11 Months since Forever Family Day!!!

Another month home with Lulu! The days are just flying by and our one year anniversary is just around the corner. We have our 12-month post-adoption meeting with our social worker on Monday. I'm sure she will be amazed at how much Lulu has changed since our 6 month meeting.

We had our first trip to Disney with Lulu last month. I tried preparing her before our trip by showing her pictures and videos of Disney. It seems like when I do this, instead of her feeling more comfortable about whatever it is, it has the opposite effect. She was excited about going, however her behavior leading up to Disney was terrible. While at Disney, it was an extreme mixed bag of joy and frustration. I know Disney can be overstimulating, but her behavior was also bad at school the week before, at home, and at the hotel. I know it must have been from fear and stress about not being at home. She worried about the dogs and seemed to have a hard time of just relaxing and having fun for more than 10 minutes. Since we've been home she's been doing great the past few weeks. Our next trip away will be in August for Brad's 50th birthday. We're going to St. Martin for a week. This time, I am not going to over prepare her for it. I am worried though about her first time on a plane since coming home from China, and the length of time we'll be gone.

Poor Lulu has been dealing with skin issues for about 6 months now. We switched dermatologists, and her skin is doing better. We also on our own eliminated milk, and the new dermatologist had us stop an antibiotic that was prescribed from the first dermatologist. One of the rare side effects of the antibiotic was "rash", and she started getting a rash all over her cheeks. We're not sure though if the improvement is with the new skin routine, or from eliminating milk and the antibiotic. I'm just happy that we're finally starting to see a little bit of improvement. I have an appointment with an allergist, but am now rethinking about going. I would hate for her to be tested and have an extreme reaction to an allergen. On the other hand, I would like to know if there is anything she might be allergic to that I can eliminate.

Lulu is taking swimming lessons again at UNF. She had about a 2 month gap from the last series of classes. She is doing better but has a long way to go. She is not very fearful, but due to her right sided weakness, it is going to take longer than normal. She has to be reminded to use her right side. Although her right arm is steadily getting stronger, it is still a lot weaker than her left. Lulu's right leg has also gotten a lot stronger. She wasn't able to hop on her right leg, or skip, and she can do both now. I know that her dance classes, swimming, stuff we're doing at home, and just running around and playing is helping so much with her development.