Merry Christmas!

Christmas. It's the most wonderful time of the year (can you hum along?).... and the busiest. The past couple weeks have been quite a whirlwind of activity... Christmas party for families with children from China held at my church, traveling, having fun, meeting aunts, uncles, and cousins for the first time, opening lots of presents, and, of course, celebrating the birth of our Saviour!

All that came to a screeching halt today when we had to take Gong Gong in for his first surgery bright and early this morning. Poor little guy.... The doctor actually discovered he had a bad hernia on top of it all, but we're thankful to have it taken care of. At this moment he seems to be doing much better. My challenge is going to be keeping this active little fellow quiet for the next two weeks!

Enough said, a picture is worth a thousand words....

Christmas Party

Meeting the other newcomer to the family (by marraige)

Snow tubing

Traveling

Cousins

Waterpark Fun

After Christmas Eve service at church

The reason for the season--it is our tradition to place the baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas morning!

Princess meets Elmo. This toy is supposed to be good for age 18 months and up (I'm guessing 50 something, judging by our family).

Post-surgury Gong Gong--napping

Challenges, Blessings and First Kiss ; )

Reading with Big Sis

The last week or so has been pretty intense. Gong Gong had an ear infection and croup and the poor thing just wasn't his usual fun self! He has finally started feeling better the last couple days. We had a sweet shower at school and got lots of little boy clothes that will hopefully stay on him! I also took him down the the International Adoption Clinic of MUSC in Charleston and spent a lot of time discussing his issues with the doctor. No instant answers at this point, but I got some much-needed confirmation regarding some of my concerns. One thing she was quite adamant about was that we should not let ANYONE other than Daddy and Mama hold him right now. He's been a little, uh, indiscriminate in his affections reaching out to strangers and the like. I feel like this is probably hard for most people to understand and I'm afraid they might think I'm being possessive, but this is what we need to do. It is really important that we be the ones to comfort and provide. He has a "bone age" of 18 months, but I don't think he could really be that young. If that were the case, then he would have been a month old when he was found and his estimated birthdate would be more of a lie or a clerical error than an inaccurate guess.

Now for the really exciting news--I got my first real kiss this week! Woo hoo! At first he didn't understand making contact with my face and kind of kissed the air, but he's now totally into planting sweet, sloppy kisses on my cheeks! Made my week! Another cute thing he has learned is winking--at first he was squinting both eyes, but I've actually seen him wink at me with one eye now! And, as I rocked him before his nap today, he said "Mama", plain as day! This is a real breakthrough, as his expressive language (even in Chinese) is very low. Now, if I can just get him to call "Mama" instead of whining and crying for attention...

Thanksgiving

We stayed home for Thanksgiving and invited a single friend over for our feast, watched a movie and just hung out at home yesterday. Big Sister had the very cool idea that we should dress up as Pilgrims and Indians, so we donned the appropriate head gear (you might wonder about this in the picture, as we look a little silly!). Poor little Gong Gong was sick and barely ate. He just wasn't a happy camper yesterday--not a good first Thanksgiving for him. We're taking him to the doctor this morning.

I'm thankful for our precious children and for the blessing of good health that G*d has bestowed on this aging Mommy and praying that our little boy will enjoy some good health, too!

Baptised Sunday!

This was taken after the worship service when Pierce was baptised.

Miscellaneous Update

Meeting Papa for the first time!

In Gong Gong's Room




Brother and Sister

Big Sis loses her first TWO teeth at one time!

We got a surprise visit from Papa on Saturday--Irma has been sick and this was his first time meeting little Pierce! Unfortunately for Elizabeth, she had all of about 10 minutes with him before she rushed off to her second birthday party of the day (have I ever mentioned she has a busy social schedule?). Good for Pierce, though--he seemed delighted to have a grandpa (and the attention all for himself)! I believe we're a little better settled this week. Pierce is learning his boundaries and we're having some sweet times together. I don't think he's pinching and scratching his sister quite as much and I'm hopeful he's finally catching on to the fact that this is unacceptable! He is quite the active little boy and is all over the place, but he doesn't like having me out of sight for more than a couple minutes. As you can imagine, my moments to myself are few and far between once he's up! He's got the cutest little habit of grabbing me around the legs and standing on my feet to "dance" and coming up from behind and flinging his arms around me!

We met with the pediatric urologist again this week and scheduled the first of his surgeries for December 26--the day after Christmas! At least he will be feeling normal on Christmas day. The recovery period is about two weeks with NO activity. Yeah, right, doc--have you seen this kid? We're in for a challenge.

Attachment Parenting: The Laundry Will Have to Wait

These first pics were taken at a children's museum.

Driving a fire truck!

Big Sis at a Princess Party

Attachment is not something you can take for granted when adopting a toddler who has been abandoned. It means being there 24/7 to meet your child's needs, and being very intentional about everything you do as a parent. It means throwing out a lot of the conventional "rules" of parenting (i.e. you can never, ever allow your child to cry himself to sleep). The relationship you have with your child is not something that just happens. He has to learn that you are Mom and Dad and that you can be trusted. Much of this means that in our parenting of Gong Gong, we must treat him like a baby and establish what may not have been established. Things like holding him to make eye contact and feeding him from a baby bottle. However, he is NOT a baby; he is a very mobile 2 year old who is into EVERYTHING! Becoming a family is definitely a process, not something that magically happened when we stepped off the plane three weeks ago. And we certainly don't have any nice formula for how this works. I am exhausted and my housework is not done. As Jean McLeod wrote in her article “Baby Shock”, “…parenting a post-institutionalized 12 month old is NOT the same as parenting a sleepy newborn. The real rewards of parenting an internationally adopted child are huge, and the real challenges can be draining, confusing, and…depressing.” We're having some fun moments, though, as well as some trying ones. Here are some pics of some of the fun ones (you really don't want to see one of his raging temper tantrums do you?). It is good to know that we WILL get through this. I am so thankful that I can have leave from work and can't imagine doing this any other way. With all that said, I know that I am BLESSED!

Two Weeks Home

We've actually been home 2 weeks now--what an adjustment!!! Little did I realize that this would be my biggest challenge. Gong Gong is all over the place! At least we're over the jet lag! Bit by bit, we are getting the house in order and safe (I'm slowly learning how to manage the home and chase after a two year old at the same time). Big Sister is learning a thing or two about some of the less pleasant things that two year olds do (she's been pinched and scratched a few times) and is learning to be a gracious sibling (bless her heart!). I'm quite sure this is not what she bargained for! Just when we feel a little frustrated, he'll flash that winning smile or throw himself around our legs and melt our hearts once again! He has been so good in all his doctor's appointments. So brave. I know he didn't like the blood draws or x-rays, but was amazingly good for a guy his age.

We went to the zoo after picking Big Sister up at school yesterday and he seemed to really enjoy it. He lets me know when he wants in the stroller and when he needs me to pick him up for a better look. He definitely communicates and is attempting to sign with me, but still does not attempt words. We get a lot of pointing and whining. Today was a beautiful fall day and we went to the park for the morning (see the pics!).