Look what Reese learned at school...

Reese and Daddy (she's smiley in the other pictures, but Dad looked funny.)

First Oreo (that I know of).

November is of no importance apparently...lol.

ABCs

"Helping" Daddy check his blood sugar.

These pics were taken last night (9/28).

I think it's common knowledge by now that Reese can sing her ABCs (and has been able to since about a month after we got her or so...maybe a bit longer). Well, I finally got her to sing them while I had the camera rolling. So it is now recorded.

Every time there's a 28 on the calendar...

Gotcha Day, May 28, 2007.

1 month. June 2007.

2 months. July 28, 2007.

3 months. August 28, 2007.

4 months with her forever family! September 28, 2007.

Every time there's a 28 on the calendar, it means we've had Reese a whole 'nother month. So exciting, and slightly surreal.

It is 4 months today since Reese (then Kai Jin) was put into my mom's arms, screaming and most upset. It's funny to see how much things have changed. Now, a big phrase we hear is 'My Mama!'. Yes, baby girl, she's your Mama. Forever. Reese has grown so much in 4 short months. It's amazing. It's funny to think she's only been with us for 4 months. Only, and yet it seems so long, but yet such a short period as well. It feels like she's always been here, but it's only been 4 months.

Here's the list of stuff she can do now (not necessarily a full list and possibly repeating):

"pick up"
she still uses 'ni' (Chinese for 'you') for 'you' at the beginning of sentences, but she uses 'you' for the ends of them.
"Sissy"
"blankey" (not used much though)
she uses 'xiao' for small still. It's cute. She knows 'little' though.
"big"
She loves to swim.
She'll lay back in the tub now.
"horsey"
"Coke"
"Dr. Pepper"
" 'ni' (you) get it"
"take a picture"
"camera"
"cute"
"go to bed"
"chocolate milk sippy cup"
"go to dance" (she loves going to my dance class)
"go home"
"my bed" (referring to her bedroom)
"pizza"
"I wanna ---"
"sit by you"
"give me a hug"
"give me kiss"
"uh-oh"
"Tony/twenty" (we're not sure which it is really, but they are synonyms in our house)
"car"
"Murphy" (my car. We call it Murphy.)
"Wal-Mart"
"read a book"
She can do a somersault. She's in gymnastics at school.
"dog ears"
"doggie"
She can say the 'God is great, God is good.' prayer.
She's a darn monkey. Climbs everything.
She tries to do Irish dance. I mean really tries.
"change clothes"
"love you"
"doctor"
She still loves to say 'hao chi ma?'. 'hao'.
"I awake."
"I eat."
"Get up."
"Sit down."
"Please."
"You're welcome."
"Brush(a) teeth"
"Wash hands"
"Potty"
"shoes"


And so much more, I'm sure. It's hard to remember everything she can and does say.

I'm sorry, loyal readers.

Reese and her donkey she made at school (from Wednesday).

Playing on Daddy before bed.

Daddy is fun to play on!

Grinny before bed.

I have been bad and not posted in dang near a week. I beg thy forgiveness.

Okay, that's all of the theatrics.

I haven't had any new pictures to post as of late (I know, bad Monica), so tonight I made a point of taking some because posts with no pictures seem, well, dull.

Good news is, you're sure to get a post tomorrow because it is our 4 month Gotcha anniversary.

All of the scabs have fallen off at this point. She is now a dark pink with light pink spots. It's kind of funny. Mom is like 'I think her birthmark is actually darker than it was before'. I figure it has to get worse before it gets better...so surely we're on the better run now. She won't have another laser treatment until January. We're pushing it back from December so she won't have trouble around Christmas (EVERY body in our family just about has a December birthday. And then there's Christmas.) She has another eye pressure check in November, but those are no big deal.

Tomorrow I'll do a recap of all the nifty things she can now do, say, etc., as well as picture of me and her...and maybe the rest of the group.

Little Miss Attitude also has a birthday in some 11 or so days. She'll be 3! I already have an idea of what I'm gonna get her (can anybody say 'her own camera'? I'm somewhat concerned about her using mine just cause...well, it's not child-proof.).

And to answer one of my commenters: yes, she does not smile. It just doesn't seem to happen often. And she tends to recover quickly.

Once again, COMMENTS ARE WELCOMED, LOVED, AND APPRECIATED!

Day...oh I give...

Playing with the blankey her niece, Kaci, made her.

Mom and Reese came to eat lunch with me today. That was fun.

Reese's "pieces" are falling off, a.k.a. the spotty scabs. There's little spots throughout the house, and she has little neon pink spots and little light pink spots. I wonder if that's the color it'll be when it all heals up. I doubt it, but it would be nice if there was that significant of a change. It would show that everything we've been through, that she's been through, was truly worth something.

Not a whole lot to be said other than that.

Day...9, I think...

Goofy girl- with our Bactroban (we use it on her legs).

Almost all of her facial "leopard spots" are gone.

Her legs looking MUCH better.

The majority of the blisters have dried and fallen off, leaving little pink spots. Some have completely vanished, leaving solid birthmark-colored spots. I'm not sure if it's lighter or not. Haven't investigated that closely.

We call her "baby leopard". She doesn't mind. She likes cats. After that first day and we had to assure her they'd go away, they haven't bothered her in the least, cosmetics-wise. If we don't have her in long pants, she'll hike up her skirt and show off her legs.


I got my 100th Squish today for Reese's Good Wishes Quilt. You can visit the blog Good Wishes For Reese to see all the squishes we've received so far. We're still collecting. No reason to stop at 100. If 100 Good Wishes is good for a kid, how good must 125 be? Or 150? Or 200? You can visit the blog for instructions on how to contribute. We want squishes from everyone, but it would be really awesome to get some more from people with kids from Shanxi province, with birthmarks, glaucoma, any special need, or GWCA families. All squishes are insanely appreciated.

Thanks!

Day 7 after treatment...

Cutie pie

Left leg.

Right leg.

Reese went back to school on Tuesday. She got her pants all messy at lunch so they had to put her in her spare outfit- which was a dress. She walked around most of the day, hiking up her skirt and showing off her spots.

I'd say most of her spots on her face are fading out. Her legs still look pretty bad, but the blisters are healing now. The spots where they've fallen off are a neon pink. It's kind of funny. Down side is: they now itch.

Day 5 post

After putting on her sandals...

Her legs today.

She's more than willing to let people take pictures of her legs.

Showing off her sandals...which I didn't quite get in the picture...

We've figured out what the blisters are, even if we're not sure why there's so many of them. Reese was playing on Mom's legs last night and brushed one pretty hard against her toe nail. And it popped. And put out blood. They're blood blisters. Which are usually called by being pinched really hard or some other similar trauma. I didn't know they happened with burns, which is what this is bound to be similar to.

Some of the blisters are beginning to shrivel a bit, and they seem to be easier to pop. Some of her normal spots are beginning to fade already, mostly on her feet and her face. Her personality is fine, although she is whiny, but I think a lot of that is her being left at home with me, instead of being in school or with Mama and Daddy. A little over an hour and half and I'm putting her down for a nap, seeing as I have to leave at 3:30 for work, and she tends to sleep for about 2 hours or so.

Day 4

Trying on slippers at Wal-Mart

She had to touch EVERYTHING!

Helping Dad push the buggy.

Wearing Dad's old go-kart helmet.

Peek-a-boo!

Day 4 leaves us with still-bad blisters, although not quite as much pain it seems. I'll post an update pic on the blisters tomorrow. She's acting like herself, and tried to get in the car on her own when we told her we (Mom and I) were going to Wal-Mart without her. So we gave in, dressed her in long pants (THOSE would have been fun questions, I'm sure), and went to Wal-Mart- with her and Dad.

We're going to start using just normal Tylenol tomorrow, with Tylenol 3 at bed. Kiddo is staying home with me tomorrow, until I have to go to work at 4, when we're probably going to have to drag Grandma down her to watch her for a little bit until Mom and Dad get home (shouldn't be long). Or something. Tuesday, we're planning on sending her back to school.

Less than 28 days 'til Reese's 3rd birthday. It's on the 8th of October. My gosh, she's going to be 3.

And you thought the last posts made you go 'ouch!'...

In these pictures, you can actually see how bumpy/blistered her legs are.

Not blistered, thank God.

Even spotted, she's still wearing that cheesy grin.

Loving on Rita.

Showing off her "tattoo". She wanted one like Daddy has, so Mom drew her one.

Jie Jie and Mei Mei (big sis and little sis)

Day 3.

Reese is pretty much back to her old goofy self. But her legs are a different story. They are mini mountain ranges, they are that bumpy. And blistery. Some of the spots have, in their blistery-ness, have merged to make big blisters, at least on her left leg. There's about 3 of them there. Her other leg is blistered, but they're little blisters and don't look quite so...painful.

I guess the really funny this is, she was more than willing to show off her spots. Once Mom showed them to me once to take pictures of, Reese wanted to show them to me again and I HAD to take pictures. She really plays it up for our adoring public- every if she doesn't know she has adoring public. :)