The Latest and Tons of Pics...

Sorry it has been so long since an update. I am going to pick up where I left off with pictures...Easter!

John Paul and Dasha are doing great. John Paul really enjoyed Pre-K and he will start back for the summer program on July 1st lasting the month of July. He's doing really well with potty training and is pushing his pants down on his own now. He still needs some help getting them back up. He can get the front up, but they get stuck on his little rump. He's started to walk down the stairs by just holding onto the wall with one hand instead of having to hold someone's hand. He's getting stronger. :) He's still eating great. They just went to the pediatrician on Monday and he is now 32 lbs. and 39.5 inches tall. He's still growing really well and at a nice steady pace. He wears a size 7 shoe now. He wore a 5 when he first got here. He's wearing 2T's and 3T's now. It's almost been a year since we brought him home. It has really flown by! I am so proud of him and the progress he has made.

Dasha is now 22 lbs. and 29 3/4 in. tall. She has gained 4.4 lbs. and has grown 1 3/4 in. since she came home in February. Now that's a lot of growing! :) She's wearing 12 to 18 mos. now. She wore 3 to 6 mos. when she first came home a little over four months ago. At her first dr. visit she didn't even register on the DS growth chart. Now she is at the 4th percentile for height and weight. :) She's still a tiny little bean, but she's really sprouted since Feb. She eats and drinks really well and isn't picky about anything. She's crawling really well now and has learned to crawl up the steps fast! She's doing great with sign language. She knows milk, more, eat, mama, daddy, cracker, bird, cat, juice, banana, and baby. She likes to hold dolls and rock them when you say baby. I've got to get some video of it. And when you ask her if she wants to eat, she will start signing eat. She'll head for the stairs and crawl up them to get to the kitchen. She'll stop every few steps and will sign "eat" again and keep crawling until she reaches the top. It is so funny, cute, and sweet all at the same time. John Paul will walk up the stairs beside her and he will stop to wait for her to catch up to him. Such a sweet big brother! Then she'll crawl over to her high chair and sit and sign eat. She usually smiles and laughs when you put her in her high chair. She LOVES food and it makes her SO happy. The good thing is that she will eat healthy foods with no complaint at all. JP does too. That's a really good thing because they can both can really put some food away!

The pictures are from Easter. We were at my grandparent's house. John Paul and Rick are missing from some of the family pics because they were outside swinging. There is a picture that shows what happens when you get JP off of the swing set. lol!! We have had a birthday party since then, in May. John Paul turned 5 on May 14th and Dasha turned 3 on May 25th. My nephew, Ethan, turned 7 on May 17th and my dad's birthday was May 20th, so we just had one big party for their birthdays. JP and Dasha had their own personal cakes that they both thoroughly enjoyed! It was so wonderful to have them both here for their birthdays. I will post birthday party pics on the next post because there are a lot of them combined with the Easter pics.

Thanks to everyone that is still following us even though I have been a bit behind on updating the blog. I appreciate your patience and dedication in continuing to check for updates. And we ALWAYS appreciate the prayers! The kids keep me busy. :) I'll get the birthday pics on soon though! And if anyone reading this has sent me emails, I am working on getting back to everyone. It's been a busy last few months with traveling and birthdays, etc. Plus, I've been doing spring cleaning and packing out grown clothes up in the attic. I just about have everything organized, in bins or storage containers, and most things labeled! I can't stand not being able to find something when I need it and Rick and I have different ideas about where things should belong. lol! So, that's what the labeling system is for. Boy, will I be glad when it is done. It's tough to get cleaning (outside of the regular housework and that's enough) done with the kids. I mostly have to reserve my nights and weekends for that. I feel guilty if they don't get the majority of my time during the day. The neglect they endured is still apparent at times and it really pulls my heart strings. They will play independently well and together also. They just prefer more time with me and Rick. Rick commutes and doesn't get home until 7:30 p.m. So it's mostly me and the kids during the week. Its almost their bed time by the time he gets home. But they make up for it on the weekends. :) It's just really important to me that they know how loved they are and know that someone is there for them. If that means cleaning at night and on weekends, then so be it. Thanks for your patience.

Me, Dasha, my mom, my brother Shane, and Ethan (my nephew). JP and Rick were outside swinging.

Me, Dasha, and mom
This is what happens when you take JP from the swings! He LOVES to swing and play outside. He cries every time you bring him in.
Swinging and happy! :)




wGetting tickled.
JP loves my brother!
Allie, Dylan, Dasha, and uncle Cliff. Dylan is giving Dasha a hug. Awww. :)
The cousins: Ethan, John Paul, Dasha, Allie, and Dylan peaking out from behind Dasha.






Dasha got dirty on the playground in the nursery at church, but I wanted pics in her Easter dress before we changed her. Dirty or not, it was her first Easter at home. :)




Making music, a favorite past time.

Playing at grammy's with the cars and the city.
OH NO, the giant baby crushed the town!
Dasha LOVES mirrors!

Sweet baby Dash! I know she isn't really a baby, but she's my baby. :)

Finally an Update!

Sorry it has been so long since an update. We have been really busy. Both of the kids were sick several weeks ago and running high temps. Dasha ended up getting pneumonia and had to go to the doctor three times and once to the emergency room. She has been well for almost two weeks. She had us scared though for about a week and a half. John Paul was sick too, but he didn't get as sick as she did.

John Paul had his first day of Pre-K last Tuesday and he loves it! He has a cold again now, so I guess he picked up some new germs at school. He has started using the big toilet now and is doig very well with it. Dasha is doing really good with the potty seat. She is starting to try to feed herself too. She gets mad if you won't give her the spoon. I usually do hand it over, unless we are getting ready to go some where because she gets really messy and gets food all in her hair! Very cute though! She has learned to sign baby, mama (a couple of times), daddy, all done, and milk. She says baba when she signs baby, and ah duh for all done. John Paul knows potty, baby, all done, more, milk, eat, and car. He won't do them very often though, but he knows them. He has gotten more vocal between Dasha being here and going to school. He mostly babbles, but it is so great to hear his sweet little voice more. He is doing very well with school. He loves gym time and is kicking a ball now. All the way home from school he smiles. It's so good to see him so happy and enjoying himself so much. I got my first handmade Mother's Day gift from John Paul on Friday. He planted a little sprout for me at school and also made a poster that says Happy Mother's Day. I'll post pics of them in a little while. It was so sweet. :) It made my day!

Dasha has learned to climb the stairs all on her own (with us watching). She LOVES to climb the stairs and it's great exercise for her and muscle builder too. She's getting a lot stronger. She can stand on her own for 6 seconds now. :) Her eyes get real big and then she starts laughing and plops down on her bottom.

That's about it. I will get some new pics on shortly.

Update and Pics

She'll kill me for this one day! lol!!

Peek-a-boo!

This is what I found when I went to do laundry. JP decided Mr. Elephant needed a bath!

I'm a big boy! I can feed myself!

Is that Dasha or Elton John?

Dasha in pursuit on my pant's legs!

John Paul and Dasha are both doing great! John Paul had his evaluation for Pre-K last Friday. His eligibility meeting is on April 27th. I'm pretty excited about that for him. He really enjoyed visiting the kids in the Pre-K class while we were there. He also loved seeing the big kids in the hall way. Two little girls both looked at him and said, "Aww he's so cute." My little heart breaker. ;) We had a situation with the school psychologist that did his evaluation. It was quite unpleasant. I won't get into all of the details, but outside of the fact that she was rude and unknowledgable, she was trying to deny John Paul a full year of Pre-K because he turns 5 in May. She kept telling me that "it is against the law" for him to go to Pre-K in the fall and told me he would be placed in the moderately impaired Kindergarten class. I was ticked! So I researched "the law" myself and also had some friends send me more of "the law" and found out she either lied or didn't know "the law" as well as she thought. After all he has been through, he deserves a full year of Pre-K and by law he IS entitled to it until he is 6 years old! I had to make a complaint and it looks like he will be going to Pre-K in the fall. I will not stand for any other placement and the law supports it. We've entered the school system for the first time with a bang, huh?!

Last post I mentioned that they both had hearing screenings later that day. They both had great results and are hearing within the normal range.

John Paul is doing really well with his potty training. He is holding it for a long time now. He's signed potty a few times when he needs to go. And he has just gone to the bathroom doorway a few times and stood until I asked him if he needed to go. He is starting to be able to get his pull up or training pants down by himself. He needs a little help getting them back up though.

JP looked at me this evening with a little grin and then signed bird and cat for the first time! That was the sweetest! He is getting a lot more vocal since Dasha arrived. He tries to imitate her sounds and she imitates his. Dasha said, "mama" for the first time tonight!! She has said, "mamamama mama mamamama mama" many times, but this was the first clear "mama". It made me tear up. After she did it I said, "YAY Dasha, you said mama" and clapped for her. After that I kept saying mama to try to get her to do it again so Rick could hear her. Every time I would say mama, she would clap for me. lol!! Too cute! She did end up saying it again really clearly, but Rick missed it again. Then John Paul walked by and I said, "John Paul, Dasha said mama. Can you say mama?" He giggled and then said, "NNNNNana" really loud. He does say mama too. :)

I have been putting Dasha on the potty too even though she is so tiny on it! lol! She understands what to do when she is on it though. She doesn't let the fact that she can't stand independtly or walk hold her back when she is finished either! She leans over and bear hugs the pedestal sink and pulls herself up. She did this today while I was grabbing a diaper from the closet beside the bathroom! lol! A few days ago John Paul heard me telling her to "pee pee in the potty". He came flying around the corner and pointed his finger at the potty with an authoritarian look about him and said his version of the word potty. It was so funny! Dasha just looked at him like she didn't know what to think. He picked that up from me because he likes to get off the potty and close the bathroom door so that he can run around in there and play rather than use the potty. Sometimes I have to sit him down and tell him (while tapping the potty with my finger) in a firm voice to "pee pee in the potty and don't get up until you are all done." I guess he thought I needed some back up with Dasha! lol!! They are something else together.

Dasha is getting stronger. She is crawling all over the place! She has even learned to crawl all the way up the stairs by herself, with me behind her to make sure she doesn't fall of course! She has learned to walk behind her push walker by herself on the hardwood floor now. She was able to push it on the carpet about a week after she got here, but the hardwoods required more core strength and balance. She has that mastered now! She is a little go getter! She is into EVERYTHING! It is so nice to see though! She can get on and off the couch by herself too. She figured that out right after she came here. She saw John Paul doing it and the next thing I knew she was doing it too. It looks bizarre seeing her do some of the things she does because she is so little. She wears 6 month and some 6 to 9 month clothes. She stood for 4 seconds today with out any support. That was awesome! She likes to crawl over to you and grab your pants to pull herself up and then if you walk backwards, she will hold onto your pants and walk forward laughing and giggling the whole time. She is so happy to be up and moving. Bless her heart, she's just been waiting for someone to give her a chance to get around! She's a very smart little girl. She grabbed the hair brush tonight and started brushing her hair. John Paul likes to brush her hair too. And he is so gentle with her when he does it. It's so precious! I need to get video of it. The other day JP was brushing her hair and she started crawling off. He chased after her and kept brushing her hair! It was hysterical to see.

John Paul is really coming alive even more since Dasha came home. He seems to really enjoy his big brother role! He loves his little sister. He is always trying to help her. If she is climbing then he will grab her hand and pull her up. If he is behind her then he will push her up by her bottom. If she can't figure a toy out then he will stop what he is doing and show her how. What ever she is doing he is always there to supervise and help out when needed. lol! He's such an angel! they both are!

Dasha is OK!

Thank you all so much for your prayers! They were heard!
Dasha's blood counts were perfectly fine today, no sign of atypical lymphocytes! PRAISE GOD!!!! What a huge burden that was to have lifted.

The dr. said it could have been from the immunizations or the Giardia infection that she came home with. She just finished her antibiotics up a couple of days ago to rid herself of that. Whatever was causing the blood issues seems to have gotten out of her system now. The dr. said it was a false alarm. Whew! They do not need to see her again unless something arises in the future, which I pray not.

It was nice to see the doctor, nurses, and office staff again today. It was odd though seeing them without Chloe being there. It was difficult to see the children that are obviously going through chemo and the worried looks on the parent's faces. I remember so vividly being in their shoes and thought for a few terrifying days that we might be back there. My heart really goes out to them. We are so blessed that our children have been healthy so far. Good health should never be taken for granted. Please remember to pray for the children around the world that are fighting cancer and also their parents.

Thank you all again so much for your prayers and support!

Prayers Needed

We got the results back from their blood work. All of John Paul's blood results were fine.

Dasha had 15% atypical lymphocytes. We had her blood drawn again on Wednesday to check her CBC to see if the atypical lymphocytes were gone or had decreased in number. Yesterday her pediatrician called to tell me that her blood had not changed. She wanted to run it by a hematologist/oncologist to get their opinion on the next course of action. I asked her to call the group that we used for Chloe. She called me back to tell me that they want to see Dasha and that the hematologist office would be calling to talk to me and to schedule an appointment for Dasha. Dr. Perdahl (Chloe's hematologist/oncologist) called me back. She said that her other counts are within the normal range and that it could be something viral. She also said that Leukemia is usually not associated with atypical lymphocytes. Then she said, however, AML M-7 (Acute Myeloid Leukemia) is associated with atypical lymphocytes. This is the same diagnosis that Chloe had. She had AML M6 & M7. She gave me the option of scheduling a bone marrow biopsy first or checking her blood one more time and then scheduling the bone marrow biopsy a few days later if nothing had changed. I chose to have her blood checked again one more time (by the doctor) to be sure before I put Dasha through that. She has an appointment on Monday at 11:00 a.m. to have more blood drawn. Dr. Perdahl will be looking at her blood smear herself under the microscope to see what is going on. If she still has the atypical lymphocytes on Monday then Dasha will be scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy. We would greatly appreciate your prayers.

I did read that Rubella, measles, infuenza, and chicken pox can all cause atypical lymphocytes in the blood. Dasha had vaccinations for all of these a few weeks ago. I also read that immunizations can cause atypical lymphocytes. I told the hematologist that and she said it could be possible or that it could just be all that Dasha has been through. But to rule out the worst, I guess they will want to check her bone marrow for blasts.

They both are getting their hearing screened today. The first appointment is at 4:00 for John Paul and then Dasha will follow.

Cardiologist Update

Dasha went to the cardiologist last Friday and we got a great report back! She does not have an ASD heart defect like we were told in Ukraine. Praise God!!!! She has a Steele's murmur just like John Paul does. The cardiologist said that the murmur is about as significant as a freckle and that it may go away. She does not need to follow up with the cardiologist again. We are still waiting on the results of their blood work. I had to take Dasha twice to have blood drawn because they could not get enough blood the first time. They refused to stick her again and asked me to bring her back when the supervisor was scheduled to work to let her try. She was great and successful! I had a call today from the drs. office, but I was in NC for a funeral and missed the call. I am hoping that it is the results of their blood work. We also had their stools checked for parasites (which was recommended by their pediatrician), but we are also waiting to hear the results of that. I had to reschedule their hearing tests because they told me the morning of the appointment that I needed to bring someone with me since I had both children scheduled back to back. It wasn't possible so I rescheduled it for this past Friday, but then had to go to NC unexpectedly. So now they have their appointments with the audiologist this Friday.

That's about it for now. They are both doing really well. They are adjusting to each other really well also and are playing together great! John Paul is doing really well with potty training. He doesn't really understand to hold it, so I try to take him every 30 to 45 minutes and that's going really well. He made it home from NC which is about 6 hours and it appeared he had only wet his pull up one time. It was obvious that he had held most of it because there was A LOT in the potty when I put him on it after we got home. Dasha has even used the potty several times too. She is crawling really well and is getting fast!

I'll post again when I get news about their blood work. There is a montage below that my step dad made while we were down there this weekend. Don't forget to pause the music on the playlist at the top of the blog so that it doesn't interfere with the music on the montage/video. For those of you that are familiar with the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, John Paul is doing his version of the Hot Dog Dance! It is sooo funny with the music that my step dad chose! Love it! Thanks Rob!

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Montage Made by My Step Dad

My step-dad and mom made this video montage for us. We love it and thought you might enjoy viewing it as well. Don't forget to hit pause on the music playlist on the right. The montage also has music and they'll interfere with each other.

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