, Mia is doing great. We went back to school for the first time since Mia's surgery and everyone was very excited to see her. The kids said, "Mia" when we went inside, it was very cute.

We've been noticing more sounds and attempts at talking with Mia, which is great. She will mouth the word Mama, but no sound comes out, so we will keep working on that.

Please just keep praying for healing of her bottom, we are trying some different remedies and hopefully it will clear up soon.

Diaper Rash

So Mia now has a case of diaper rash. We were anticipating this happening eventually. It is super uncomfortable and changing diapers is no fun. We keep putting on the cream that the doctor gave us and so hopefully it will start to get better soon, but be praying for her.

She's getting around much better and eating much better! Those are definite praises! We have even started back to therapy, but aren't pushing her too much yet.

We were supposed to go to LA today, but since the grapevine was closed (the pass over the mountains to get to LA) because of ice and snow we rescheduled for next week. Hopefully the weather will clear up and things will be much better next week!

A little better...

So, Mia is actually doing a little better today, thank you God! She was much more active and ate a little bit better today. She still isn't drinking great and we can always improve in the area of eating. As for bowel movements, it continues to come just a little by little, maybe as she gets more active and eats better things will start to regulate. She is still in a bit of pain, especially when she passes gas or stool, so keep praying for that to become more normal.

On a side note, I weighed her this morning, we are back to 20 pounds, I'm not surprised with everything she's been through, but pray that she would quickly put back on the weight.

This morning we decided to hang some Christmas lights outside, and Mia was Daddy's little helper. Here are some pictures. :)






And this next one is Mia's "bedhead", this is what her hair looked like when she first got up, oh my.

Still Waiting

I thought for sure today we'd have lots of movement, but there hasn't been much at all. And Mia is still obviously uncomfortable. Today she also hasn't eaten as well. The good news is that she is a little bit more active and I know that will help in this area also. Pray for continued healing and movement and pain management for our little pumpkin.

Tonight we have finally had a little bit of a bowel movement, that makes me think we are getting closer. Mia is still very uncomfortable when things are trying to get through, so keep praying and Praise God for movement in the right direction!

Still Uncomfortable

We've been home from the hospital for about 2 days now and Mia is still very uncomfortable. What is slightly concerning is that she hasn't had a bowel movement in 2 days now, I know that is not uncommon for kids...I just wish I could see inside her tummy/intestines to see what was going on. I talked to her surgeon today and he said to give her another day or two and then we'll check back in and go from there. So pray for a bowel movement! When we were in the hospital (this might be too much information, but it will help you gain perspective), her bowel movements were super runny, like diarrhea, and so when we started feeding her "regular" food, we tried some foods that would help get rid of that, I don't know if that was too much and now we've flipped to the other side, or what is happening. So pray for wisdom and a bowel movement!