Happy Birthday Halle - part 1

Okay - I started this post last week. So I don't have to completely start over I'll just make it into 2 separate posts...

I can't believe it has been a whole month since my last post and next week will mark our 3 month anniversary of having Halle. Time sure is flying!

All the holidays/time off school are behind us. Halle and I are finally starting to get into a routine. Good news/bad news on my work - good news is that it has been pretty sparse so Halle and I are getting to spend lots of time together. Bad news is that I'm not doing much to contribute to the family's bank account. This is typically my slow period so I'm trying not to get too worried about what the economy is doing to my livelihood at this point. I'm hoping that the t-shirt end of things will be picking up shortly with the upcoming school spring sports. And luckily Paul has one of the most stable jobs in the country right now.

So, Halle and I are trying to keep busy. We went to the library story time last week and plan to make it a weekly event. It was the second time we went. This time was much better. It was for toddlers. The first one we went to was for preschoolers and she was a little overwhelmed. There is singing, story telling and book reading. I think she spent more time looking around at the other kids to see what they were doing than she did participating with the leader. Today we went to open gym at our community center. They had mats out, a few riding cars, blocks, tunnels and lots of balls. She seemed to enjoy it. She is still anxious when other kids get near the toys she "was" playing with. Once she touches something, it's hers. It seems to be getting better but there is still the orphanage mentality that it's mine and you can't have it. I'm hoping that these two activities will get her more exposure to other kids and help elevate those fears.

I'm trying to put off finding permanent day care until after spring break. At first it was after the holidays but with my work being slow I'm thankful to have the extra time with her now. I'm still not sure what we are going to do yet. Best case scenario would probably be a few mornings a week. That would give me time to get a few hours of work done in the morning and then she could come home for lunch and a nap. I guess I'll put that on my list of things to worry about tomorrow :0

Halle's vocabulary continues to increase daily. She's got so many words I can't count them now. Her best pronounced word is Keisha and it is usually done in a yell. Mirrored behavior?? She still hasn't given a name to Sami yet and she won't say her name either. She usually calls herself baby if she sees a picture of herself or looks in the mirror.

Monday was Chinese New Year. We didn't do anything to celebrate it this year. I'm sure we will do something next year when she can understand some of it.

Happy Holidays!

We had a great Christmas day yesterday. It was nice to be home and not traveling on Christmas. While we missed seeing our extended family it was very nice to have a quiet first Christmas home with Halle. I don't think she realized anything was too different from an ordinary day. She got a Dora kitchen set that she saw first and didn't really get into the other presents. She helped open a few but I still don't think she got it. We didn't try to introduce her to Santa partly due to time, not wanting to mess with the crowds at the mall and mostly because I think she would have been terrified. She was saying ho, ho, ho when she saw pictures of him and trying to say Merry Christmas but I think only a loving parent would be able to recognize it :) Halle also received a miniature trampoline that Paul & Jacob set up in the basement. She seems to be enjoying it. The weight limit is 100 pounds so none of us can demonstrate it for her! The big kids did fairly well considering it was supposed to be a smaller Christmas due to the trip to China. I'm afraid Jacob was a little less than thrilled with all the clothes he received. He is growing so fast that he is outgrowing everything. He and Paul are going to see the Buckeye's basketball game tomorrow so hopefully that will make up for the socks and at least I didn't buy him any underwear!

Halle's vocabulary continues to increase every day. She is starting to put together simple sentences now. She says good girl to herself and the dog quite a bit. Yesterday she didn't really take a normal nap so around 4:30 she was tired. She was trying to tell me something but I couldn't tell if she wanted to go to the bathroom or she wanted a bottle. We walked into the kitchen and an old bottle was sitting there. She pointed to it and said - there it is!

Her favorite activity continues to be dancing. She knows how to turn the radio on and will start waving her hands. Now she has added a pretty cute bottom wiggle too :) She's still not too interested in books I'm afraid. I'm trying to get her to look at them when she is sitting on the potty - a very long process sometimes so I've got a captive audience! She loves her cartoons. The Noggin Channel is very good. They have lots of singing and dancing. Most of them are above her level but she definitely gets her groove on with some of them. They even have a new cartoon out about a little Chinese girl. The show incorporates words in Chinese. I've only seen it a few times. I hope it catches on more.

We are hoping to get to the zoo to see all the lights. Unfortunately it has been too cold. Today it has finally warmed up but now we are getting a ton of rain. It was even thundering today much to Keisha's dismay.

We are heading to Elyria for a late Christmas dinner with Paul's siblings. It will be nice to see everyone and introduce them to Halle. With all the cousins it should be quite a gathering. I wish we lived closer to everyone so we could see them more often.

Home for a month

Hi,

It's been so long since I posted and so much has happened I don't know where to begin. We've been home for a little over a month. It is amazing how far Halle has come. She is starting to settle into a semi routine sleep wise. She is only taking one nap a day for a little over an hour. When I'm lucky and catch her right when she is waking up I can usually rock her back to sleep for about half an hour more. Luckily she has an early bed time. We get in the "tub tub" around 7:15 and she is usually asleep by 8:00. We've started with a lotion rub down after her bath due to her very dry skin. She seems to really enjoy that and her skin seems much better.

We went to Children's International Adoption Clinic on Friday and Monday. So far she has gotten great reports. We met with a doctor, nutritionist, physical therapist, audiologist, psychologist and had blood drawn and gave 2 lovely stool samples. All the doctors think she is doing great. I have to agree. Her vocabulary is increasing daily. But what amazes me is how much she comprehends.
Last week was a struggle. Paul's first week back to work and I had a big work project and a sweats order. Grandma Sue came for a few days to help out. She and Halle did great for the first hour or so and then she only wanted Mommy. I'm finally becoming the preferred one although whenever Sami or Paul spend time with her it's all them - love the one your with is her philosophy. It was a struggle to try to get all the work done. Luckily I had a very understanding client and a great big kid. Sami gets home from school a little after 1:00. I don't know what I'd do without her help! Everyone said that sometimes "the wait" was because the perfect child wasn't ready for our family yet. While I tend to agree that Halle is the perfect child for us, what I think now is that the wait was necessary for Sami & Jacob to grow up. If we would have gotten Halle 3 years ago Sami & Jake would be 3 years younger and in much more need of mommy time. They wouldn't have gone with us to China which would have been a travesty. I keep saying it was an amazing adventure but that of course is an understatement. It is hard to describe it. Now it seems almost like a dream. I feel bad that I'm not spending as much time with the big kids but Halle takes up so much time. I get to see Sami more because she is home more in the afternoon. It's Jacob that I worry about most. We talked briefly about it the other day but I'm sure he feels left out. Hopefully we can have some good quality family time together over Christmas break.

Jacob has his first basketball game on Saturday. He is playing in the community recreation league. It seems funny that both kids aren't at basketball practice and/or games every day. It has been great for me that it means I'm not running every where every day with Halle in tow but we do miss the games, especially Paul. Jacob is also playing on a club volleyball team. They practice twice a week and have tournaments. I think that will be kicking into full swing in January. Sami has her soccer practice twice a week and she is hopeful to play on an indoor team in January. I think January is going to be a blur.

We had a very nice visit with Paul's sister and nephew and his family (Linda, Johnny, Erin and Lauren). Lauren just turned one year old last month. Halle was definitely territorial with her toys, especially the stuffed dog they brought her. She put all of her toy's on her lap or behind me. When the baby came near she would cry and try to gather all the toys. I'm guessing she had to fight for what was hers in the orphanage. That makes me so sad to think about. By the end of the visit she was offering her toys to Lauren so it seems she is starting to understand the sharing phenomena.

Last weekend we went to Westlake for Christmas with my whole family. My dad and step mom flew up from Florida for the gathering so almost all the gang was there. The only one missing was my nephew Gary who lives in California. I think that made 27 in total. It was a nice chance for most of my family to met Halle. We had planned for her to nap on the trip up. Unfortunately she had other plans and decided to fall asleep 2 minutes from home when she was coming home from shopping with Paul & Sami. We couldn't wake her up until just before we left. She did pretty well on the trip, just a few minutes of all out screaming. Paul has taught her that gummy bears come out of her ear and that seems to be her best treat that helps settle her down. Halle did amazingly well considering so many new faces were so eager to meet her. She had a good time rolling around the floor with her cousin Blake that had just turned 10 the day before. She loved the swimming pool. It was so warm that I even got in and enjoyed it. Halle had fun swimming with many of the teenage cousins.

It has been an incredible month. Never a dull moment in our household any more and I wouldn't change a thing! I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful family.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

We have so much to be thankful for this year! It is still hard to believe we are a family of 5 now. I keep thinking that maybe all this has just been a dream. It does seem like a dream in a way. Halle is doing wonderfully. Sure, we have some rough times but all in all she is doing great. She is such a character she just makes me smile so much. She has the best belly laugh and little personality that is to die for.

She is spreading out her affection to the whole family now. Sami is probably still The Chosen One but Daddy is the only one that can put her down for a nap. She and I have had some good play times together at the park. She likes the slide and the swings. Jacob's time with her is when she is taking a bath. She is starting to call for him now when she goes in.

Halle's English is picking up a little. She has added kitty and goodbye to her vocabulary the last few days. When we went on a walk today she waved at every car that went by and said goodbye. She continues to pick up new words every day. She still does a lot of Chinese jibber jabbering through.

She loves to dance. Whenever there is any music on TV or the radio she is up swinging her hands and tapping her feet. We may need to do that for exercise purposes if she continues to eat the way she has been. We call her our little Buddha Baby due to her quite large tummy. She eats almost everything in sight. I'm a little concerned about it. I've heard lots of stories about adopted kids hording their food. We have our big work up with the International Adoption clinic at Children's Hospital on the 12th so hopefully they can give us some answers.

Halle's pediatrician said it would take about 13 days to recover from the jet lag. Today is day 13! I feel like we are all pretty much back to normal. We still haven't gotten into any type of routine yet. The last 2 days she has only taken 1 nap but she has gone down for the night at 8:00 so I think I could live with that. Again, we are just trying to figure things out on the fly. It's hard to remember what kind of nap schedule the big kids were on because it was sooo long ago :) It's past my bedtime now so I'll wrap it up now. I hope to have all the pictures transferred over to the PC this weekend so I'll post new pictures then.

We are so thankful for all our friends and family. We couldn't have done this without you!

Settling in

I can't believe we have been home for 10 days already! Things are going remarkably well. When Halle walked in our front door she just walked in like she had always lived here. She wasn't at all afraid of Keisha. Keisha is a little jealous but also doing well. She has discovered the treats that Halle leaves in her highchair when she is done eating. The cats don't have it quite as good. Halle likes to pull their tails! Needless to say they have been lying low.

I'm happy to report that we are all pretty much healthy now. Paul still has a cold. Halle is finishing up her antibiotics and I am over my stomach crud, just trying to regain my strength now. We are all also adjusting to the time change. The big kids really had it rough last week. They were getting up between 12-2am, doing homework and then going to a full day of school. It was a good chance to catch up on some of their homework but I'm sure they would have preferred to do it during daylight hours!

The Chosen One is loosing some of her status because of school. I became The Acceptable One the first few days but I too am moving down the list. Paul and Halle are starting to bond nicely now. As I start doing more work Paul has become The Go To Guy. He is enjoying spending time with Halle down the basement. They like to play air hockey together. Our neighbors just gave us a big plastic slide that we have down there now too that Halle plays on. Jacob, while remaining nameless, still gets a huge smile from Halle when he comes into the room, especially when he gets home from school.

Grandma Sue came down for the second time. She has been a great help shopping, cooking and doing a gazillion loads of laundry. She is planning on coming back in December when Paul needs to go back to work and I have a big project coming.

We are starting to get the chance to introduce Halle to our friends/neighbors. After being couped up in the house from sickness and jet lag it is nice to get the chance to see some familiar faces. We took Halle for a walk yesterday. It was cold but the sun was shining and it was nice to be outside. We saw several neighbors. I took Jacob to a volleyball practice and then Halle & I went to visit the Culley's. Halle is doing great with the car seat. I was worried it would be a struggle but she doesn't seem to mind it too much. She even sat in it with no one sitting next to her. I just put the mirror down and we played peek-a-boo on the way home.

Cousin Cassie came down to Columbus to see some friends and stopped over for a visit. Halle warmed up to her very quickly. So much in fact that when she bumped her head she didn't want me or Sami, she wanted Cassie! Aunt Kathy & Uncle Gary also came down to watch the OSU vs. MU game - go BUCKS - and had a nice visit.

I'm sorry to say that we don't have any school basketball games to go to this year. Sami has decided not to play and to focus on soccer instead. She is in a tournament next weekend, yes outdoors! The coach from Kent State is coming to watch her so we are pretty excited about that. It is a showcase for college coaches so I'm hopeful others will be watching too. Kent is high on her list right now because they have their own bathrooms :) Jacob is going to play in the community basketball league this year. He may also be playing on a travel volleyball team. We are trying to work out those details now.

We made it

After 30+ hours we made it home. Halle did well. She had about a 2 hour nap earlier in the flight and then sleep the last almost 6 hours of the long leg. I stood in the bathroom on the plane to get her to sleep. I felt bad having her scream while others were trying to sleep so we just hung out in the port-a-potty :)

Our flight from Newark to Columbus was cancelled so we had to wait almost 4 hours until the next flight. We got in around midnight. Grandma Sue made scrambled eggs for us. My first real food in 3 days. It sure tasted good. The scrambled eggs there weren't so good in China.

Sami & Paul are at the doctors. Paul for strep and Sami may have pink eye. Jacob is headed to a friends to watch the Buckeyes. I'm hopeful that Halle and I can have a nice long nap. She didn't have a very good first night. We didn't go to bed until after 2:00 and then she didn't want to sleep in the crib. I was so tired I brought her in bed with me twice.

Thanks for all the comments. We enjoyed having a little news from home. Can't wait to see everyone.

Final days

Hi, sorry I'm behind in posting. The stomach crud really got to me and I was down and out today. We had a great trip to the zoo yesterday and took our oath at the US Consulate today. We leave at 5:50am tomorrow so I'm trying to get everything organized.

I'll add details of the last 2 days when we get home. Wish us luck on our final journey home. I'm afraid it is going to be a doozie!

Happy birthday to Becky & belated birthday to Tommy.

Love to all. Can't wait to see everyone.