Our One Year Family Day with Aria

On August 27th, we celebrated our First Family Day Anniversary with our sweet little Aria. It was one year ago at Aria's foster parents home in Guyana, when she would once again be placed in our arms. But this time, in just a few weeks, she would legally be our daughter and we'd be making all the necessary appointments and completing the long list of tasks to finally bring her home.

She was such a tiny peanut, weighing just over 14 pounds, but with the biggest smile and most joyful eyes. Our little ray of sunshine. With her hydrocephalus now treated, her amazing personality shined through and brought smile after smile to our faces. And that crazy hair of hers - always sticking straight up no matter how much I combed it. 💖 

Since coming home, life has been busy. Setting up doctor appointments, referrals to specialist after specialist, finding the right physical and occupation therapists and researching every medical procedure and alternative therapeutic treatment under the sun. There are so many different therapies and treatments available that it can definitely be overwhelming. The medical team we've put together has been extremely thorough checking for every possible issue for our complex little peanut. Over the past year, she's had an MRI, CT, bone age test, lots (and lots) of blood work, a swallow test, video EEG and a sleep study. Our sweet little babe has been through it all. She is one brave little girl.

Aria sleeping during her Sleep Study

We spent 8 weeks this summer trying an alternative therapy called Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT). Aria and I spent 90 minutes 5 days a week in a pressurized oxygen chamber where she received 100% oxygen in a nasal cannula. This increase of oxygen under pressure has been known to heal various areas of the body, such as the brain. I made sure to book our treatments over nap time so Aria could snooze away during our time in the chamber. While the therapy didn't provide the huge benefits we were hoping to see, we are thankful that we were able to give it a try and are now ready to move onto the next therapeutic intervention on a very long list of options.

Aria is one busy girl with a full schedule each day filled with various PT and OT activities. All her hard work has paid off in spades. This little peanut who could barely hold her head up when being held upright is now lifting her head up from the ground for several minutes at a time.  Her favorite place to work on tummy time is our platform swing. She loves to swing back and forth, spin around in circles, and watch her sisters frolic and play.

Her core has also gotten so much stronger. She can wiggle and wiggle! She loves to be a bed hog slowly scooching over bit by bit until there's no more room left for Mom. She's also figured out how to roll. Although it does take quite a bit of effort, it's still so exciting to see! And each roll is usually followed up with lots of clapping and cheering from her fan club, which puts an extra big smile on her face. She can even sit fairly independently when propped in a corner. She looks like such a big girl sitting all by herself.

Aria has amazed all her therapists and doctors with how quickly she started scooting around in her gait trainer. She went from only taking steps down the driveway where the slight incline helped do most of the work - to taking steps on a flat surface, all within a few weeks. She loves to be upright and on the move! 

She recently discovered that her new found freedom in her gait trainer can give her much to explore throughout the house. I've caught Aria digging into her Mama's kitchen drawers and making quite the mess in the pantry. What a wonderful sight to see!

Aria typically has a non-traditional preference when it comes to toys. She'd rather play with paper, crunchy granola bar wrappers, or watch her reflection in the mirror (she is pretty stickin' cute!), but lately she's been showing more and more interest in typical toys, such as steering the car or banging on the xylophone. It's so fun to watch her learn and explore new things.

In early August, Aria had surgery to help treat her bilateral hip dysplasia. She spent 3 weeks in casts from below the knee to the toe. While carrying her and changing her diapers was a bit of a challenge from a logistical perspective for me, she did amazing and bounced right back. Within a week she was back to her usual self and off all pain meds.  

Aria's casts came off at the end of August and X-rays were then taken of her hips. Her orthopedic surgeon was happy to share the great news. Her hips were now both fully in socket!!

Her left hip before surgery...

And both hips after surgery

After the casts came off, Aria was put in a removable brace that she has to wear 22 hours a day.  She has taken it in stride and barely complains. The only drawback is that it really hinders her ability to roll and walk in her gait trainer, so those are the things we focus on during the 2 hours a day that she is brace-free. She has a followup appointment at the end of October with her Orthopedist to ensure her hips are staying in place. We pray that her hips continue to remain in socket so that no further hip surgery will be needed.

Aria has grown up so much since coming home. The transformation is astonishing. I forgot just how tiny she was until looking back at photos. Kate is just 5 1/2 months older than Aria. And while Kate is big for her age, and Aria small, these photos taken less than 8 months apart show such amazing growth.

Aria's appetite has been slowly improving and we are finally seeing some decent weight gain. She's started tolerating some solids, like baby puffs, cheerios, and brownies, but still has a ways to come in order to learn how to chew properly. We are hopeful that she continues to gain weight so that we can finally put the worry of her needing g-tube behind us. 

Aria has a love/hate relationship with music. I've found an hour long Youtube video that she adores with various versions of Baby Shark and several other fun, upbeat songs that she loves. The moment I turn it on, she gets excited and will bop her head along to the music. But nearly every other song she hears quickly brings her pouty face.

And once the music changes back to her favorite, her face once again lights up. She's such a ham.

Aria is quite the Mama's girl. She loves her Mama and does not like to share her with anyone, including her siblings! If any of her siblings decide to sit on her Mama's lap or give her a hug, watch out world! Aria will make sure everyone in the room knows she is not a happy camper to share her Mama.

While Aria has not yet learned any words and we don't know if she will, she has mastered the sign for "all-done". She must use this sign 50 times a day!  She is always letting us know she is all done with eating, drinking or a particular toy. I love that she has started communicating with us.

Not a day passes where I don't give thanks that we said "YES" to this precious little soul. Aria has brought so much joy to our lives. She is an amazing little warrior and we are so very blessed to call her our daughter.  We could have easily missed out on sharing our lives with this perfect little girl.

A very happy Family Day to you, sweet Aria Jean. You are a little ray of sunshine. You have filled our hearts with happiness and put a smile on our faces. We will forever be thankful to call you ours. We can not wait to see what amazing things you will accomplish. We love you to the moon and back!