A Full Friday: Doctor visits, post placement visit, and the Circus!!!

Yesterday we had a very busy day. It started out with a visit with Anne, our social worker. She came to our house to get the information she needs to write out our first post-placement report. We enjoyed our visit, and of course, she thought Elijah was adorable.

In the afternoon, Elijah went to see a plastic surgeon regarding his accessory auricles. The Dr. said it was a very simple surgery. He did not feel any cartilage, so thought it would be easy to remove. I asked about doing it at the same time as his circumcision. He said that could be coordinated and done at the same time.
It was interesting, the Dr. told me that he and his wife have 4 children and his wife wants to adopt. He keeps telling her that she is too old. He held Elijah, and I hope that maybe it planted a seed...

Thursday, Elijah went for his 2 year old checkup. He left a lasting impression on every ear in the office. He screamed like crazy when they weighed him, got his height, and when the Dr. examined him. He really pitched a heck of a fit!! The Dr. said he looked much more alert and bright eyed than when he had seen Elijah last (in Nov.). He has caught up in many areas. His gross motor and analytical skills are on par for his age. He has some delays in other areas, so the Dr. suggested a developmental screening. I'm not sure if I want to go there. I know he's behind, and I know why. I feel certain he will catch up with time and loving care. I asked myself why I dragged my feet about getting him evaluated??  I realized it would be one more thing on my plate to see that it gets done. I wouldn't mind one more thing, if it was necessary. But, I'm not sure it is. I'm going to pray about it before I make an evaluation appointment.
Here are Elijah's current measurements:
weight~ a whopping 22.9 lbs.~ less than 5th percentile
height~ 32 inches~ right at 5th percentile
head circumference~ 47.5~ 25th percentile
The Dr. overall said that he looked very healthy and although tiny, he was following his growth curve.

Then that Friday evening John, Abbey, Elijah and I went to the circus. A great friend who works for the radio station gave us tickets. We had terrific tickets, about 10 rows up from the floor. Abbey had a wonderful time. I'm sure she will talk about it for a long time. Elijah took it all in and wasn't afraid, much to my surprise. He enjoyed dancing to the music.

 

They started with the national anthem

then tigers...

 

and elephants...

We saw Beth's friends, Dave and his wife, Jen. At the intermission, they asked Abbey what her favorite part was. After seeing many amazing gravity defying tricks such as this:

 

my easily pleased girl said, "The clown did flips!"

 

I think her very favorite part was that Daddy bought her a "lighted twirly thingy"

 

 which mesmerized her when we got home

 Elijah couldn't stand any more excitement. 

Friends

We are fortunate to be a part of a group of families whose kids look like ours, Our Asian Kids (OAKS).

 

Some OAKS Girls (we do have quite a few boys in OAKS, also)

We get together at least once a week to let the kids play. But, our family is very blessed to have a couple of families that live very close to us, and with whom we share many beliefs and values. Abbey counts their kids, Lottie, Caleb and Kylie, as her best friends. Caleb and Kylie are in China right now with their parents bringing home a little sister, Darcy. You can check their blog out by clicking here. As their mom was getting closer to departure for China, Caleb and Kylie came over to play with us. I love those kids, they all get along so well with both of my kids. Caleb has Abbey's personality...

 

and Kylie is calm and sweet, so she's a great buddy to both kids.

 

 

 

We can't wait to add Darcy to our mix!

Woo-Hoo-Hoo, Elijah's Two!!

Our baby boy turned two years old on Feb. 22.  We celebrated twice, once at my party and then again on his actual birthday.  He opened presents at my party, so that Grandaddy and Nana could see him open their gifts.

 

Opening up his Winnie the Pooh card that sang to him.

 

Grandaddy explains how the car-cd/radio works

Then, on his actual birthday. We had cake, and

sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

  

 

Daniel helped him blow out the candles

He wasted no time digging in

 

Pausing long enough to say "cheese"

Big sister, Beth, called with birthday wishes.

 

Happy Birthday to our precious boy, Elijah.

We love you bunches and bunches!!

Great Video

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.  James 1:27

Hey, a friend of mine shared this video. I encourage everyone to watch it. My prayer is that is will nudge you into action. If you can't adopt, you can still support! Pray and ask God how you can help the fatherless.

My Birthday!!

 

Feb. 20th is my birthday. This year, I had a great day. All of my children, as well as my Mom and Dad were able to join us at our house. John let me sleep in, and I slept until 10:00. It felt so great. I haven't slept that late, in I'm not sure how long. (I'm such a night-owl, I have a hard time getting enough sleep). The crowd started rolling in around noon. They watched the game, while Beth, Greg (her boyfriend) and I took a road trip with Abbey and Elijah. With all the commotion, they couldn't sleep for their nap. I knew that they would be impossible to deal with without a nap. So, I used the tried and true baby sominex-the car. It worked like a charm!

We had a lot of food, most of them my favorites...

 

We had the obligatory birthday singing and candle blowing. This year I had a little help!

We took lots of pictures....

My gorgeous girls

Abbey and my Mom

My cutie-pie boy

Anna and John

Elijah and Beth

Dad and Mom

Greg (Beth's boyfriend)

Our whole family, I'm so blessed. Words can't describe!!

Some of us got tired of all the pictures and tried to express their displeasure

  

But, I persisted and look how nice they look

Handsome devils, aren't they? 

But, don't ask to take their pictures more than once.

That evening, Beth, Greg, John, Jr, John Sr. and I played cards. It was a lot of fun, but would have been more so, if I had won. 

At the day's end, I reflected on all the miraculous blessings God has given me. Days like this one are times when I just fall to my knees and thank Him for giving me more than I could ever deserve. Above all, I'm grateful for John and how he has helped/allowed me to have my dream of a big family, and how he loves me and them through it all. As I told him, I love it when they are all home. But, when they aren't here for some reason, I'm just as happy to be here with him, by ourselves, and that's pretty darn special, isn't it?

Elijah meets Great Aunt Betsy

My Dad's sister has always had a special place in my life. I have early memories of going to stay with her, before she had kids, and she would let me "rule the roost". Everyone needs someone who will let them "rule the roost", if only, for a short while. Aunt Betsy lives in Mississippi, so I don't get to see her as often as I'd like to.  Her son has a son adopted from China, so she's into Chinese adoption. She let me know that she would be visiting my Mom and Dad and would like to meet Elijah, I gladly met her there. We had a great visit. The kids were well behaved, and showed off for Aunt Betsy.

 

Aunt Betsy, the human jungle gym

  

 

  

Trying on Grandaddy's hat

                             

Me and my youngest babies

This past Tues marked five months since...

We met our little Elijah! He has grown and changed so much in such a short time. During this month he began to:

• Walk up stairs holding on to the rails
• Slide down stairs on his belly
• Climbs on everything in sight.
• Says his name
• Says da-da
• Says please
• Points to his nose when asked
• Signs "that's all" and "more" at appropriate times
• Dances
• Sings
• Has 8 teeth
• Goes into the nursery at church(cries for a few minutes when we leave him)

He is still very cuddly and wants to be held a lot. He is such a sweetie-pie. He loves everyone he meets.

 

  

  

Trying to put on his shoe

                            

He and Abbey are starting to interact more and more. (That's both good and bad, if you know what I mean)

Thank you, Lord Jesus for giving us Elijah!!

Valentines Day

This year we had several opportunities to celebrate Valentines Day. Saturday night, John and I got the kids in bed early and actually got to watch a movie all by ourselves.  Our Valentines Day tradition has always involved notes that we write to each other.  We also decided to go out for dessert. John left it up to me. Believe it or not, I chose to go to Krispy Kreme. I don't think there are many things as good as a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut and a cup of coffee. Yum, yum!  The kids got to enjoy a couple of other celebrations:

Valentines Cookie Decorating with OAKS

Abbey, Elijah and I went to Malee's house to decorate Valentine's cookies. Elijah was more interested in the toys .

 

  

In fact, he wondered, "What's that sister of mine up to now?"

Getting ready to chow down on some serious sprinkles

Here we go... purple, her favorite color

  

Any sprinkle expert will tell you, lick the first round of sprinkles off

Chase it down with a little icing

Re-sprinkle

And enjoy again!!

Scavenger Hunt

Our kids have had a long standing tradition of having a "stavender hut" (according to Abbey) to look for their Valentine candy. This year, Anna, Daniel, Abbey and Elijah participated.

Discussing the first clue

Off to the next clue

Anna and Elijah tag along

 Ah-ha, I know that one!

Finding the "treasure"

"Don't you dare touch my Skittles!"

Wearing his chocolate

Notice the scratch above his eye- He fell into the rocking chair.

Another happy chocolate eater.(We did remove her shirt to keep the chocolate off of it)

All in all, it was a fun, relaxing Valentines weekend.