Aug. 1 was Anna's first doctor's visit in the States (Dr. Robert Quillin at the Children’s Clinic of Clear Lake). She got four shots - poor little princess! Otherwise she is doing fine. As of 08/01, her height was 89% but weight was only 25%. She does not look thin but the doctor said she is going to be tall and thin. We think the percentile would be different if the data was based on Asian children growth charts. Although the doctor thought her development is normal and healthy, he suggested that we visit Taxes Children's Health Center for International Adoption at Taxes Children's Hospital (TCH) to have a complete physical - just for peace of mind.
We visited Dr. Kathleen Ferrer at TCH on Aug. 4. They drew six tubes of blood from her and instructed us to take three stool samples later – BTW, that was a fun job! Dr. Ferrer was very impressed by her development but she still recommended we call the Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) for another evaluation. That visit is going to take place on Sept 6 at our home. All test results came out two/three weeks later showing that she is as healthy as a baby could be. All her immunization shots given in the orphanage were taken and we don’t need to do anything extra. We are very happy with the results and we have peace of mind now.
During Anna’s doctor visits, Daddy visited his doctor too. He was sick from his notorious nose – deviated septum. He suffered from a stuffed and/or running nose to severe headaches. We really wish modern or traditional medicine or any other technology could do something to cure this.
Big brother Ben is kind of jealous but is getting better each day. However there is still no playing with “my baby sister, she does not know anything” – although he is willing to share everything. Well, almost everything.
We really appreciate our friends and neighbors who thought of us and cooked meals for us during this hectic time of our lives while adjusting to having a fourth family member.
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Anna liked the tram ride in the wild life park and was very interested in all kinds of animals. She had no fear of anything and tried to imitate the sound of everything. Mom and Dad did not allow her to touch anything since she still likes to suck her thumb. Ben got to feed the emus, ostriches etc and really had fun in the park for Kelly’s cowgirl birthday party. We went to the Houston Art Festival on Saturday. It was a little chilly but it was an eye-opening event.
The days in September were very hectic. Houstonians were very busy at helping evacuees from Louisiana after Katrina made landfall in New Orleans on August 29. Our lives are certainly affected by this disaster. Besides, almost every weekend, we had birthday parties, piano lessons and baseball practices or games to go to. Unfortunately, in the morning of Wednesday, September 21, 2005, the forecasters predicted that another monster storm Rita, a Category 5 hurricane, was heading toward Houston. Roger worked very hard in over 100 degree scorching weather to board up windows in front of our house. We took all the pictures down from the walls, packed up important documents and prepared to evacuate. Wednesday afternoon around 2:00 pm, we started to drive west toward San Antonio with another family. Normally, it takes about 3.5 hours to get to San Antonio from where we live. But that day it took us about 8 hours to get only to west side of Houston. The entire trip took us 14 plus hours. Imagine driving on a toll road, mile after mile of cars bumper to bumper at 3 miles per hour without access to restaurants, bathrooms or gas stations for whole day. Anna was not a happy camper in the car. She made all kinds of facial expressions and sounds, cried, kicked and screamed until she was so exhausted she fell asleep. Friday afternoon, the entire city was like a ghost town. Although we were lucky Rita did not hit Houston, we pray for those who were affected by the hurricane. Both Ben and Anna liked to jump up and down on the air mattress we used. We had a good time in San Antonio due to Grace and Jay’s hospitality. We sincerely thank them. We drove back Saturday evening and it took us about…yah, 3.5 hours.
Grandma and Grandpa came to town on August 25th. Anna was very happy to meet with them and loved to give Grandpa high five! During that weekend, she went to see the Ballunar Festival and happily attended big brother’s Race Car birthday party. But she is too young to get on the race track. However, she wobbled around the entire place and checked out each game machine! Flying in daddy’s hands or throwing pillows at each other with big brother are her favorite things to do.
August 15 was Anna’s first day at the JSC CCC Room 2. Before that, Daddy brought her to the daycare four times and she loved playing there. The first daycare visit was right after the Space Shuttle Discovery landed at Edwards AFB safely. Both of them were happy to get out of the house for a while! Except for some small accidents between kids in the room (Anna got bit by another baby), Anna is adapting to the routine very well. She refuses to take any foods from the baby jar and enjoys most table foods. Watching her eat a raw carrot and nibble on an ear of corn is really fun. Keeping her socks and shoes on is the biggest challenge for her now. Image that you never had socks or shoes to ware before in your life. 
ParentWatch enables Mommy/Daddy to view the daycare rooms through the Internet. That really helped at the beginning of kid’s school year.
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