This weekend will be one month since we stepped off of the plane and arrived back on US soil with our son. In some ways it seems like a lifetime ago, and in some ways it just seems like yesterday. We are definitely settling in to a routine here at home, which I am thankful for. B has settled in to taking one nap in the afternoons very well and that works much better for us. If we do go out we keep it to one trip a day for a short time. B actually does much better if we get out in the morning. Apparently he's an on the go type of guy. Cracks me up since that is exactly how his daddy and sister are (not so much his mama). Whenever we do go out, I keep him in the carrier and he is usually pretty happy unless of course he is hungry. I ALWAYS have a snack on hand no matter where we are! This weekend was our first time to attempt going to church. We aren't putting B in the nursery as of yet because of the "orphanage" like environment, and we will wait some time. He did really well at church in the carrier for awhile until he wanted daddy. Then Josh took him out for about twenty minutes (thankful for speakers in the lobby!). He of course LOVED the music and seeing his dad up playing the guitar. All in all it was a success. So thankful! So here is a list of things that have improved so far in the month that we have been home!
1. THE DOG. When we first got home B had a screaming fit anytime our 8 pound tiny dog was in site. He would cling to us as if a huge Great Dane was about ready to pounce! For the first week she was pretty much locked up in the office. Of course it didn't help that she had a huge cone around her head. We slowly started letting her out. The screaming became crying, which became a little whimper, and then turned in to a "tolerance" of her. Not sure we are the "love" stage yet, but no screaming or crying fits.
2. FOOD. Well this never was TOO much of a problem, but he is doing a better job at eating more types of food AND we are completely switched over to whole milk now!
3. AFFECTION. B is giving his mom, dad, and sister lots of hugs and kisses! He loves to cuddle and for us to hold him. He will reach out and give hugs and huge wide open mouth kisses. Love it. He also seems to be reaching out for us all of the time instead of others. This is a good sign of attachment and we pray that it continues.
4. PLAY TIME. B will sit and play with his sister contently for short periods of time. His best time are right after eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He loves toys, but he is definitely ALL BOY because he wants everything he is NOT supposed to play with. Spices in the pantry, cords along the wall, you know all of those interesting things:) Keeps me on my toes for sure! He finds things our daughter never even attempted to pick up or look at!
5. SLEEP. Well honestly it depends on the day. There are times he sleeps through the night without waking up once. There are nights, like last night, that he woke up at 3 AM and it took over an hour to get him back to sleep. The good news is that naps are going a lot better and he will usually fall asleep much faster than he was when we first brought him home. Baby steps for sure!
6. SIGNING. Thankfully B learns signs very quickly. He now signs more, food, drink, up, all done, please, and thank you. If he is crying and we say, "tell us what you want" he will usually sign one of these! YAY!! We are also working a lot saying on different sounds. He now says DADA, MAMA, BALL, and occasionally ALL DONE. We know that language will take awhile but are thankful that he is catching on to the signs quickly.
7. OUR DAUGHTER. We are so thankful for a 3.5 year old that has put on her big girl boots and done a great job! Yes, there are days when it is a huge struggle, but even then she is very helpful with her new brother and loves on him. We truly believe that God has given her extra grace to realize that her brother needs extra love and care and some extra time. We are trying to be sensitive of her needs and have taken her out several times with either just mom or dad. She gets a date with me this weekend and I am super excited!! We also thank God that she is such a good sleeper. God is so awesome. He knew from the start that we needed a good sleeper. She doesn't wake up when B cries and never fusses about going to bed (actually she rejoices...I have no idea where she gets it from...). We love her so much and thank God for her daily!!
Obviously we have only been home a little less than a month and we are adjusting to MANY new and TOUGH things, but we thank God for these positives as we continue to love on our son and I wanted to share them with you. Here are a few things we are praying:
1. LOVE. That we can shower our son in LOVE even at 3 AM when he doesn't want to sleep and we are frustrated or when he is throwing a huge temper tantrum about something. Just think about how much God loves us and accepts us. We are praying for this type of love for both of our children!
2. HEALTH. So far B is doing pretty well and we are so very thankful for that! It allows us to get out of the house even if it is just for a walk down the street. He goes in at the end of October for another check up and a hearing test (no concerns just routine). We are praying everything would look good. Hoping that he gets rid of this parasite soon as well, but from what other adoption peeps tell us it'll take awhile. BLECH! We have started using his inhaler for his asthma and it seems to help a little. We still would like to get him into an ENT just to check out this tonsils and see if there are any problems going on there!
3. STRENGTH. Just strength to be excellent parents to our two young children. I am still adjusting to the life of a stay at home mom, which is wonderful, but as I've said before something completely new! I pray for the strength to be a great mom to both of our kids.
4. FAMILY. Many of you know it is NOT easy living away from family. I've really felt down about that over the last month. I just want to be able to call up our family and have them stop by for a few minutes or have them take the oldest for a little bit or have B be able to start bonding with them as well. We know we are where God wants us right now, but I'm not gonna lie it's just plain tough sometimes. I know God knows that, and I praise God that he has surrounded us with great friends that have become family to us.
5. TRAVEL. Josh will begin traveling again soon and I'm praying that B does ok with his daddy gone for a few days. I know God will be there right with us!
This week our church family had several tragedies that were very difficult to process. I prayed over and over for the grieving families and what they must be going through. I also gave my littles lots of extra hugs and kisses over the past few days as I thanked God for them. At the same time I know that God is in control in every situation. We have to realize that our children are God's children. We need to remember that every single time we lash out at them or get frustrated with them. It is SO TOUGH but I'm praying that I can be a better example of Christ for both of my children...even in my weakest moments. In closing, I will attach the video that we made for the journey of bringing B home. Most of you have probably already seen it, but this blog is really a way for me to capture all of our moments together. We titled our video This is Home. We know that this is not our permanent home. We are anxiously awaiting the day our savior comes back and really does take all of us home. What a day that will be. When my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face. The one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promise land, what a day, glorious day that will be.
1. THE DOG. When we first got home B had a screaming fit anytime our 8 pound tiny dog was in site. He would cling to us as if a huge Great Dane was about ready to pounce! For the first week she was pretty much locked up in the office. Of course it didn't help that she had a huge cone around her head. We slowly started letting her out. The screaming became crying, which became a little whimper, and then turned in to a "tolerance" of her. Not sure we are the "love" stage yet, but no screaming or crying fits.
2. FOOD. Well this never was TOO much of a problem, but he is doing a better job at eating more types of food AND we are completely switched over to whole milk now!
3. AFFECTION. B is giving his mom, dad, and sister lots of hugs and kisses! He loves to cuddle and for us to hold him. He will reach out and give hugs and huge wide open mouth kisses. Love it. He also seems to be reaching out for us all of the time instead of others. This is a good sign of attachment and we pray that it continues.
4. PLAY TIME. B will sit and play with his sister contently for short periods of time. His best time are right after eating breakfast, lunch, or dinner. He loves toys, but he is definitely ALL BOY because he wants everything he is NOT supposed to play with. Spices in the pantry, cords along the wall, you know all of those interesting things:) Keeps me on my toes for sure! He finds things our daughter never even attempted to pick up or look at!
5. SLEEP. Well honestly it depends on the day. There are times he sleeps through the night without waking up once. There are nights, like last night, that he woke up at 3 AM and it took over an hour to get him back to sleep. The good news is that naps are going a lot better and he will usually fall asleep much faster than he was when we first brought him home. Baby steps for sure!
6. SIGNING. Thankfully B learns signs very quickly. He now signs more, food, drink, up, all done, please, and thank you. If he is crying and we say, "tell us what you want" he will usually sign one of these! YAY!! We are also working a lot saying on different sounds. He now says DADA, MAMA, BALL, and occasionally ALL DONE. We know that language will take awhile but are thankful that he is catching on to the signs quickly.
7. OUR DAUGHTER. We are so thankful for a 3.5 year old that has put on her big girl boots and done a great job! Yes, there are days when it is a huge struggle, but even then she is very helpful with her new brother and loves on him. We truly believe that God has given her extra grace to realize that her brother needs extra love and care and some extra time. We are trying to be sensitive of her needs and have taken her out several times with either just mom or dad. She gets a date with me this weekend and I am super excited!! We also thank God that she is such a good sleeper. God is so awesome. He knew from the start that we needed a good sleeper. She doesn't wake up when B cries and never fusses about going to bed (actually she rejoices...I have no idea where she gets it from...). We love her so much and thank God for her daily!!
Obviously we have only been home a little less than a month and we are adjusting to MANY new and TOUGH things, but we thank God for these positives as we continue to love on our son and I wanted to share them with you. Here are a few things we are praying:
1. LOVE. That we can shower our son in LOVE even at 3 AM when he doesn't want to sleep and we are frustrated or when he is throwing a huge temper tantrum about something. Just think about how much God loves us and accepts us. We are praying for this type of love for both of our children!
2. HEALTH. So far B is doing pretty well and we are so very thankful for that! It allows us to get out of the house even if it is just for a walk down the street. He goes in at the end of October for another check up and a hearing test (no concerns just routine). We are praying everything would look good. Hoping that he gets rid of this parasite soon as well, but from what other adoption peeps tell us it'll take awhile. BLECH! We have started using his inhaler for his asthma and it seems to help a little. We still would like to get him into an ENT just to check out this tonsils and see if there are any problems going on there!
3. STRENGTH. Just strength to be excellent parents to our two young children. I am still adjusting to the life of a stay at home mom, which is wonderful, but as I've said before something completely new! I pray for the strength to be a great mom to both of our kids.
4. FAMILY. Many of you know it is NOT easy living away from family. I've really felt down about that over the last month. I just want to be able to call up our family and have them stop by for a few minutes or have them take the oldest for a little bit or have B be able to start bonding with them as well. We know we are where God wants us right now, but I'm not gonna lie it's just plain tough sometimes. I know God knows that, and I praise God that he has surrounded us with great friends that have become family to us.
5. TRAVEL. Josh will begin traveling again soon and I'm praying that B does ok with his daddy gone for a few days. I know God will be there right with us!
This week our church family had several tragedies that were very difficult to process. I prayed over and over for the grieving families and what they must be going through. I also gave my littles lots of extra hugs and kisses over the past few days as I thanked God for them. At the same time I know that God is in control in every situation. We have to realize that our children are God's children. We need to remember that every single time we lash out at them or get frustrated with them. It is SO TOUGH but I'm praying that I can be a better example of Christ for both of my children...even in my weakest moments. In closing, I will attach the video that we made for the journey of bringing B home. Most of you have probably already seen it, but this blog is really a way for me to capture all of our moments together. We titled our video This is Home. We know that this is not our permanent home. We are anxiously awaiting the day our savior comes back and really does take all of us home. What a day that will be. When my Jesus I shall see. And I look upon his face. The one who saved me by his grace. When he takes me by the hand and leads me through the promise land, what a day, glorious day that will be.
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