8 months home.

There's so much to post about! 

I hope I can remember it all! 

Here's a few pictures of firsts! 

First pumpkin harvest. 

First Halloween, 

We've had a few good changes. 

He was blessed in our Church and will be known as Oliver ChuSheng Atwood on the records! 

It was a very special day for our family! Lilly and cousin Millie were baptized too. 

I'm happy to report that Chu doesn't throw food as much. Yay for mommy! 

Lydia had a birthday so now they are both 3. 

Together Chu and Lydia keep this momma busy. Every time I turn around there's a new mess. These two are partners in crime. ;) AND they are both climbers. 

Yup, that's a sippy cup! Ingenuity, right? 

What one doesn't think of the other does. There's lots and lots of giggles at our house. 

These two have such a cute little bond now that it's hard to believe the first 3 months they did NOT like each other! 

Sometimes, momma feels left out. ;) 

Common guysss...someone give the momma a snuggle! 

This will do. 

Lately, Chu has been telling me, "I da baby" He loves to snuggle. He has the sweetest giggle when I tell him "momma's baby, your mine."

Yes, he's that tiny. Those are 12 month Jammie's! 

But he is growing. 

At our Big November appointment we met with quite a few different doctors. 

First he was weighed and measured! 

He weighs 21 pounds! 

He's 28 inches tall! 

(The day we met our boy he was 13 pounds and 25 inches. )

Left-in the orphanage. Right- Halloween night. 

Then, we met with the speech therapist. 

I should tell you, we are currently in a language rush.  I think Chu is trying his hardest to catch up with Lydia because is he quite a jabber box lately. 

Chu is trying so hard to carry on conversations. The problem is, he thinks telling Lydia "no" or tattling on her is a great conversation. Haha... Little stink. 

About three times a day I have to say, "Chu, quit telling Meim, No!"

(Chu has shortened Mei Mei (little sister) to meim) 

The speech therapist said Chu is doing so good that he does not need speech therapy.  

Next, we went to hearing test. He failed again. I'm not worried yet. We will get a more in depth test later. 

Finally, it was our big Genetecist appointment. The Genetecist was the nicest, kindest man. I felt like Chu was in capable kind hands. 

Chu's official diagnosis is SED dwarfism. 

Which didn't surprise us. :) 

He's perfect. 

Chu also had his first thanksgiving. 

He approved. :) 

And my goodness! Thank you Heavenly Father for this sweet boy...

What a blessing he is!

Scary words and doctor appointments

We had Oliver Chu's first appointment with a specialist today. 

But...

I think I need to back up and tell you a few things...

Oliver was adopted through China's "special need"program. (A lot of you know this but I know a few don't.)

The phrase "special need" tends to scare people. They think of kids with bigger mental issues, major heart issues, cancer ect... Let me be extremely brief and tell you "special need" CAN be those things. But It can also be really simple things like missing a finger, small weight, born premature, being older then 4 years of age, being born (gasp) a boy. (There's an unnecessary fear here in the US for adopting boys. It really bugs!)

Chu was also considered "Special Focus" which basically means... "They" thought he would have a harder time Finding a family. (Sometimes, files are not special focus at first. Sometimes, files are matched with families. If the families chose not to move forward then a file can become "special focus." In Chu's case, it was probably because he had more then one need. 

The first and very simple need was Pigeon Chest.  Basically, his rib looks like it was broken and healed wrong. This does not affect him, at all! It simply just something you can see. 

As he's gained weight, I've forgotten it was there. I don't even see it. 

The second need... Was his size. 

In Chu's case, he was "labeled" with dwarfism.  I say "labeled" because I really don't think their were any tests done and HELLO! He was only 13 pounds! Did they feed him? NO!

I may sound bitter and I am about the starving. But that label! I'm so thankful for that label!!! 

Do you remember the post about the word I woke up with in my head?  Here's the post if you don't. 

http://sweetremininiscence.blogspot.com/2014/03/let-adventure-begin.html?m=1

That word was DWARFISM! That word guided us to our son! 

Dwarfism.

 It's another word that scares people. I don't understand this. I really don't. People with dwarfism are just shorter people. That's it!  Hmmm... A person that's short. 

A little person.  

Guess what?! That's me! So again, Chu takes after momma. :) 

I have another beatiful story about dwarfism that I will tell in another post. 

(And sense were on the subject Quit using the word "Midget" it's very doragatory! It's a true scary word! Little people cringe at this word because it was a circus word.) 

I'm going to be really frank!  WE DO NOT CARE IF CHU HAS DWARFISM. Really! He will live a full and happy life either way! 

So back to the Dr. Appointment.

This was NOT a geneticist. This was a "special need" specialist from Primary Children's hospital.  

(I think it's so cool that he drove all that way to help children out here!)

We don't have difinitive answers on whether Chu is a Little Person. More tests on that are coming. (Thyroid and others) 

Honestly, he's going to be little anyways. Even if he doesn't have the typical dwarfism he most likely will have a secondary form of dwarfism from Malnourishment. 

We are also doing a bone age to see what age his bones are. 

But here's what we do know... 

His heart, lungs, and overall health is good! 

There is some slight concern with hearing. He was a bit low in high frequency noises. This could be caused by cold or allergies. So We will be going back in a few months to check again. 

His weight had "plateaued" at 19 pounds. Two happy reasons for this- 

1. He's moving! He's moved more in the last few months then his whole three years of life! (Stuck in a crib 20+ hours a day!) 

2. He's not gaining because his body has been fixing things! 

I'm not exaggerating!!!

•His belly button use to stick out 1/2 inch. I measured it. Its still an outy but it's fairly flat. 

•His front right tooth use to be almost horizontal to the floor. It was pretty bad. 

I thought it was from this finger but he still sucks on his finger and That tooth is straight down!  I can't help but be amazed at what good nutrician can do! 

•Last but not least, he's grown an inch in the last two months! (This is the first of any growth we've seen!  He's 27 inches tall! 

Chu's file was made August 2012 he was 24 inches long. He was 26 inches long the day we got him. So he had only grown 2 inches in 2 years. 

So that inch in two months is huge!

The doctor said,

"I charted Oliver's weight and height. Oliver is currently in the 50% for a 9 month old maybe a few 10 month babies." 

He's still so tiny. This was taken a few days ago. 

But look at where we came from! 

Thighs that I could wrap my short fingers around and touch.  

These pictures really don't show how small he was. His skin has a false chubby appearance. 

It's like a sharpet puppy. Like his skin grew but his bones and muscles didn't. 

See his left arm? Blow it up and really look. That's how big his arms really were. Absolutely no muscle and fat just That weird skin thing... So crazy...

And look how big his head was to his body. Poor baby... 

 One inch is big on him! 

It was a good appointment. 

Thanks so much for prayers. 

By the way... 

The nurses all pronounced him

"The cutest thing ever!" 

I might be a touch prejudice, just a touch, ;) but I agree!