The Holidays are OVER!!

And I really don't think I could be any happier! I really tried to keep things as simple as possible for baby Ya Ya, but of course things still got very crazy!

Ya Ya's progress is slow, soooo slow. It's so hard to describe what she's like or what exactly it is she's doing that is so difficult, but we are all pretty tired and cranky. When she's happy (or even not screaming) she is the cutest baby in the universe! BUT in a split second it can all change and the screamfest begins. She gets ticked off pretty easily, and I'm doing my best to teach her basic sign, but it's coming very slowly. I'm extremely lucky that she sleeps and eats great, and when she's happy she plays so well, but when she gets mad it goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on...

Baby Ya Ya has decided that my days on the computer are over, which is a good thing I suppose.

Sheeeeesssss's Baaaaaccckkkkk!!

A week of calmness and staying at home has really made a difference in taming our wild girl! She has really settled down, and is no longer constantly moving. (I'm not kidding about the constant motion. We would count and I think the longest she ever sat still was 4 seconds!) The past couple of nights Ya Ya was still waking up every 3 hours (& staying up for 4) but her complete despair was lessened to soft cries with long breaks in between. I was finally able to graduate to our king size bed with her, although I was still not allowed to talk to her or touch her, yet she would sit at my feet and fall asleep facing away from me. As soon as she fell asleep I'd pull her up to me and snuggle up to her, hoping she wouldn't wake up and hit me!!!
Anyways last night as I carried her upstairs (with her hitting me because she knew it was bedtime) I set her on the bed while I climbed in waiting for the crying to begin, and guess what??? She laid down right next to me, plopped her thumb in her mouth and fell asleep all night long!! I was frozen next to her, afraid to move. I wanted to shout out my happiness!! I got to snuggle this precious girl and she wasn't resisting!! (well duh, she was asleep.) Yes, this is great stuff!!
Xiao Ya saw the Dr. yesterday and had her pint of blood drawn, and tomorrow I get to scoop her poop out of her diaper and bring in samples. This should be loads of fun, but necessary of course. Ya Ya will be seeing a neurologist to figure out all her cafe-au-lait spots. More than five could be a sign of neurofibromatosis, and between her reg. Dr. and I we counted at least five, but some are pretty faint so it will be nice to have someone who knows what they're doing look at her. She doesn't appear to have any other things going on so we'll see. Neurofibromatosis was something the geneticist ruled out in Jie Ling, so I knew this could be a possibility with Xiao Ya and her macrodactyly.

Today we went to Nordstrom and Xiao Ya got her first pair of shoes!! Nordstrom allows you to buy different sized shoes, so we finally found a pair to accommodate her foot!! I was so excited for Ya Ya! I'm pretty happy that she has had surgery, and maybe removing one of her other toes, she'll be able to keep her foot and still wear shoes comfortably.












Look at this amazing girl!! She was so proud of her castle!!

This Isn't Fun...

I had a feeling this might happen, but our happy bundle of energy baby has up and left. In her place is a screaming, unhappy, and demanding girl. I guess this is normal, but it totally sucks.

She screams for me to pick her up, and then the moment I do she screams for me to put her down. She woke up every 3 hours last night, and the big family bed on the floor was not up to par for her. She pulled, scratched, and slapped me while thrashing all over on the floor. I tried the crib and she cried and cried, and our bed is up too high and not safe for this monkey girl, so I put her on the floor with me and she screams and flops all over like a fish out of water. Sheesh...it was all I could do to remind myself that this won't last forever. Nothing I have been doing is good enough, and she's not afraid to let me know with a slap or a scratch.

It's not all bad though...She finally laid her little head on my shoulder, and has allowed me to hold her bottle and her at the same time. I think we're up to a one minute snuggle, which is amazing for this ball of energy. She is not too affectionate, but I believe in time she will be. Oh and she really is into playing with cars and trucks, and instead of pushing the shopping cart, she carries it! Her bath the other night was great. I just had Jie Ling in there playing and Ya Ya started pulling at her clothes, so I threw her in and she had a blast! When she's happy she's a riot.

Okay, I'm feeling better after this vent. Dear Aimee is playing with both girls in their room and it's about time for me to tackle diapers and pajamas with Ya Ya. Maybe she'll surprise me tonight and it won't turn into a wrestling match!

I can't wait for these first few months to pass, and for life to start feeling normal!!