4 Days

It's been 4 days since we got back to the States. We're all still trying to kick this jet lag. OmoMaya seems to be doing ok with it. I think the fact that this kid can sleep anywhere, anytime has really helped things. Julia on the other hand, not so good. She's up from about 1-5am nightly, well, daily. Dave and I are still just so exhausted but I think once we get Julia back on track, things will be much better.

Little OmoMaya is adjusting well. She had her first Dr's appointment today. The poor thing got jabbed 3 times with a needle. She was a mess. The Dr wanted to check her prior immunizations/vaccinations so that required quite a bit of blood. She also got a needle in the forearm checking her TB status. Her paperwork states that she has been vaccinated against TB but everything is double checked when it comes to International Adoption. The Dr said that with some countries like Russia, they automatically re-vaccinate. He wasn't so certain about Thailand. Nobody seems to have a clear cut process on Thailand as it seems to be an obscure place to adopt from, maybe I should say was an obscure place to adopt from. With all of the delays in China, Hague Convention issues with Guatemala and possible shut down in Vietnam, adoptions through Thailand have hit an all time high.

Anyway, the blood work was a nightmare. The phlebotomist had the hardest time trying to find her vein. She stuck the needle in, found the vein but then lost it. At this point, Maya had lost it too. I was holding her on my lap and another nurse was holding her arm, while the 2nd nurse tried to find the vein. After about 40 seconds of the nurse digging around, the nurse started panicking, literally panicking. Her hands started shaking and I mean shaking! I have never seen anything like that before. I know she felt bad but come on Lady! I'm thinking to myself, "Get yourself together would you!" The scene from Airplane where they all get in line to "calm" the woman freaking out came to mind. Sheesh. After still no luck on the right arm, she pulls out the needle and says she wants to try the other arm. Thank God for little OmoMaya that this vein was a nurse's dream. They had to get 5 vials of blood so this wasn't a walk in the park. After a minute, she was done. Phew. Little Maya walked out the door with so many bandages it had looked like she was beaten!

Overall, the pediatrician said she looked great. She does have excema on her face and a little on her neck. She has a little bit of fluid in one ear but it could be because of the bronchitis she was getting over in Bangkok. The only other thing she had was wax build up in her other ear. The Dr prescribed a some drops to clear that up. When we were in Bangkok, Maya sounded pretty rough. Her lungs were full of congestion. You could actually hear her lungs cracking. Dave and I were pretty concerned about this, not only for her health but also for her exposure to Julia. We tried to do our best to keep the separate, including separate toys. Our Agency rep got us some antibiotics to clear it up in case it was viral. Some thing worked because the Dr said her lungs sounded great. He even said there was no need to keep the girls apart. Good stuff.

The Dr's main concern was Tuberculosis. Maya was vaccinated against TB as a baby as Thailand is a country that sees their fair share of TB cases. As a precaution, regardless of prior vaccinations, they test all international adoptees. Maya got the TB test on her forearm. I always remembered getting a tine test as a kid, you know with the 4 prongs? Maya didn't get that. She got a needle injected directly under the skin of her forearm. Anyway, we go back on Friday to check the results. We also have to bring some stool samples to check for parasites. Fun fun. heh.

The Dr made an interesting comment. He said that she 'looked' smart. I never knew you could see smart. He said that she had bright eyes and he could tell that she was smart by the way she was taking things in. Who knows if there's any validity to that comment but hey, as a proud parent we'll gladly accept that compliment.

Maya is transitioning well. She starting to become a lot more at ease. She doesn't scream when getting into her car seat anymore but now just whimpers. Hey, progress is progress. She is coming around to Dave a lot more but still no hugs. He's been able to interact with her more so this is really great news. Dave's latest thing is bribing her for kisses. It's very sweet. She loves potato chips and whenever Dave's eating them, which is pretty often because he loves potato chips even more, Maya wants some. She will look at me and point and I tell her to ask Daddy. She will then walk over to Dave and point. He then asks for a kiss on the cheek . The first few times she would balk at him. Here, lately, she has been putting her cheek up to his. It's so cute! It's getting better with those two. This morning Dave got her out of her crib. She screamed big time but then calmed quickly when she saw me. We were giving her her space with not too much change so now we're thinking we may try to just force the issue a bit, a tiny bit. Nothing too drastic or anything but Dave may start getting her out her crib.

Maya has also started to come around more with Julia. She is still very jealous of Julia when I carry her but it's getting better. I'm still worried about trying to put Julia down for naps when Dave goes back to work. Dave has been putting Julia down for almost all of the naps so this hasn't been too much of an issue. I did try once yesterday to put Julia down. Because Maya panics if I leave the room so I may have to try to put Julia down with her in the room. The downside is then Maya cries because I'm holding Julia. Patience right?

Maya did the sweetest thing last night. Julia was in her high chair and dropped her toy. Maya bent down, picked it up and put it on her highchair tray. It was cute. A few minutes after that, I had stepped outside just for a second to go feed the dog. When I came in, Julia had 4 toys on her tray. Maya had actually put 2 of her own toys on Julia's tray. Very cute.

Maya has become more curious about the dog. She's not as fearful of him so this is a good thing. He has come very close to her and she froze just like a popcicle! But, hey she didn't cry! Progress!

Overall, she seems to be getting a lot more comfortable in her new home and her new family. She's a very inquisitive little girl and we can literally see her try to soak everything in. Her eating habits are still going pretty good. We've been trying to feed her a ton of variety and she seems to be pretty accepting. So far our little girl is quite the international eater. She's already had Thai, of course, Chinese, Mexican, Japanese and Italian. The only thing that she wasn't too fond of was applesauce. Strange because yesterday Dave gave her apples and she loved them. We just chalked it up to Toddlerhood and we'll try it again.