Staying Strong Through Transition

These last few days with Lucy has been such a growing time for our family.  Landry has been such an amazing big brother!  He hugs Lucy when she cries, shares his toys and food and even shows her how to run and climb.  We are so grateful to have Landry here helping Lucy along in her transition.  As a couple, we have become stronger relying more on each other to watch over the kids and trusting that the other will support when emotions are too much at times.  There have been many tears, laughs and smiles.  But, Lucy's transition has not been all positive, we've had some challenges and I pray that she will become more trusting of her new family with time.

Lucy's transition has been somewhat bumpy and we've come to some conclusions about her life up until now from some of her actions in the past four days. I'm not sure if you can tell, but Lucy is very small, smaller than expected, she probably weighs around 14 or 15 pounds.  I was shocked when they handed her to me because they had told me she weighed 17 pounds in July.  They told us at the orphanage that she wasn't really a drinker - and we have tried many ways to get her to take formula - a cup, a bottle, a sippy, a water bottle, a spoon - but the girl doesn't like to drink.  She seems traumatized when I even bring anything to her mouth.  So, when recalling all of those reports saying that she drank bottles every four hours, I'm guessing that she was given bottles in her crib every four hours, and they stayed full. And her belly stayed empty. She was starving.  She didn't get much solid food in the orphanage, and they just started giving her solids a couple months ago. She has a small mouth, so she is a slow eater, I think they probably cleared her tray before she was full on most days.  Thus, we've been leaving out food, and giving her food all the time.  She is taking it and enjoying it.  It is like she cannot get full! She has to carry food in her hands at all times and it just breaks my heart to think that she spent the first year and a half of her life not knowing when she would get her next meal.  We love seeing a little belly after she's eaten more than we have at breakfast.

Another thing that we've noticed is that she might have been secluded to her crib for long periods at a time.  She is always on the move and getting into things because she is very curious.  I can see this being somewhat of an annoyance for her nannies.  They had 20 children to look after and they probably wanted to keep her contained.  This containment has affected Lucy's hips and possibly her left leg.  Please keep her in your prayers because we have noticed that her left leg turns out and her hips are not even.  We did not get this information in any of our reports and when we asked about it yesterday, the orphanage said that they thought she walked with a limp because she was just learning.  We agree that she might have been bundled too tight and placed in a confined spot when she was smaller which led to weakness in her leg.  We are keeping positive, but it has been very emotional finding out that there is something that was left out of our paperwork and out of her file.  She doesn't seem to be in pain, nor does she let it stop her.  She has been seen running down the hallway with Landry - she is just a little wobbly.

Because of this seclusion in her crib, she hates it.  She doesn't even want to look at her crib. If we put her in it, she moans and cries.  It is so sad.  In the evening, when we turn out the lights to go to bed, her cry is similar.  Even if she is in bed with us, she lays down, closes her eyes and whines for about an hour and a half before falling asleep sucking her thumb.  As she cries, she tries to soothe herself by scratching.  On gotcha day, we were convinced that she had scabies.  But now we know that while alone in her crib for all those months, it was her way to make herself feel comfortable.  We've kept long pants and onesies on her, it keeps her scratching away from her skin.  We hope for her to know that through time, our love will be enough and she will no longer have to self soothe.   Great strides have been made through her bravery in the last four days...we know that she will turn a corner soon and be able to fall asleep without crying.

On a more positive note, we've seen her smile and respond to her name more as the days go by.  She is bringing our family closer together as we all show her love in different ways.  Landry woke up this morning and climbed in bed with us and began patting her back when she cried.  She has said "mama" and "dada" and she is quite a character.  She took off running down the hallway yesterday and then fell down and started rolling like a log.  It cracked us up.  She claps when she's accomplished something and she loves to sing and dance - especially to Phish music! Fits in perfect with this family.  She loves baths and the pool.  Her and Landry splash and giggle.  She has amazing hand eye coordination and is able to place straws and small items in small holes.  Her eyes are wise and she is a fighter.  We know she will get through this transition and hope that we continue to be strong for her.

In the last report we received from the orphanage, it said that Lucy was very brave.  We've seen this courage and continue to encourage her strength as she makes great strides everyday!