We're Home!!

Okay...I need to start out by apologizing to all of you who follow for not posting! But I think I may be back in the groove of life with our new addition!

Hope is doing wonderful. She is such a joy to have in our home! She is sleeping at night very well. She is not getting up through the night. She stills kind of needs a nap but does not get one every day. She gets pretty defiant when there is no nap. She is attaching to all of us. We were out the other night at our friend's house and it was late. She signed "drive home" to us and wanted all five of us to get in the vehicle and go!! She is a hoot!

She has no trouble with communicating with us. However, she does have temper tantrums when told no sometimes. When she tantrums, she has ALOT of anger. I think that is when we see the frustration of the communication barrier!

We have had numerous appointments with physicians. The ENT would like her to get cochlear implants asap. We go to a consultation and evaluation this Wednesday at the KU med center. She also has a CAT scan scheduled for tomorrow morning in which she will be put under for the procedure. The ENT needs to make sure the inner ears are properly structured before going any further with cochlear implant consideration. She finishes her audiology testing on the 27th. At this point, she is declared as profoundly deaf which is just what we suspected.

Out sign language tutor comes tonight for our first meeting with Hope! I'm afraid Hope is going to pass us up at some point because she is so smart!! She knows several signs already!

I plan on staying home with her until preschool starts!! Our goal is to provide a full day of preschool services including regular ed and special ed. Hopefully she will be able to do it. If not, we will reevaluate to determine which placement is most effective and appropriate. Otherwise, I have babysitting set up if needed.

We took Hope swimming last week and she loved it. We took her out on the boat yesterday and she tubed with Paul and then with JT. She definitely fits in well with us. She tells it like it is confident. I wouldn't want it any other way for her life here in America!

Please continue to pray for proper attachment and bonding with all of us.