Valery's liver clinic trip happened sooner than we thought it would. We left for our trip August 28th, and made it safely to Wisconsin, at Grandma Tina's on August 29th. She had a great visit with her liver giver, or ANGEL, Grandma Tina :)

Valery's liver clinic in Chicago was on Thursday that week. She was unable to get an ultrasound while there, but she will get one here at the Children's Hospital in a week or so. But she did get to see her liver doctor, Dr. Ekong, and she was VERY pleased with Valery's growth! She has really grown a lot since her last liver clinic this past December! Dr. Ekong felt and measured her liver and spleen and both measure normal :)
Dr. Ekong told us that it would be nice if Valery had a gastroenterologist to follow her here, but there is only 1 here in Columbia, and that is not going to work out for us again. Only if she is admitted to the Children's hospital will she have that gastroenterologist. But we have her GREAT pediatrician who follows her closely, and works with the transplant center when needed!

Valery will now be yearly visits, and every 3 months for labs. And Valery is doing fine just on one medication, Prograf (anti rejection). The dr was so thrilled to know Val is almost 2 YEARS POST TRANSPLANT! It has been unbelievably 'smooth' since the one and only rejection episode June 2008. Prayers have definitely been answered, and our Valery has lived a pretty 'normal' life! God has definitely been by her side the whole way..and is still holding her precious little hand.

Valery's last labs were good at the beginning of August, but she is getting labs this week to mainly check her Prograf level. If that is good, she'll be at the every 3 months check. And I will update once we get ultrasound results.

We appreciate all of your support, and everyone who still follow Valery's story!

Valery had her labs done a little early, before August :) the last week of July..We were a bit nervous since it had been a few months since the last labs..but no reason to be!

Her labs were normal!! :) All of her liver numbers were good! We will repeat in 1 month though to recheck her Prograf (anti rejection med) level. So the Liver Clinic (Wisconsin/Illinois) trip is now set for third week in October! Valery (and us) will get to see her hero, Grandma Tina (her donor) and all of my husband's family, we can't wait! And we'll get to catch up with her liver team too at her liver clinic at Children's Memorial! More to come!

Valery's labs this time around we're great! Her Prograf level was where it needs to be! All of her numbers were excellent :) So the good news is that she doesnt need labs until 3 MONTHS from now! She has never gone that long in between labs, we dont know what to think :) ! What a great thing! So she will have repeat labs in August, maybe in Chicago at her transplant center, if we make the trip in August. We still do not know which month it will be. The trip will be for her liver clinic..bascially a checkup with her transplant team. It will at the EARLIEST be August, but could be September, and latest beginning of October. We shall see! Hoping to do a fundraiser sometime this summer to raise a few funds for the trip.

Anyways, Valery is doing fabulous! She is saying a lot of new words everyday! We're still waiting to get her going with a speech therapist, but mommy isnt so sure that she'll need it ;) We just are so blessed to have little Valery in our family!

Valery will be having repeat labs this week because of her last labs she just had taken.
One of the numbers, ALT, was a little elevated. (not much at all though) and her transplant team just wanted us to recheck in 2 weeks.
Valery seems fine, healthy etc..and the team is not worried, and well if they arent we dont feel the need to worry either :) God's watching over our Val!

Baby Luke & Valery

Valery's loves her new baby brother Luke!
Luke Isaiah was born on May 5th, 2009 at 10:45 PM.
Weighed 8lbs 15oz, and was 20.25 inches long!

Valery, Noah, and Jonah are having a great time with their new baby brother and we are all so happy to have baby Luke in our family now :)

Easter 2009

Hope everyone had a blessed Easter!
Valery had a wonderful Easter weekend :) Her and her brothers all went to a Gigantic Easter Egg Hunt at a local church on Saturday! She got to play with our friend's Brian & Katie's daughter, Gracie.. and she even met the Chic-Fil-A cow which she was fascinated by!
On Easter Sunday Valery and her brothers woke up to Easter baskets from the Easter bunny! And then we went to Easter church service. After service, the kids got to do another Easter egg hunt at church! We then took them to the park, and took Easter pictures :) Some of which I posted in her 1+ year post transplant album!
It was a very nice weekend...and so much to be thankful for!

God Bless!

Valery had her 2 year checkup on Monday.
I am SO proud to say she has grown! :)
She is now 33 1/2 inches tall, and 25lbs 12oz!
Her pediatrician says she is doing good with her development, but could use a little speech therapy. Which is something we have been thinking might happen. So she will start speech therapy sometime in the next month probably..but this is a good thing!

I spoke with her nutritionist at the transplant center, and updated her on Valery's measurements, and Valery is now at 50th percentile for height & weight! This is a BIG deal! She was at barely 20th percentile for quite some time after transplant, and we have wondered for months when she would start to 'catch up' with her growth. Well she has now! And its wonderful!

Valery is doing very well and she is learning new stuff everyday! She also has lots of new teeth that have grown in! :) Valery continues to amaze us!

2nd birthday

Valery had a WONDERFUL 2nd birthday!!! Thank you to all of our friends and family who came out to her birthday party :) We had a great time!
It was absolutely amazing to see her turn 2 years old...once, long ago we worried if that day would actually ever come. Well Praise God it did! And she is a very blessed 2 year old! The first year of her life was very long and excruciating. But I can say her 2nd year was by far WAY better! And we are thankful everyday for a strong willed red head ;) Doesn't get any better than this! We are so very blessed to have Valery in our lives! Mommy, Daddy, and your brothers love you very much.
HURRAY FOR BEING 2!!

I meant to write this last week! Valery's Prograf level was great! She gets to go 6 weeks without labs :) I added a few pictures, and there will be more to come!
She is celebrating her 2nd birthday in 1 1/2 weeks!!!

Sorry its been about a month since I updated last! Things have been a little busy around here with the new baby coming and all :) But all is well!
Valery had labs yesterday, and so far the news is great! All of the labs are normal and look good :) We are just waiting on her Prograf level to come back. Which will tell us if she needs more, less, or the same dose of Prograf than what she's on now, to keep her liver happy! :)

Recently I submitted a diet diary to her nutritionist at her transplant center, because there was some concern back at her liver clinic in December that she might be stuck in her growth. Well turns out her diet is great! We are feeding her right, shes getting enough protein, calories ...you name it! Her height and weight actually turns out to be fine (from Dec) and we'll be getting an updated height and weight in a few weeks at her 2 YEAR CHECKUP! But for now she is falling in the percentile that is okay for her age.
I do think at her 2 year checkup though, we will be talking about setting her up with speech therapy, because she is behind in that..

Overall she's excellent! A happy little, energetic, full of life, little girl who LOVES to dance! Every time this girl hears music she just starts dancing all around! It's sooo cute! She makes us so very proud, and everyday we are thankful to her Grandma Tina for giving her the gift of life! What a gift she gave!

I promise to post a few newer pictures in a new photo album folder later today!