Gingerbread House

Charlee's Second Annual Building Of The

Gingerbread House

Once Charlee discovered that we were working with sweet frosting and candy, she was more interested in eating rather than building

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!

Grandma, Papa, and Charlee

Charlee and Papa

Grandma and Charlee

Oma and Opa

(Grandma and Grandpa in German)

Uncle Joe and Aunt Shirley finishing up the left overs

Cousin Suzy and Charlee

Animals Go Night-Night

Charlee spend about 30 minutes tonight putting all her stuff animals to bed or "Night-Night". It was so adorable I had to take a few pictures. All of the animals were face down and some were under her blanket. Of course, I can't get her to sleep. I hope it's not another long night like last night.

Charlee in Curlers

This is our first real attempt to curl Charlee's hair. It was not easy to get 7 simple curlers into her hair. She was wiggling the whole time. Will it work?

Is this the same Russian Girl??

Look at the left ear.

A Visit to Great-Grandma's

Today Charlee and I went to see Great-Grandma for Thanksgiving. Great-Grandma is going to be in St. George for the big Turkey day. It was a very quick visit because a little girl a bit crazy during our visit and needed a good nap.

I'm just scratching my upper lip not picking my nose.

Could this be Natalee????

Infant Girl 1M58

Date of birth: July 2008

Eyes: Grey

Hair: Light

Russian "Baby Houses" have a data base on the internet that you can see all the children that are in the orphanages. I can narrow the search to the Vladivostok area, girls born in 2007 and 2008, I've been keeping my eye out for Asian girls. I found this precious little girl and there was a connection. Could this be Natalee Ava????

Charlee's One Week Post-op Update

Charlee had her one week post-op visit with her doctor, actually not her doctor because his wife just had a baby. Anyway, her eyes are healing well and are in good alignment 6-8%. He said that after one week 6-8% is right where they want the eyes. We return in 4 weeks.

As you remember, last time the eyes were looking good after one week but re-crossed by the 6 week follow up appointment. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Charlee's eye behave themselves so we don't have to do this again.

She has been having a bit of pus from both eyes so we are continuing her eye drops until they are gone. The eye drops are in a small bottle so I'm not sure how long we will be doing the drops.

The stent in the tear duct seems to be working like a charm.

Charlee's one week post-op mug shot

Maggie loves giving Charlee kisses
Charlee says that is enough kisses

Tagged

I was tagged by Lala....

1.) Go to your Pictures folder on your computer 2.) Go to your 4th folder 3.) Get your 4th picture 4.)Tell four things about it

1. This was right after Charlee's first bath
2. Taken at the Lakeside Hotel Fuzhou, China
3. Charlee loved her lotion bottles over anything else
4. She loved the water from the beginning

I tag Carrie...

Second Day After Charlee's Second Eye Surgery

Charlee's second day after surgery was uneventful, so far. She slept really good last night. She is complaining of some eye pain but good old Motrin does the trick. She hates her eye drops, just like last time, but a good firm grip of her hands, legs, and holding her head still works like a charm.

Her eyes are still blood, much more than the first surgery but the tears are nice and clear. Yesterday at the hospital she was crying blood tears. Her eyes are sensitive to the light so we have keep the windows closed and staying inside. I tried to take better pictures of her eyes so everyone could see the detail but she wouldn't hold still and the flash was a bit much.

She is eating well, drinking up a storm, creating a disaster around the house, and playing with Play-Dooh for almost 90 minutes by herself. It gave me a chance to catch up on phone calls, e-mails, and a little housework including one load of laundry.

Thank you for all the phone calls, e-mails, thoughts, kisses, hugs, etc...

Charlee's Surgery

Charlee was a trooper today for her second eye surgery. She didn't cry until they took her into the operating room, NO PARENTS ALLOWED. She took longer to wake up for anesthesia than the last surgery so we were at Primary Children's Medical Center until Noon. It's been a long day but everything went well.

Her tears are bloodier than last time and there is bloody drainage from her nose because of the stent that they placed in her right tear duct. She also got her blood drawn and a catheterized urine sample to evaluate her kidneys because of the possible exposure to the tainted Chinese baby formula with Melamine. We can't do just a simple surgery, we always have to add something else.

Charlee playing while Mom gets checked-in and signs alot of papers. It was almost as bad as buying a house.

Pre-op area. "Look at my Koala Bear Jammies"

"I'm ready when you are""Please hurry, I'm hungry"

Let's just hope this is the last eye surgery for this little girl.

Alligator or Dragaon???

Is it a Alligator or a Dragon?

Charlee at school after their Halloween parade.

Charlee was not into Halloween on Friday the 31st. It was a struggle to get the costume on and leave it on. We went Trick or Treating at one house and that was enough for her. She loved passing out candy at Grandma and Papa's house until the Joker showed up. The Joker scarred her so bad that she dropped the full bowl of candy on the porch. She didn't want the Joker to come back. This is funny because her cousin was the Joker in PA.

On Saturday, we went over to Great-Grandma's to show her the alligator and Charlee couldn't get enough of her costume. Out of the clear blue, Charlee said she was a "Dragon".

Way back when, Charlee said she wanted to be an Alligator for Halloween but there were no Alligator costumes to be found. I looked all over the internet and Pennsylvania. The Alligator/Dragon costume was the closest I could find. It was so cute that I couldn't resist and Charlee loved it from the beginning.

Happy Halloween