handsful

…worked!! I was hoping for just a decent picture. I was even willing to accept that they all wouldn’t be looking at the camera at the same time (gasp). But, they all did SO well! Lainey was fine, she just didn’t want to sit still too long and was quite shy with smiles. We’ll hope for smiles next time. The pic above looks a little skewed because these are the un-cropped proofs. Here are the individuals…

This is my favorite pose of Lainey. Since it was her first professional portraits, we got a few extra poses of her. Here is another…

We got this outfit for her in China. Notice the right foot, with the shadow underneath? That’s because as soon as I placed her on the floor, she tried to walk away. Kudos to the photographer for catching a good picture in motion! And, yes, her tongue is out in both of the above pictures. It’s out more than it’s in, so these pictures show the true her ;)

Quick update: Lainey can now sign more, milk, all done, water, and night-night. She understands to wave when we say bye-bye, gives kisses on command (usually), loves to wash her own hair, and tried to kiss Jack full on the face (which, Jack was more than happy to accept). She’s learned how to pray now, too. At the table, we all join hands to pray and she’s learned this quickly. She grins a big grin, grabs my hand and Abbey’s, and bows her head.

Her eating habits have changed a lot since we first “met” her. She initially ate like there might not be another meal coming later…which, I have to sadly assume was because she knew what it felt like to be hungry. She accepted anything and everything and ate EVERY crumb on her plate, on her bib, on the table, etc. Now, she’s becoming more choosy…she eats her favorite on the plate first, then moves on to the other items. She no longer eats in a frenzy, seeming afraid that it might go away before she’s done. It’s a much more normal pace. She also used to cry / throw a fit whenever the food was taken away, regardless of how much she ate (we KNEW she had to be full!). She now knows that there will be another meal coming. I sound like Scarlett O’Hara, but…she’ll never go hungry again. She also knows it’s okay to leave a crumb or two…and she doesn’t panic when food hits the floor anymore. Jack is elated when THAT happens.

That’s it for now…stay tuned for pictures from the boys baseball game today!

Lately, we’re a family on the go. Always something and somewhere to be! I guess mostly it’s been appointments preparing for Lainey’s upcoming surgery. Today, she had her speech therapy evaluation. They’ve recommended that she have sessions twice a week to help her with her language delay. The clinician estimated her expressive language to be around the 10-12 month age range. We’re not worried, though. She is learning more and more everyday, copying our actions and beginning to mimic our sounds. She’s only been home a little more than 3 weeks, and the clinician was impressed with how well she’s doing. Lainey is now using 3 signs – “more”, “water”, and “milk”. Abbey taught her “shoes” today in the car AS she was taking her shoes off.

– oops, I’ve been caught –

Backtracking a little…we had a nice day last Saturday that included a baseball game for the boys, playing outside, and a great Mexican dinner. A few pics…

Here is one way she entertains herself during the boy’s games. I, for one, am glad this isn’t acceptable behavior for anyone other than babies! No pics of the boys this time, I only had the “wimpy” camera. We’ll take some at this coming Saturday’s game. By the way, they are 4-0, the ONLY undefeated team left in their division. Woo hoo!!

The big kids love to pull Lainey around in our wagon. Here…the tables are turned! Does Marley look happy about it??

There is a new, very authentic Mexican restaurant in our area and we’ve been there twice so far…once, a few days before leaving for China and then last Saturday. Lainey (no surprise here) LOVED it. Her favorite was swiping tastes of the sour cream on my plate. Here she is clapping along to the live mariachi band that was playing.

And, seeing a big fan, they decided to serenade her personally…

Wish I could have seen her face!

For those of you wondering, guess who Lainey now likes? Yep, Jack! Our dog is officially out of the doghouse. She still would prefer that he keep his lickity tongue off of her face, but he gets quite a bit of attention from her. I was worried she’d take a huge step backwards when he literally plowed her down in the yard yesterday. He didn’t mean to, he was just excited about running around. She cried a bit, but then was fine. Just another sign that the girl is meant to be here!

Happy Easter…no bunnies or baby chicks around here. Jesus has risen, that’s the point :)

We started the day with church, and before we left we attempted to take pictures of the kids. Lainey did not agree with that plan, so here is a pic of the big kids…

Never fear, here is a shot of happy Lainey walking to the church building…

Once we got home from church, we attempted the outside 5-kid shot again. No go. Here is a keeper with just us girls in the kitchen. Yes, the sink is full of dishes, Sunday mornings are crazy around here!

Lunch! Yes, we had more than just bread…

Because I wished more punishment and wouldn’t give up the dream of all the kids in a picture, we tried again after lunch. Maybe a picture on the steps with all the kids would work? Nope. Lainey was past her naptime and showing it. Maybe after nap. The shot that Randy got BEFORE she fell asleep wasn’t nearly this peaceful…

After her nap, I managed to get several shots of just Lainey that turned out rather well. Maybe my luck is changing??

Our sweet Abbey planned an egg hunt to “train” Lainey for the annual hunt at Gram’s house coming up in a few weeks. She was slow to get it at first, but then caught on and loved it!

After the hunt…you guessed it, we tried again. Success, a picture with all the kids looking and nobody crying. Okay, Ethan only has one eye open and most everyone’s Easter clothes were long ago changed. But, I’ll take it.

This is one of Lainey’s favorite things…her dad’s NC State pillow. She hugs it and cuddles with it and even drools on it. I know this picture will make most of her NC family very happy!

Lainey had her first cleft palate clinic appt today. We left the house at 7:20am, arrived at 8:20 and left at 12:15. Long day! They ushered us into an exam room and then the specialists started arriving, one by one. She was seen by the nurse coordinator, medical photographer, pediatrician, psychologist, speech pathologist, audiologist, 2 ENTs, 2 plastic surgeons, social worker, family resource rep, and a medical resident.

According to the two plastic surgeons we saw today, she has a moderately sized cleft…on a scale of 1-10, it’s a 6 or 7. The first priority is correcting the cleft and other surgeries such as nose and lip revision will be done sometime in the future. They think her lip correction done in China was “okay”…they say they would have done it differently, but also say that they can “tweak” it (and her nose) to make it look great.

Someone LOVES her little sister…

As far as her palate, it will take 1-2 surgeries to close it, they’ll know better once they get in there. She should have surgery within the next 2-3 months. It’ll be overnight and she’ll have to wear arm guards called “no-nos” that keep her arms from bending at the elbow (and, therefore keep her fingers out of her mouth) for 3 weeks. Yikes.

They also found fluid in both ears, which they say could have been there for some time. It’s not infected, but it needs to be drained so there is no damage to her hearing. So, they want her to have tubes put in her ears. They should be able to do this the same day as the palate surgery.

They want us to wean her from the bottle, because she won’t be able to use one after her surgery. We’ll do that slowly, because we know that bottle feeding promotes attachment and that is most important right now. We’re also going to be contacting a speech therapist that specializes in cleft kids, to help her with her lip strength as well as begin work on her communication. We’ve already taught her two signs “more” and “water” and she catches on really quickly.

Lainey also had her appt. with the infectious disease specialist yesterday to discuss her positive TB test. Her chest x-ray was clear, so her TB is completely dormant and not contagious. She began her isoniazid treatment tonight, and once she completes the 9 months of this, the doctors said that she’ll be fine. No need for any followup. She will always test positive for TB, but the treatment will ensure that it never becomes active.

We feel very good about our appointment today, and though we’re a little anxious about all that is to come, we know that it’ll all be fine in the end. We feel more and more blessed everyday that this little one is ours…I’ll quote Chris Rice: Life gave me lemonade and I can’t imagine why. God is good.

2/18/08

3/18/08

Donna and I thought it would be fun to take a “walk back through China” with some pictures of signs, etc, that we saw while traveling to get Lainey.

This was in a fortune cookie D opened right before out trip. The numbers were no help at all.

See our plane flying into Beijing? We both got addicted to that “flight info” screen . . . amazing what passes for entertainment after sitting in the same chair for ~ 14 hours.

The official Olympic countdown clock near the Forbidden City.

Who knew you could actually “rest” in a restroom? As indicated below, this was one ritzy place . . . 4 stars.

One of our favorite tours in Beijing was when we visited the couple living in the Nanguanfang Hutong.

I left my speaking cellphone on the bus . . . climbing up the Great Wall left me too out of breath to talk on it, anyway. And I wasn’t sure if the following was a warning or a guy I was supposed to be looking out for.

The path going up the Great Wall went directly past this sign. It seemed a bit dicey to ignore such a straightforward statement in China . . . but I saw other people doing it, and I had climbed too many stairs to quit there.

Things at the tombs were nice and tidy.

My interpretation of this sign in the airport on the way to Hefei? “I will not ride in the crowded elevator, I’ll take the stairs instead.” Personal space is tough to come by in a city of 15 million.

This was the sign outside the room(s) where we officially received Lainey and swore to the Chinese government that we would take care of her, never abandon her, and treat her like she was our own.

We saw this on the back of several buses in Hefei – “Redhouse Hospital for Feminety” . . . this really tickled my wife.

Very important sign in our hotel bathroom (“TAP WATER NOT POTABLE”), and one that we both got very tired of seeing. You can’t imagine how much you miss little things like being able to thoroughly rinse off your toothbrush or open your mouth in the shower.

After my basketball exploits outside of the market, Donna thought this sign inside was quite appropriate for me. The following was also inside the market, and, well . . . no comment. (he does look happy, tho, doesn’t he?)

Haven’t we all known a few of these?

I have NO IDEA what this billboard on the way to Bengbu was advertising. I’m o.k. with that. After a long ride in a rikity van with a little girl who was tired of riding, the following sign was a welcome sight.

At the clinic in Guangzhou, Lainey gets a clean bill of health. Later, at the zoo, we saw a sign for what must have been some pretty impressive goldfish. It’s odd that they put goldfish and pekinese dogs in the zoo, then serve poisonous snakes and scorpions in the markets.

Ah….Lucy’s. Where all the American’s gave our new Chinese children a taste of hamburgers and french fries. This place got more crowded each night, and by the last night in China our entire group wound up there.

And just like that (and by that I mean 3 planes and 36 hours later), we were home with our new daughter. While we were there, Donna and I talked about how long the trip seemed and about how anxious we were to get back. Now, not even a month later, the whole trip seems so much shorter and longer ago. Well, everything except for the actual trip back. We truly loved our time in China, from seeing the sights to enjoying the wonderful people there, and are looking forward to returning with the entire family.

Thanks again for sharing the journey with us and please keep checking out the website . . . Donna is always posting something.

Payton loves his little sis! (and vice versa)

We are asked all the time how Lainey is doing with her adjustment to her new life with us…the easy answer is the title above. She fits perfectly. That doesn’t mean things are GOING pefectly. Afterall, she’s a toddler and it’s been a while since we’ve had a toddler!

Marles and little Miss L

She fights sleep, but sleeps great once she’s snoozing. In fact, she’s now (as of last night) going to bed in her own room and crib. She was already taking her naps there, and doing great. She’s slept through the night, not a peep, for 5 nights in our room, so we decided to make the switch for bedtime last night. She slept like a champ, waking up around 7:30.

Abbey and her friend Kendall joined us all on a walk

She has a temper. Have I mentioned that? So, we’re making “adjustments” there. :) Overall, we’re over the moon blessed and happy. She’s our girl.

Wonder what a leaf tastes like?

This past week was full of medical appointments for Lainey. She had bloodwork done on Tuesday…they had to fill FIVE vials of blood. Poor girl, she was none too happy but stayed still while I and another nurse held her other arm still. We also had to do “diaper” samples…both kinds…that was weird. The GREAT news is all the bloodwork testing came back normal. We were so thankful.

A bit of not so great news is her TB skin test came back positive. After doing a bit of research, we’ve found that although TB is basically non-existent in the US, it’s still pretty rampant in China. Having a Chinese adopted child test positive for TB is actually quite common, and some say it’s because of a certain BCG vaccination that they receive (that children in the US do not). However, she was sent for a chest x-ray on Tuesday and has an appointment with a specialist next Wednesday. Lainey is showing no signs of active TB, and most likely has a non-contagious, dormant form. But, because this could become active at any point in her life, she will begin a daily antibiotic treatment that will last 9 months. Yep, that long. For more information on this, go to this article: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/articles.php?aid=1011

Big bro EJ, getting some good air!

More changes for Lainey…she’s becoming interested in Jack! She still has her little cry/whine that lasts about 2 seconds (which means, hey that dog is still here and I’m protesting…), BUT she’s now reaching out for him, has petted him a few times, and doesn’t mind him being closer to her. She’s making HUGE progress, we were astounded because it basically all changed in a day. Yesterday, Randy spent some time with her, looking at pictures of Jack, and I think it really helped. We’re all relieved…especially Jack, who had taken to leaving the room when he heard her whining!

See what she’s doing here? Pulling the velcro to take off her shoes. When she’s in the careseat, she immediately pulls off her shoes and socks, and throws them down. She takes after her Dad. Barefeet is the way to go. Bet she never had that chance in the orphanage. Life is good!