Our Two Little Peanuts

  At our first Dr. visit a couple of weeks ago our little Chloe Joy 

weighed in at 28 lbs. and is 35 3/4" tall. Her referral paperwork 

and even at the medical exams in China we were told she weighed 

33 lbs. So when I weighed her at home I just thought my scales were 

off by 5 lbs. The Dr. was concerned about her size and thought she

may be only 3 yrs. old instead of 5 yrs. old. 

The Dr. sent her for an x-ray of her hand The results showed

 her bone structure is that of a 2 1/2 yr. old and is growing. So

 with good nutrition she should grow and over time and start 

to catch up. Yes, she is 5 yrs. old. 

She also had blood work done and it we found out she is very anemic. 

Her iron level is only 6.9 it should be 11.5. Explains why she seems

 tired a good part of the time. (I was hoping it was just the heat)

After busy days she is very tired and clingy. So we are making up 

for much missed cuddle time. 

She has to take a prescription liquid iron three times daily

and it taste nasty. She is such a sweetheart when it comes

time to take it we both make our eeeewww its icky faces at each

 other and then she downs it and drinks a glass of water and munches

 on a couple of fruit snacks.

Our sweet girl came from a very poor orphanage and suffered 

from malnutrition most likely because of her cleft lip and palate.
Her referral paperwork stated she had a poorly developed thorax
(pigeon breast) and was much smaller then the other children her age
 because of the malnutrition. Just breaks my heart and brings me to
 tears when I think of her going hungry. I am so thankful the Lord
was with our sweet baby girl watching over her and giving her
the strength she needed to survive.

Sometimes pigeon breast can be so severe your rib cage can
crush your lungs and heart. Surgery is usually needed when the
child becomes a teen. The great news is the Dr. told us that Chloe's

 is very mild and she shouldn't require surgery when she is older.
 Praising and thanking the Lord for answered prayer.

This girl loves her food and is not very picky. She sure can
 put it away! We just can't figure out where. :)

She had her first dental appointment last week. She sat on my
lap and showed the dentist her pearly whites and even let him
clean them. Not one tear! I did tell her the day before we went
to the dentist he would want to look at her pearly whites.
We had a little fun seeing who could open their mouths the biggest
to show of their beautiful teeth. When the dentist asked her to open
her mouth she was very proud to open up and show off her
teeth. She is such a brave little girl! 

Our little Ziva weighs in at 3lbs.
 The two of them have become sweet buddies.

 "Ziva, your supposed to look at the camera and smile."