Tarzan Soundtrack - You'll be in my heart by Phil Collins

We're one month from our gotcha day anniversary...how time has flown and how Reese has grown. This song has always reminded us of Reese. She has really soared...

REESE IS 4!!!!! I can't believe my baby is growing up before my eyes. She is definitely not the same little girl we brought home 10 months ago! We had a fun little party with her cousins, aunts and uncles, and Ama and Poppy. She celebrated with a birthday cookie. She also had a party at school the day before with a "birthday melon". She's not a cake fan. She graduated to the 4-5 year old class at church too. Too much for me to take in! Only 5 weeks left in the school year and then summer school for Reese and camp and softball for Kendall. Just when you think you can relax....

Easter has come and gone and spring is finally starting to arrive. The daffodils are popping up and the girls are able to play outside now and then. Reese has received her Baja hearing aids and is really liking it. She can do so much more with the Baja without it falling off like her other one did. She is wearing it on a sort of headband until she has her titanium screws placed. She yells "don't toucha my hearing aid!" if anyone tries to adjust it. The ENT looked at her CT scan and noted that she has huge hollow spaces behind her ear. If he were to try to open the ear canal she would have a gaping hole inside her head. So all the more reason for us to just do the Baja and not worry about the cosmetic part of her ears. She is a fiesty little boogger - she will deal well with anyone that decides to "comment" on her ears. The office is in the process of setting up her surgery and getting the ok from the insurances. They are able to do the two - tonsils and Baja screws - together. The surgery will last about 3.5 hours. Hopefully it is before summer so that it doesn't interfere with her love of swimming!
Enjoy the Easter pictures!

Here is the latest medical update....We saw Dr. Daniels a few weeks ago - ENT - and he gave us 3 options. #1 - we can leave Reese's ears as they are. #2 - we can have prosthetic ears made for her which would look fairly real but would have to be redone every couple years because of fading, etc. and would be screwed into her head. #3 - we can have cosmetic surgery done in which cartilage would be taken from her ribs and skin grafts from her inner arm with a minimum of 10 surgeries to remake her ears. With all three of these options she would still most likely need a hearing aid. The aid that they would use would be a Baja. It has small titanium screws that go into her head right behind her ears. The hearing aid then just snaps on to the screws. This is far better than the one she has because it is bilateral. After much consideration and wisdom from Kendall - "Dear Jesus, help us to remember that you made Reese's ears like they are for a reason" - we have decided to leave her ears as they are, since she is a girl and can wear her hair down, and get the Baja. Reese had a CT scan done this past Thursday to determine the thickness of her skull and to check out her inner ears. Our next step is to have the screws put in. The doctor also wants to remove her tonsils and adenoids. she is a very restless sleeper and has a very narrow throat. He thinks she will breathe much better if we do the surgery. So, hopefully they can do the 2 surgeries together!
On a different note, we were able able to go to a Chinese New Year Gala last night. It brought back a lot of memories of China. There was singing, dancing, martial arts and acting. The girls loved it. Here are some pictures of the girls all dressed up for the Gala.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Reese now knows what presents are all about. When she was given her first present she set it down next to her, still wrapped, and said thank you.( with out opening it) she had no clue what to do with it. That is no longer the case. But she gets just as much pleasure out of watching others open their gifts as she does her own.
Her teacher and the parents of the others in her class are a little surprised at how smart she is. she is always asking what letters are and wants to know how to write everyone's name. She can identify the letters in her name and mom's and tell you what they say!! Smart little kid!
God bless this little girl and we thank Him so much for putting her into our world. I cannot believe she has been here for 6 months already - even though it feels like she has been here forever!

LET IT SNOW!!
Now mommy may not be too fond of snow but the girls sure don't mind it. Reese didn't know quite what to expect at first. Every step she took to the bus she would shake the snow off of her boots. Now she thinks it is great. She played outside yesterday with Kendall and came in saying "ow, face hurts!" It was bright red and wet - it was about 20 degrees outside. Then she turned around and went right back out!
Enjoy the pictures!!

Ok, I had to throw a little Halloween diddy on here. Reese loved trick or treating with her sister, dad, grandpa and cousins. It rained but they didn't care. They had a riot.