The Urologist and Pictures

Grace had her first pediatric specialist appointment today in Springfield. Dr. McKenna's nurse practicioner met with us and did a quick examination of Grace and reviewed her urinalysis and blood work. This is the specialist we were most concerned about seeing because the Bulgarian reports about Grace's kidneys were conflicting. The orphanage director said that she had a laser procedure, but no surgery and the Embassy physician said she had reconstructive surgery on her urological system. Big difference! We may be getting more tests later on, but the NP said there was no urgency at all. She said that all of the tests looked good. In fact, she said that from the x-rays and tests results from Bulgaria and the US show her kidney is functioning well. She thinks that Grace had a kidney stone in the middle of the kidney that required surgical removal. She is going to consult with a surgeon and the doctor and will get back with us for a follow-up appointment.

I feel so relieved. She suggested that Grace refrain from boxing and football, but said that other sports were fine. She also was really pleased that Grace is doing well with toilet training and said she did not expect that she would be dry at night now anyway because of her size.

Well, to celebrate we went to the mall for Italian food and stopped at the play area. Grace loved going down the slide and kept putting her hand out for other mothers to help her and pay attention to her. When we told her it was time to go, she said "bye-bye" to everyone and walked away with us without a fuss.

We also finally got her some more clothes (I love sales!) at the Children's Place. She was really tired of having clothes pulled on and off over her head, but we actually found out what fits her: She needs a 3T in a blanket sleeper because she is fairly tall, an 18 month size in a skirt, and a 24 month or 2T in a dress. She really needs 18 month size pants, but they are all capris on her, so maybe dresses are the best bet. She has started being very opinionated about what she wears and begs for "roklia" which are dresses. Maybe she is sick and tired of tugging on her pants, too.

After shopping and the playground, we decided to go ahead (since she was all dressed up) and see if we could get some photos at the Sears studio. No one was waiting and we didn't even have a comb, but the photos are really cute. This is what she really looks like. Of course we bought so many photos that we now own the copyrights, so I can share. Don't bother trying to print your own copies, because we bought quite a few to pass out anyway.