Week 4 at home

I can't believe we have now been home for 3 and a half weeks. Our lives are getting more and more settled each day with Davis learning our routine and continuing to become such an important part of our family. Some of the improvements he is making:
- stayed with a friend for 10 minutes on Friday with no tears!
- went with his Daddy and sister in the car on Sunday without Mommy and stopped crying by the end of the driveway!
- stayed in the nursery at church for 15 minutes with no crying! (another person came in which made him upset- but we were so happy he played that long without mommy)
- Daddy gave him a bath last night!

These are just a few things that may seem minor but are HUGE to us. He and Sarah Bess are playing more and more everyday as well. Yesterday after nap, Sarah Bess climbed in his bed and gave him a kiss and said "I love you". He in turn gave her a big hug- you can picture who then was crying tears of joy. They also love playing Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed. Sarah Bess has learned to be quite the ham to make Davis laugh hysterically in the car. I will ask her what they are laughing about but it is their secret. The other night she was sweetly reading to him so I thought I should get it on video- they of course then just wanted to stick their face in the camera and "see".
Davis continues to add new English words to his vocabulary. Some of his newest are funny, elephant, banana, Bailey and moo. He probably has around 25 words now- which would equal a word a day since he's been home. His speech language pathologist mother is very pleased with that.
Hope you all are well and we continue to appreciate your kind words and prayers.
This picture is from a local festival this past weekend- our little fireman!

Quick Update

Hello All! Just wanted to write a quick update to how everything has been going. Davis continues to seem to adjust more and more to his surroundings. He is still not wanting to leave Mama for too long but will at least venture away at times. He loves loves Sarah Bess and wants to be and do what she is doing! I hope in the long run that will be our saving grace and he will want to go to school with her while Mama works! Still haven't worked out the details of what will happen with that but are trying to coordinate it all. She also seems to continue to adjust to having him and her tantrums and "beating" of her brother have really reduced. She is starting to ask him nicely for things (at least once before she tugs it away!). She did revert to some of her old ways when Jimmy's parents came to visit on Sunday. I think while she was adapting to life at home, she wasn't sure about sharing GaGa and Daddy Daddy with Davis! They are really cute when they kiss each other goodnight. Today while pumping gas (which tends to be a time Davis screams because I'm out of the car and he is in), I risked glancing in to see how upset he was and Sarah Bess had him laughing so hard he was almost crying. When I got back in to see what they were laughing at no one would fess up. I loved it.
Sleeping has been getting somewhat better until last night which was a bad one. This led to a really bad morning because we were all just too tired to be functioning right. I hope we will all get some more sleep tonight!
We are still without a camera but will post some more pictures when we get one- and Jimmy's parents took some so we can put some of those on as well.

More pictures

3 Weeks after Gotcha Day!

It's hard to believe that it has been 3 weeks since we first brought Davis into our family. In some ways that seems so quick in many others it seems so long ago. Things are going pretty well here at home. He is really started sleeping better the past couple of nights and seems to be realizing the routine here at home. I am amazed at how quickly he is learning words and is saying: eat, uh-oh, yucky yucky, doggie, choo choo, bubbles, shoe and see saw (you can tell from this his favorite things as well!). His smile will light up a room and is quick to come most of the time. He adores his Mei Mei except when she is hitting him or taking a toy of course! She had a few very rough days but seems to be doing a little better each day. She was able to go to dance camp this morning at her Mandarin preschool and I think it helped her to get out of the house a bit.
Jimmy and I are just adapting to the life of two- two in the morning to get ready, two for all meals, two at bathtime. I know many of you have plus 2 and I think of you often knowing we too will get the hang of this!
We go for his first pediatrician visit this Thursday and we look forward to asking her many of the questions that have been unanswered at this point (like the possible cause of a pretty bad scar he has on his chest).
We have been amazed how our friends have helped here at home. We have had many wonderful meals prepared for us. We even came home to a freezer full and a lawn of mowed grass!
We've been doing lots of fun activities with the kids and I wanted to post some pictures of those also. Hope everyone one is well.

THANKS

Make a Smilebox greeting

Sarah Bess and Davis

Life at Home

We are so thrilled to be back at home and near family and friends. The trip home was pretty difficult- another 24 hour period for Jimmy and I with no sleep. The reunion at the airport with our parents and Sarah Bess was wonderful. Wow how we missed that little girl. She has been doing so well and we are so proud of her. She got a stomach bug Sunday afternoon so yesterday she was really wiped and quick to breakdown. I knew that would be coming and I think with feeling so bad it just made it worse. She continues to struggle a little today and is not her usual sunshine self but I know that will return very soon!

Davis has his nights and days mixed up so we're not getting a lot of sleep. He is eating really well and likes playing in his new home as long as Mama is by his side. He LOVES Bailey and seems to have had exposure to having a dog. He knows about feeding her, petting her, and even scolding her. He is a little rough so we're having to teach "gentle". He is such a mimic and tries to copy so many words and actions of us all. He is already saying eat, bubbles, yucky yucky and uh oh. He imitates many others. He also says "see saw" from a favorite toy given to him by Aunt Kay and Uncle Gib that he and Sarah Bess can play on together.

His temper continues to remain strong but his tantrums seem to shorten in length.

We had a doctor's visit with the pediatric orthopedist yesterday that went well. It turns out that Davis's hip is not dislocated. We were not surprised by this news as he is walking, jumping, etc. so well. The best news is that he will not have to have any surgery now and maybe never. What he does have is a congenital birth defect where his left side of his body develops slower than his right side. This includes that the cartilage in his hip never ossified and so that is why the radiologists in China did not see the ball and socket in an XRay. He will have an MRI at the end of the month just to confirm all of this. As he continues to grow, the rate that the difference will be will effect what we do in the future. Right now the difference is so small and he is doing so well functionally the doctor just wants to monitor it. The future could range from nothing, to a lift in his shoe, to surgery to stop growth in one leg or lengthen another. It sounds like no matter what we will be regularly seeing Dr. Campion to monitor his progress.

We'll get some more pictures on here soon and continue to update.