It's final :)

This morning I handed over our last set of update photos to our case worker at our fourth and final post placement home visit. We are now officially done with the adoption process that started almost three years ago. I know Olivia has been ours since the day we adopted her, but somehow it seems even more final today, now that our case is being closed. Not that I thought we'd "fail" the home visits or that she'd be taken from us, but it's still kind of freeing to know that we've successfully completed a long and drawn out process. Olivia is really and truly OURS :) And we're a forever family. Just typing that make me choke up a bit. Sentimental, happy tears.

P.S.
We won't be out celebrating because now that Olivia is healthy again, Emily is taking another turn at being sick! Last time she had a stomach ailment...this time it's a sore throat with a slight fever. She's still in her PJs and is asleep on the couch as I type. I'm really ready for nice warm spring weather, but I think we're supposed to get snow again. Will this long winter ever end??

Riding the bus to preschool!

Thursday I took Olivia to her first day at her new preschool (M-Th afternoons) and today she began riding the bus! Here you can see her eating her beloved noodles for lunch before heading off to school. She's almost finished with her 10-day protocol of antibiotics and I'm happy to report that her nasty cough and pneumonia are history :)

P.S.
If you look closely, you can see Olivia's lovely clip-on plastic "diamond" earrings that really dress up her preschool attire. I had to cut her off with the multiple hair accessories, but let the earrings slide. She is a princess after all and has certain standards which must be upheld, right?

Improving...and new preschool

P.P.S. (added at 6:30 pm) Earlier I tried to take Olivia's pic/video, but she was in an ornery mood. After a long nap, she woke up energized and more like her old self. Here's the spunky girl we know and love:








P.S.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention...one year ago today, March 11, we arrived home from China! Olivia has now been a US citizen for one whole year :)

The antibiotics that we started on Friday did help to perk Olivia up, but five days after our trip to the doctor, she's still not yet fully back to old self. She's been falling asleep for at least two long naps during the day and asking for bed at night, both highly unusual for her. However, she's not nearly as lifeless as she was on Friday, just taking a while to get back to full speed. I knew she was on the mend when she started having an interest in eating, drinking and changing into dance leotards!

She hasn't been to preschool in nearly two weeks, but I'm hoping she'll be raring to go on Thursday. She'll actually be going to a new school, Emily's old one that is part of our school district. I'd hoped that if we got her in this spring they'd be willing to let her stay on in the fall vs. kindergarten, but it looks like they're going to be sticklers about her birth date (inaccurate as it may be)--five-year olds must move on to kindergarten. I wasn't too surprised since we were up against this same policy when we wanted to give Emily the benefit of an extra year before kindergarten... Here we go again. Not sure yet what we'll do in the fall now that that option has been officially ruled out.

A turn for the worse :(

Instead of getting better, today Olivia seemed to be much worse. She was very lethargic, barely opening her eyes or speaking, wouldn't eat, wouldn't sit up and had no interest in her favorite TV shows. Her cough sounded worse and all she wanted to do was sleep. The final straw was when I saw that her temperature was 103. I started to wonder if she had pneumonia and took her in to to see the pediatrician. After the doctor repeatedly said in a very sober tone, "she's a very, very sick little girl," I started to get really worried. So, when the chest x-rays confirmed pneumonia, I was actually kind of relieved. At least that is treatable with antibiotics. Much to Olivia's dismay, because she was so sick, she got a jump start with her antibiotics injected right into her poor rear end. Then, she'll be on an oral antibiotic for ten days. The Doctor said she should be a "whole new girl" by Sunday :)

I'm also trying to push the fluids to prevent dehydration, but she's not too interested. She has had one popsicle though. Hopefully we'll start to see the old Olivia again soon!

Sick

Emily was sick last week...and now it's Olivia's turn :( She has not been herself for the last several days as the fever comes and goes...and comes again. Yesterday I thought she was finally on the mend, but the fever was back again today. She's been camped out on the couch a lot and feeling miserable. We're really hoping that she starts to feel better soon. We are also hoping that Andy and I stay healthy!!

It hasn't been a very photogenic week so I have no new pix to post :( Hopefully soon...