Waiting Children on My Mind

I can't help but continue to look at pictures of children who are still waiting for their families to find them. I am drawn to so many of them, but there is no way we have the resources right now to adopt again. They pull at my heart, though, so I thought I would share right here some of the sweet faces that call to me in hopes that their families find them!

  Roxie is an adorable little girl who is 4 years old. She has Down syndrome, with no known heart issues. Roxie is healthy, outgoing, lovable, very social, and happy. This sweet little girl loves to play with the other children. She is speaking (simple words), and her motor skills are good. Roxie is ready for her family to come and bring her home!

I mean, seriously though. Look at that face!! She is perfection! Roxie is in China. To learn more about her, click here! **UPDATE! A fantastic family has committed to Roxie!!

This handsome boy likes to giggle when he plays. Yule is an outgoing little guy who likes to play with other children and will share his toys. He likes to play with cars and blocks and loves to listen to music. His caretakers describe him as an unforgettable good child and hope he finds a family soon. Are you ready to snuggle or play cars with this sweet little boy?

I have loved "Yule" for so long!! He is just SO darling! He is a four year old little boy with Down syndrome waiting in China. He has quite a sizable grant growing on Reece's Rainbow, too! Click here for more information on Yule! (P.S. I've also seen video of him from his agency. HE'S SO CUTE!!)

Ava enjoys participating in classes and motor activities; she dances, exercises, and draws. She executes given instructions, cooperates in group with her peers, and sometimes plays alone. She uses single words more and more. She is a cheerful, sensitive, and friendly girl; she smiles often. She displays emotions of happiness and sadness. During walks she likes to walk in a pair with someone. In the playground she uses toys, swings, cars, slide and she plays in the sandpit. 

I love this little girl from the bottom of my heart! Seriously! She is so, so beautiful! She is four years old and has Down syndrome and is from an Eastern European country. If you're interested in more information, please email me at whitneybarrus@yahoo.com.

Kent is an adorable baby boy who is just 2 years old! He came into care when he was 4 months old, and they began working with him immediately to strengthen his muscles. Kent has Down syndrome, and a VSD (6mm) with left atrium enlargement. He may require a surgical procedure to plug the ASD. Kent’s development is delayed, as would be expected. When he turned 1 year old, he was not yet sitting alone, or crawling. He will need more time, and attention, before he masters these milestones.

Kent is a precious baby boy. He is very alert, and very engaging. His receptive language is very good, and he is beginning to make sounds to communicate with the nannies. His favorite activity is listening to music and being hugged. I cannot argue with that! Kent needs a family to love him, and help him reach his full potential. This sweet boy is waiting for you!

I love this little face! Kent sounds like such a sweet boy! He has Down syndrome and is in China. To find out more about Kent, click here.

Recently turned two year old, Frankie is diagnosed with Down syndrome. Frankie can sit alone and can crawl. He can imitate adults’ actions, can bang two blocks together, and can stack blocks. Frankie knows his name and reacts when called. His language development is delayed. Basic sign language would be a great option for him at this time. Frankie is outgoing, cute, and lovely. He likes to lie close on people. When there is music playing, he will shake his hands happily and shake his hips. His favorite toys are cars. Frankie is one unforgettable boy!

Last, but certainly not least, Frankie!! I LOVE HIM!! Seriously, someone needs to commit to him before I make a very irrational decision. The problem is...he looks so much like Milo!! It makes me want to go get him ASAP and have twinner brothers ;) That's not going to happen, though, so someone I love needs to get him! To find out more about this darling little love, click here!

There are so, so many waiting children that I love. These are a few that I think about constantly and I'd really love to see them find wonderful forever families. I see the difference it makes for Milo, and I can't help but want that for all these children. I also know how Milo is changing our family for the better, and I know that in reality, WE are the ones that are most blessed for adopting him! Please consider adopting one of these beautiful children; you'll wonder what you ever did without them!

Milo in the Morning

I can't believe it's been so long since I've updated! May...how I loathe thee! Too, too busy! It's worse than December in so many ways! Every child has a school performance, musical instrument performance, dance performance, etc. It never ends! It feels like every night we're booked! I have had so many blog thoughts swirling around in my head, but I've never had a chance to sit down and type it! Here goes...

The best time of day for Milo is the first hour or so after he wakes up in the morning. He is so cute I can't even describe it in words! He's Smilo for sure! He smiles and laughs and is the happiest, cutest kid in the world! I wish I could bottle up the joy! It's hard to get pictures of, though, because he is smiling in response to us, so as soon as the camera's covering my face, the smiles temporarily fade. I really do need to record it somehow, though. They are some of the most precious moments to me!

Since the last blog post, so much has happened with Milo man. For the first few weeks of May, we were insanely busy with doctors appointments. One week we had an appointment every single day. It felt like it would never end! The pulmonologist said we needed to have a sleep study done, so we scheduled one. They didn't have an opening until August. By some miracle, though, they called us on a Wednesday afternoon (May 7th) and said they had an opening for that very night! Quin took Milo and did the sleep study. The results were that he has borderline moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea. We followed up with a new ENT who specializes in children with complex airways. He said Milo needs his tonsils out and airway stretched. To stretch the airway, they make three laser cuts into the airway, then put a balloon in to stretch it. This is quite a dramatic surgery. The tonsils out alone is a lot for an 18 month old to handle. Milo's not a typical 18 month old, either. He's so tiny! They would plan on him spending at least one night in the intensive care unit. The purpose of the surgery would be to help his sleep apnea as well as breathing in general. Remember, his airway is the size of a premature infant. The problem with this surgery is that there was only a 30% success rate with stretching the airway and a 30% chance that the tonsils coming out would actually help the sleep apnea. I left feeling so sad. When Quin and I spoke later that evening, we both agreed that from a breathing standpoint, this would be the correct thing to do. From a whole child standpoint, however, it would be quite detrimental. Milo is just learning to eat well and sleep well and is bonding quite nicely. To do such an invasive surgery that can take weeks to heal from (during which not much eating is done) seemed counterintuitive to all we've been working towards. We spoke with his pediatrician, and he agreed that waiting was the best course of action for now. He said that if he himself had seen Milo for the first time mid-May, he would agree with the ENT. His breathing can be quite alarming with its wheezing and rattling. He had, however, seen Milo since March 20th and knew just how far he'd come in such a short amount of time. With summer on the horizon and no real RSV threat, he felt that if we waited through the summer and Milo kept up his amazing rate of growth, we might even be able to avoid the surgery altogether! I've scheduled a follow-up appointment with the ENT for mid-August to reevaluate. Even if he needs surgery then, Milo will be so much bigger and stronger and well bonded! 

Milo also made a visit to the pediatric ophthalmologist and...he doesn't need glasses for now! Phewf! It was the first medical appointment we'd gone to that didn't require a follow up!

In major physical accomplishment news, MILO'S SITTING UP!!!! He's not sitting up well enough to be left alone playing with toys or anything like that, but he can go a good 30 seconds plus sitting all by himself! He can also reach all the way forward, then pull himself back to sitting or when he starts falling backwards, he corrects himself and sits back up. We are all floored at his progress! I'm telling you, this kid was a puddle of mush when we got him. He didn't even know sitting was a way to be in the world. Now, three months later, he's strong as can be and sitting quite well! I'm so, so proud of him!

Another thing that's changing big time for Milo man is his eye contact. He is 1,000 times more aware of what's going on around him and engaged in life. He makes SO much eye contact now! Don't get me wrong; there are still times when he zones out and is in his own world, but he is leaps and bounds ahead of where he was! Sometimes he'll be making eye contact with me and if I look away, he starts yelling and grabbing my face. He's definitely saying, "HEY! Look at me!!" It absolutely cracks me up! He's now demanding attention! He also smiles in response to our smiles, which is a huge change! He only used to smile when being tickled or just on his own. Now we can elicit smiles by acting silly or smiling at him!!

Milo is so much more a toddler now than a baby. He likes to be on the move. If he's held too long, he wiggles like crazy and is ready to be put down to play! He babbles like crazy! Dadadadada and Mamamamama! He is also now exploring the world. He touches everything and even puts stuff in his mouth! We're still working with Early Intervention to help him grasp things better with his hands, though. His hands aren't very strong and/or he doesn't recognize what his hands are for. It seems crazy to say that he doesn't know what his hands are, because he stares at them SO often, but the Developmental Specialist believes he doesn't know what they can do. I agree. He stares at them, but doesn't know exactly how to use them most of the time. We're working with him on that, and I'm confident it won't be too long until he learns!

Another area of physical change is that for the longest time, he wouldn't put any weight at all on his legs and feet. We've been working hard to help him with that as well and he's starting to bear weight on his legs!!

He's also gained SO much weight! I don't know exactly how much he weighs, but dang it all, he's starting to get so heavy! I love it! I'm so, so proud of him! He continues to eat his homemade formula as well as pureed baby foods. He also is eating foods with more texture and thicker foods as well. He likes mashed potatoes and has even started eating yogurt melts and Gerber Puffs!! He has recently moved from a size 2 diaper to a size 3 and from 3-6 months clothes to 6-12 month clothes. He is such a rock star!

Everyone who meets Milo continues to be smitten. He's such a charmer! Our Developmental Specialist comes every two weeks and is floored every single time by how much he changes! We all are. Being his mother is the most fulfilling and satisfying job I've ever had. Every single accomplishment he makes we all cheer and cry over. My heart is bursting at the seams with love for this little man. He has made our family so, so happy! My oldest daughter comments every day how lucky we are to have him, and I agree. He is the greatest blessing! I cry at least once a day out of sheer joy at how far he's come and how proud I am of him.

There was one particular encounter last week that has left me so uplifted! We had a family reunion dinner, and the cousin of our cousin is a darling 27 year old with Down syndrome. I've known her since she was a baby and I love her so much! She loves babies and asked to hold Milo. She was hilarious at first letting us know this was the first Chinese baby she'd ever held! It quickly turned heartwarming, though, as she said, "Hey, he looks like me!" I was taken off guard, but responded that he indeed looked like her. She then hugged him and kissed him and declared they would be best friends forever! Absolutely, Kelsey! She asked if she could come to his 2nd birthday party. She's already the top on the list! She also was very curious why he needed to be adopted and was saddened to the point of tears that Milo's biological parents couldn't take care of him. She then compared the palms of her hands to the palms of his and pointed out to us that both hers and his have "that one line!" Cutest girl ever! She really loves Milo, and it will be SO fun to watch their relationship grow as Milo does! It was such a touching experience!!

I was invited to be on an international adoption panel for adoption.com a few weeks ago. They interviewed a panel of us for about 6 hours on all topics related to the process of international adoption. I'm excited to see how it turned out and will post here once it's online!

On May 24th, we had the opportunity to take Milo to the temple and have him sealed to us. It was one of the greatest moments of our lives. All our family dressed in white, together in the temple. To read more about what being sealed means, click here. I want to dedicate an entire post to this event and will do so as soon as we get our pictures back from the photographer. I just wanted to mention it here, too!

 

Thanks for continuing to follow along, even when I'm lousy at posting!