ABOUT MINA:

Mina is a precious little girl recently rescued from an orphanage in Eastern Europe who is now finally home with her forever family! She had been without a mother or father to love her & care for her each day. No one to rock her, kiss her gently or tell her she's loved. She is blessed with an extra chromosome known as Down syndrome, which for her that meant a life of being viewed as worthless in the country she was born into & a life without hope. Because of this her parents gave her up at the age of 6 months when they found out the diagnosis & from there her life progressivly went down hill. We are the Gower family residing in OKC who recently adopted this little angel. She was extremely malnourished and unable to do just about anything when we first met her. She will be 2 in January & is the size of a 3-6 month old weighing 14lbs. She continues to amaze us at how quickly she is progressing with love and nutrition. She has learned to sit up, roll over, feed herself finger foods, hold her own bottle and loves to interact with toys and other children. Her life has changed so much in such a short period of time and will forever be changed! Thank you Lord for putting a burden on our hearts to rescue this little blessing and making her apart of our family!

Monday, September 6, 2010

First day of Church

Yesterday was Mina's first day at Church!! Jim and I debated on whether or not to put her in Life Kids right away on Sunday mornings or keep her with us during the sermon but thought it would probably be more difficult on her if we kept her with us then later put her in class.  The two ladies who work in her classroom we absolutely love and they are so wonderful and have been anxiously awaiting meeting Mina. She did great! She got a little sad faced when we started walking away and was so excited and lit up with a huge smile when we were back to pick her up.  They said she did wonderful, no tears, and she was just a big snuggle bug.

Myla had a little more of a difficult time since it has been over a month since she has been to class. Once they told her they would take her down to see Miss Suzi and her sister in the other class (Myla had recently moved up from) she was excited and went in.  They said that after they took her down there she did great, colored, and no more tears.  So that is good.

Mina definitely knows that we are mommy and daddy (or maybe at this point just caregivers that she really really loves and doesn't want to see go :)  Anytime someone else has her she always wants to keep an eye on one of us to make sure we don't go anywhere.  If we both walk out of site she will get a little upset at times. I know this is a good thing because it shows that she already feels an attachment towards us which is awesome! She also has been reaching towards us a lot and lifting her arms for us to pick her up! She has made so many leaps and accomplishments in such a short period of time it is just amazing!

She has been doing great with eating and drinking. She is starting to learn a little more when she is full (although she still will stuff herself) she is not crying really bad when her bowl of food is all gone from her meal. I think she is starting to learn that she will be fed again and again and doesn't have to worry anymore about going hungry.  This child eats way more than we can get Myla to eat :)  LOL  She is doing great with eating finger foods as well.  She has been loving all the new tastes she's gotten to try. We have been given her small little bites of what we are eating as well and she has been doing pretty good with that.  As far as drinking goes we are still trying to get her to drink something other than juice.  I keep watering the juice down more and more but of course the more watered down it gets the less interested she gets. I keep trying milk and hope eventually she will like it.  I am going to try blending some fruit in the milk and see if I can get her to drink it that way.  She loves yogurt so that is great!

As far as sleeping goes we are all still trying to get adjusted.  Or I should say Mina and Myla are still desperately trying to get adjusted and therefore it throws Jim and my sleep off.  They have been waking up between 2 and 4ish each night because they think there nap time is bedtime and their bedtime is naptime. So they try to take 4-5 hour naps in the day and we are always having to wake them up (and they aren't happy about that cause they think they still need to be sleeping.)  So by the time we get the both of them back to sleep in the middle of the night I am so much awake that I just can't fall back asleep. I am praying and hoping that they can get adjusted quickly so that we can get some good sleep as well.

Our Precious girl!


Oh.... how she loves the puffs!

Mina eating a cheeto puff!

5 comments:

Rhonda Sloup said...

I'm so glad that you're home and Mina is doing so well. I know it has to be a feeling of relief to finally have her home. My heart fills with joy whenever I read your updates.

You might try to add a little chocolate or strawberry flavoring to her milk. I know it isn't great for her teeth, but it might help get her started on milk. We have to give Hannah Carnation Instant Breakfast in her milk to supplement her diet in hopes that she'll grow. We split one package between two bottles, so it's not as strong. Good luck.

Ellen Stumbo said...

Try melatonin for a couple of days. It will help with the sleep issues (it take about a week)

Tracey Sharp said...

I am so glad shes adjusting well except for the sleep but I am sure that will come. She just looks so precious in her lil pics!!

Sarah said...

Melatonin is an idea to try for a few nights to reset their sleep cycles, it worked wonders with Zoya and it is all natural. You could get the 1mg tabs and give Mina half of one of those (we gave Zoya 3mg and I've heard others giving more than that but Mina is so little I'd start with a little bit). So glad to see you home with your precious angel! How are YOU doing and I hope you are taking care of yourself and getting in to see your doctor!

Jamie said...

What a cutie! She is so teeny tiny, love the booties :)