"Let me see the wedder!"

"See the weather?"

"Let me see the wedder (weather)!", Reese proclaims every time she sees a map, be it global or just North America. Weather=map, more than it actually does weather.

Last night on the way to dance class, Mom was reading the newspaper, and Reese saw "the weather". She wanted to see it. Mom handed her that part of the paper, and she began intently "reading" it, a.k.a. staring at it intently. It was so cute, I just had to take a picture or two. The reason the sky looks so dark outside the car is because we got thunderstorms last night. And, yes, those are ducky pajamas. We let her wear them to dance.

Also, I just have to mention this. I don't know that Michelle will go back and read back when she finally gets back to a constant computer in April, but I'm going to mention it anyway. Reese found a tiny shirt in her chest of drawers the other day, and Mom told her it was a baby's shirt, for babies. Reese promptly took off with it, under protest from Mom, to show Dad, where she proclaimed: "This shirt for baby Jonathan, because he's little." I think she thinks about Jonathan quite a bit. It's sweet.

Do you have room for one more?

I don't often feel the need to advocate for waiting children, let alone for children not from China. But for some reason, this girl touched me.

Her name is Hanna, and she's 15 years old. Just a bit younger than myself. She's from Eastern Europe, Ukraine, I believe. She's for adoption through Adoption Associates, Inc.. According to the page, all of her siblings have been adopted, a few to the U.S.A. Come 2009, when this girl will just be 16, less than I am now, she'll be turned out into the world, away from the orphanage, with no where to go, no one to go to. She has no family in her country. All I could think of as I read that was: what if someone turned me out of my home right now, with next to nothing, probably little education, away from everything I've ever known? Into a world with no one very familiar?

The prospect of going to college scares me, and I'll be able to drive home and come see my family whenever I want. This girl will have no one, but herself, and whatever skills she's developed over the years. No where to go to. It's a horrible thought that any person, particularly a child or teenager, should ever be alone in this world.

So, I ask: Do you have room for one more? Particularly for a much older, but healthy, child?

Something Else

That's what Reese is- something else. On Saturday night, she curled up on one of our couches to watch Blue's Clues and Oswald and Little Bill. She grabbed Mom's blanket and a plush TY panda off of the floor. To my surprise, the panda went under her head as a makeshift pillow. Not what I expected, but when is Reese ever right at expectations. She always has to blow what you thought she would do to little smithereens. But , she's part of the family so that really shocks no one.

Reese also has a fascination with the vacuum cleaner. Which is just as well because me and my cat, Chen Le, are highly aversive to the thing. Outside of concerts, I have issues with anything that makes me unable to hear what's going on around me. Paranoid, yes, but as I say, better paranoid than dead. Or it may be the fact that until a week ago, I thought one of the 5 Georges I had when I was in the 1st grade and under (hamsters, all with tan heads and butts and white belly stripe through the middle, all named George...they're cute, hamsters, I'd kinda like another, but I have 3 cats...and, yeah...) got sucked up into a vacuum cleaner. Turns out this was a hoax Mom didn't think I remembered to cover up the fact George had just died as opposed to being suicidal. Chen Le, well, when Chen Le was less than 6 weeks old and known by a different name, I just don't remember which, Mom decided to vacuum up the litter in the bathroom where Mama Cat, Demi, and her four kittens lived. Demi didn't agree with this, and proceeded to remove all 4 kittens, one by one, from the bathroom into the living room, where she deemed them "safe". I'm still trying to figure out how we got her back in there... But, to this day, Chen Le gets wide-eyed and panicked-looking when the vacuum flips on.

But, I get off-track. Reese loves the vacuum, has since day 1. And then, the vacuum was even more bigger than her than it is now. At some point in the last few months, Mom decided to get another vacuum. So now we have a stand-up and push one, and one that trails behind you. The new one, the one that follows you, was picked by Reese because "it's purple". *shrug* Okay. Well, Sunday, I guess it was, we let Reese play with the vacuum in the kitchen. I barely know how to turn it on, and only learned that a couple of weeks ago, and Reese, well, she figured out how to remove the plastic chamber that replaces the bags some other models have (including our other vacuum). She also got it back in with no help.

At least Mom will have one kid whose a domestic diva outside of sewing/quilting and cooking.

SNOW!! (Day 5)

"Look, sissy! It's snowing!"

"Isn't this fun?"

"I'm not cold. I don't want to go in."

"Look at the snow on my mitten!"

We got snow today. I figure Reese has seen snow before, seeing as she's from Shanxi, up north in China. I don't know if she really got to play in it though, as polluted as every thing was there in winter. So I dressed her up and took her outside for a while. She ran around and walked in the snow, touched it every now and then, and took it all in. We could only find one mitten, and none of her clothes were waterproof, but, darn, they were warm.

But I'm going to Colorado this summer, maybe we can find some waterproof, warm clothes for next year...and for me, too. I had on faux suede boots, pj bottoms, a long sleeve t-shirt, a faux suede, faux fur jacket and beanie. And my camera. :) So, some warmer, drier clothes would be awesome. And I figure they're on sale in the middle of June.

Her spots are fading out; her leg is healing. A bit scabbed, but not bad. It's all fading out well, in my opinion. It doesn't seem to hurt her much, unless you're too rough with her leg.

Airport, also Day 3

We went to the airport last night to meet some friends coming home from China: Paula, and her travel companions, her 4 year old daughter, Shae, and, friend, Kim, and the new arrival, Ben. Well, the flight went awry and got canceled. You can read more details on her blog, linked to above. They should be getting home this evening, via Memphis and Paula's husband. We'll get to see Ben at a later time.

Reese still has no blisters, and the spots around her eye are fading out.

We're bracing here for icky winter weather. They're calling for 2"-4" here in Central Arkansas. It's already sleeting and snowing in Conway and Russellville. They're saying some places may get up to a foot of snow. Kind of weird to think about when the last time I saw a thermometer today it said 52*.

Happy St. Patrick's Day- Early

I stole this from Stacey. I take Irish dance...that's why I get to be the guy...LOL.

Don't send a lame St. Patrick's Day eCard. Try JibJab Sendables!

No Blisters! (Day 2)

Reese and I are home together. As opposed to last time on day 2, there are no blisters. We're keeping her on the pain meds for a while though, so it doesn't start hurting her. Her eye is still swollen. It looks awful in the pictures, but it's not quite that bad. Her eye always squints when she smiles. It get mega-exaggerated since it's swollen.

Right now, she's laying on the couch watching "Ni Hao, Kai-Lan!", a children's show I LOVE. I'd watch it on my own. It's uber cute. I never hear Reese say "ni hao!" except for at the beginning of this show. It's a really cute show. You should check it out.

Artsy Picture

I played with this picture for a while. The look on Reese's face just struck me and I knew I had to do something with it. Had to make her stick out more. So that's what I did.

Reese just has one of those faces, I think, where, when she strongly feels something, you have to feel it with her. Her ability to share those emotions is a strength of hers, in my opinion.

Love you, baby girl.

Day 1 of March Laser

Mom goofing off and doing "antlers".

Showing off the fact she's wearing one of my night shirts (we later changed to a pj top of mine instead of a nightgown).

Her right leg (the lasered one) today. Hopefully no blisters will develop.

Reese had her laser today. Thanks to pain meds, I suppose, she's acting happier and much more normal. Her eye is still swollen, but it's not as bad as it was right after the procedure. It looks awful in the pictures, but she tends to completely close that eye when she smiles big, so it's kind of exaggerated. She's goofing off now, and only every now and then says something hurts, usually if she bumps a spot. She has to lean on the other leg to go potty because it hurts to put some 30 lbs of pressure on that leg. Her face doesn't appear to be bothering her. She's a bit more tired than usual thanks to the pain meds, but overall okay. You can see pictures from last time here in the early September posts.

She's staying home with me tomorrow and Wednesday. She has to go to school at least a bit Thursday because I have a doctors appointment that I can't take her to. She may be good enough to go the full day Thursday and go Friday. We'll see how it goes. Pray for us, as this will be something of a tough time for all involved.

Laser Treatment and EUA

Getting on the bed (I let her borrow my fox, Kyuubi, for the procedure. She's fond of him and knows he's mine, so there's no risk of her absconding it. It's a special treat when I let her, more or less, have her way with him.) for eye drops.

Getting all kinds of drops put in for her EUA

Looking for the truck out the window after getting ready.

Mom in her "chicken house quality control" outfit. Kidding. It's what she had to wear back to the O.R. Reese didn't like it. She wanted Mommy out of it.

Chugging apple juice afterwards...

Reese had her 7th laser on her face and the 2nd on her right leg today.

We actually got in early. We were scheduled to be there at 10:45 for a 12:45 procedure, but at about 9 am, as Mom and Dad were trying to get Reese to drink her sippy cup of apple juice (and I was trying to salvage a few more minutes of sleep), ACH called and said they had a cancellation, could we come in. We said OF COURSE!, stopped trying to get her to drink, Mom and I flew into clothes, put Reese in her footsie pjs (which she LOVES) and off we went. We were there by 9:30. She went back about the same time we were supposed to get there originally. We were gone by 1:30.

We were planning on only doing one leg, and doing the other next time, but her left leg, due to the blistering last time, hyper-pigmented, turning it more of a brown shade. The pulsed-dye laser doesn't work really on darker skin because the darker pigment absorbs some of the energy. So, unless her birthmark goes back to red/pink at some point, there's not a whole lot we can do on that left leg. Dr. Buckmiller says it may even start to fade on it's own. It's kind of a toss-up.

We did find out today her birthmark should not have blistered that badly last time(go back to September to see). Dr. B said her jaw was on the floor when she saw the pictures. She had never seen anyone react that badly. They turned down the laser for her legs and turned it up some for her face. They're trying to get the facial laser as high as they can without her blistering, so it will break up more each time.

They didn't use the Versed (goofy juice) on her today, because she had a bad reaction to it last time. So Mom went back to the O.R. with her. Mom stayed with her until she passed out, stayed a few more minutes, then left. Mom held Reese in her lap while she took the gas. She kept knocking it loose, and Mom said, laughingly, later that she was worried she'd pass out and Reese wouldn't. LOL.

The opthalmologist, Dr. Lowery, said her pressure was perfect. The drops are doing what they're supposed to, and the bleb is draining the pressure like it's supposed. The bleb is from a glaucoma surgery she had in China when drops stopped controlling the pressure.

We go back in approximately 4 months.

We've been having "eye school" with eye patches lately. We have to teach that glaucoma eye to see as much as it will be able to. Her vision is focused in that left eye, understandably, so the right eye is weak, due to lack of use, for lack of better terms. So we're trying to train it to see as best as it is able. We can't reverse the damage done by high intra-ocular pressure, but we can try to salvage as much as we can. If anyone knows of a place we can buy some pretty eye patches, that would be awesome. I've heard about them, but no one knows where to get them. It'd probably make things easier, since they'd be pretty.