Our Adoption Journey

Rocking Glasses!

perpetualrenovator — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:39:12 +0000

Rocking some 3d glasses. Don’t know where they got them or found them, but they are cracking me up! Hehe. Then we had some good free fun at Alexandria’s City Park. Can’t wait til spring. Felt good to be out in the sun.

Family Picture and Life Lately

perpetualrenovator — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 17:06:51 +0000

: Our First Dressed up Family Picture!

Our dedication service at our church was this past Sunday. It was an opportunity for all of us to get dressed up and take a famiy picture. I cannot remember if the photographer at my brother’s wedding took our picture as a family or not. We took so many pictures I can’t remember now. To take this one, I had to set up the tripod and hit the button….then I would run (in high heels no less) down to the end of the porch and yell at everyone to smile. It only took 6 such unladylike displays before I got this picture. My neighbors probably thought I was crazy.

We are not doing anything mom

A couple random stories. We are still getting to know our kids and just enjoying them. Lillian came with a bottle from her orphanage and they told us to give it to her when she cries at night. I did that while in China, but once we got back home, she had already chewed the tip off. I got a sippy cup and she bit that in half too. I became scared that she might choke and I also felt that she was just a little too old for a bottle at night (she is four and a half years old), so I took it away from her. When we went to the dentist the other day, he pointed out that her front teeth do not “close”. That they stick out in front and asked me if she sucked her thumb. I told him about her bottle and that I took it away. He agreed with me that it was not safe nor good for her teeth. So, anyway, we have had several, several nights of Lillian waking in the middle of the night crying asking for her “drink”. It pulls on my heartstrings and I hate to see her upset. Anyway, yesterday, I looked all over for her sippy cup and couldn’t find it. I sent Vivian to look for it and then I asked Lillian where it was. Lillian shrugged her shoulders like she didn’t know. I got another kind of sippy cup and gave her something to drink with dinner. All day and I still couldn’t find it. Anyway, fast forward to bed time. We put the kids to sleep and Lillian cried a bit and then all of a sudden, all was quiet. Steven and I were laying in bed listening to Lillian and Alex talking to each other, then we heard a noise. Steven decided to get up and go check on them and guess what he found? Lillian in bed with her sippy cup. She hid it somewhere in her room so she would have it at night. Sneaky little girl! Very smart too. Steven took it away and OH MY, heartbreak! I am hoping that she will start to self comfort and cope another way and not be dependent on her sippy cup.

This morning, I was lazing in bed. I didn’t feel like getting up. I heard the kids up, they were playing in their room. They came in and told me good morning and kissed my forehead…so cute! Lillian likes to pat my head and giggle and kiss my cheek. I guess they wanted me to get out of bed, cause Alex grabbed the covers and pulled them down and Lillian said “Mama, Finished Night Night” and pointed for me to get out the bed and put her hands under my shoulders like she was going to roll me out the bed. It was really funny. When I got up and put my slippers on, they jumped up and down and said “Yay! Mama!” They are cute. The next thing I did was make coffee….

Nap time!

Bed head!

All right, on to do homework. Blech. Then we are going to try our hand at painting a canvas. We shall see how that goes.

Andrea

Is this boy the same?

perpetualrenovator — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 19:49:39 +0000

Is this boy:

The same as this boy? They sure do look different to me! Goodness!

Sweeter and sweeter as the days go by….

perpetualrenovator — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:29:39 +0000

Click to view slideshow.

I can’t remember all of the words to the song, but when I look at these pictures it makes me fuzzy and just when I think they can’t get any cuter or sweeter, they get cuter and sweeter. This was at my brother’s wedding two weekends ago. I was not able to get any pictures of all of us together. The wedding photographer took some and I will have one in the near future. It will probably be the first formal family picture we have taken since being home. We took some on the swing out on the front porch and in the living room for our post adoption reports. I want a nice formal shot.

We may have that chance next weekend. It is dedication service at our church and both of our children are participating. I believe that there usually is a photographer set up and will take our family picture for us after the dedication. I am excited about that!

Well, on to do homework.

Andrea

Trike Wars

perpetualrenovator — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 00:41:18 +0000

Goodness gracious…who knew that a three wheeled piece of metal could cause so much grief! I think the most fought over item in our house has been Vivian’s old red tricycle. It all starts in the morning. The first person to finish their breakfast makes a mad dash to the trike and claims it! Which makes the other one scream and whine and cry (or in Lillian’s case, PINCH) until the one who has possession gets off. Generally, the only time one gets off is if they have to go the bathroom. As soon as they go the bathroom, the trike gets taken and the offended party whines and whines and cries and tries to push the thief out of the seat. This goes on and on…lasting several hours and fraying mommy’s nerves.

I got it!

No! I got it!

: No, no, I GOT IT!I GOT IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Snooze you lose, brother!and…I still have it! HA!

Then Vivian came home and took a turn….

My turn!I think Lillianw was wondering how hard she would have to push to get Vivian off the trike....I think Lillianw was wondering how hard she would have to push to get Vivian off the trike....

Then, one night, Daddy had to watch the two little toots and when mama came home he said: “BUY ANOTHER TRIKE! I DON’T CARE HOW MUCH THEY COST!”. Well, that idea certainly hadn’t dawned on mama’s foggy brain. So, the very next day, mama went to Walmart and bought a Harley trike. Whooo! This made a little boy LIGHT UP!

I brought it home and put it in the kitchen…and this is how I found Vivian and Alex…lol…reading the instructions and trying to put it together. Mama wasn’t even going to attempt to put it together. The handle bars and wheels would get put on backwards. Vivian looks up at me and says: “Mom, these instructions are in CHINESE!”. I told her to give them to Alex to read (haha, yeah, lame joke). I then picked up the English instructions and handed them to her.

These instructions are in CHINESE!Trying to put it together

Daddy came home later and put the rest together and this is the result:

: Yay!

Everyone is happy!

I think it’s funny when….

perpetualrenovator — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:43:11 +0000

Alex gets into a barking contest with the dogs

Lillian and Alex call Sparky (pocky)

Alex saves everything in his pockets and you find it all in the dryer’s lint trap

They wave and talk to people on TV because they think they are on Skype (hahaha!)

Tell me “good job mama” and clap their hands even if I perform the most mundane of tasks

When you say the word bath, Lillian immediately strips down and runs naked through the house to sit in a dry bath tub….waiting on me to catch up and turn the water on (we are very careful when we say that word! You better be ready to run a bath pronto!!!)

Lillian walks in somewhere and does the beauty pageant wave because she just knows that everyone was waiting for her to arrive!

Alex tries to smile using his teeth for a picture and looks like he is in pain….lol

Alex and His Shoulder

perpetualrenovator — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:03:57 +0000

I know this is quite a jump from my last post. To be honest with you, when I got home, I was tired! I was tired of blogging, I was tired of pictures, I was just tired in general…lol. I have been promising to post on the days after we landed back in the U.S. and what the kids thought about Christmas…I may do that soon….I may never do it at all. It just depends on if I get the time after chasing these two and because of our multiple rounds of doctor appointments.

Which brings me to this post. I got a call today from Alex’s pediatrician. He got Alex’s shoulder x-rays and was amazed. What is Alex’s shoulder/limb deformity? I guarantee you that you will be as surprised as I was….his shoulder is dislocated!!!! Probably at birth. So, for three years this baby has walked around with nothing more than a shoulder dislocation…OUCH! We are being sent to an orthopedic specialist to figure out how to get it set. He will need a lot of PT and OT, but I am sooo glad that it is not something super complicated. He will be a new boy! He won’t know what to do with both arms working! On the other hand, it makes me so sad. He has sat in a special needs orphanage for three years, he was abandoned by his birth parents…for what? A dislocated shoulder. His parents either were not able to get him care, or they thought it was a severe deformity. The doctor who took x-rays in China must not have been too bright. He said it was a missing growth plate…..hmmm….

Anyway, I am just amazed that this poor boy has walked around with a dislocated shoulder for so long. That is nothing here in America. Wow…I have had my shoulder dislocated! I guess since it happened at birth, he had no way of knowing something was wrong.

Well, off to chase after the kids…until next time!

Andrea

My US Citizens!

perpetualrenovator — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 00:14:56 +0000

Tomorrow or Monday I will blog about our flight home and my two little immigrants who became US Citizens upon reaching US soil yesterday. Here are a couple pics for the time being…

Leaving Hong Kong

perpetualrenovator — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 01:58:44 +0000

Yesterday we caught the train from Guangzhou to Hong Kong. That was really fun! I sat in a seat with my back to the front of the train and it felt funny to be riding backwards. Alex started itching and before we knew it he was a big itchy red splotch. When we arrived in Hong Kong Alex failed the temperature test, he had a 102 temp!!! I was freaking out…we were detained…ultimately they checked him out and recommended we take him to a doctor. We got to the hotel and bathed him in cool water, loaded him up with Zyrtec and Tylenol and he woke up this morning a LOT better. His rash has faded and no more fever.
The only thing we can think of is that he tried out some pineapple and that might have done it. I will have get him allergy tested. That was scary.

The pics of the kids sitting are them on the train. There are two pics of Lillian Xiang Xiang….calling us to board….later!

The Vivian Paparazzi

perpetualrenovator — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 11:24:45 +0000

: This group followed us the longestThen they were finally successful, snapping a shot of Vivian when I had her posed on the stairs. I took a picture of them to give them a bit of their own medicine and they actually posed!

Then they were finally successful, snapping a shot of Vivian when I had her posed on the stairs. I took a picture of them to give them a bit of their own medicine and they actually posed!